Bishop Jesús Castro Marte

Jesús Castro Marte is Bishop of Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia en Higüey, Dominican Republic. He was born on 18 March 1966 in Guerra, Archdiocese of Santo Domingo. He completed studies in philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra in the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros. He obtained a licentiate in Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. He followed various courses in Ciencias Religiosas at the Pontifical Seminary Santo Tomás de Aquino in the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo and in Recursos Humanos at the Catholic University Madre y Maestra in the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros. Castro Marte was ordained a priest on 13 June 1995, being incardinated in the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo. From 1995 to 1997 he was parish vicar of San Antonio de Padua and Santa Lucía Mártir in La Victoria; from 1997 to 2001 pastor of San Antonio de Padua and Santa Lucía Mártir in La Victoria; from 2001 to 2004 pastor of the parishes San José, Cristo Rey del Universo, and Madre de Dios in the Yamasá area, Monte Plata; from 2004 to 2006 he continued studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. He later taught at the Pontifical Catholic University Madre y Maestra in the Archdiocese of Santiago de los Caballeros. From 2008 to 2012 he was episcopal vicar for the clergy and executive secretary of the presbyteral council of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo; from 2009 to 2010 pastor of San Ignacio de Loyola; and from 2010 to 2012 pastor of San Juan Bautista de la Salle. From 2011 to 2013 he was vice-rector of the Pontifical Seminary Santo Tomás de Aquino and from 2013 to the time of the source rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Santo Domingo and pastor of the university parish at the same university.