Bishop of Merlo-Moreno
Juan José Chaparro Stivanello, C.M.F., was born on July 22, 1953, in Colonia Freitas, in the province of Entre Ríos (Argentina). On March 2, 1965, he entered the Minor Seminary of the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians) in Villa del Rosario. After completing his novitiate in Cuatro Vientos (Argentina), he made his first profession on March 1, 1975, and his perpetual profession on February 12, 1979. He was ordained a deacon on October 6, 1979, and a priest on April 12, 1980. Between 1979 and 1981, he served as an assistant to the postulants and subsequently to the novices. Sent to Rome to complete his studies, he obtained a Licentiate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University on February 24, 1983. Upon returning to his home country, on December 28, 1983, he was assigned to Villa Claret as Prefect of Missionary Theologians and Professor at the Center for Philosophical and Theological Studies (CEFYT). Also at Villa Claret, he was appointed Prefect of Missionaries in formation on December 30, 1986, and Prefect and Professor at CEFYT on December 31, 1986. On January 10, 1996, he was chosen as Provincial Superior of the Argentina-Uruguay Province. After being re-elected on October 7, 1999, and January 10, 2002, he was appointed Provincial Coordinator of Evangelization on January 12, 2005, and assigned to the Inca Community in Montevideo (Uruguay). Appointed a Consultor for the Province of San José del Sur on July 16, 2011, he was assigned as Superior to the Lambaré Community (Paraguay) on February 15, 2013.