Bishop of Melipilla
Bishop Cristián Contreras Villarroel, Bishop of Melipilla, was born on April 24, 1959, in Santiago de Chile, and belongs to the clergy of that archdiocese. He made his philosophical and theological studies at the Pontifical Major Seminary of Santiago, and he was ordained a priest on December 5, 1984, at Santa Rosa Parish in Lo Barnechea by Juan Francisco Fresno Larraín, Archbishop of Santiago. He was parochial vicar of Santa Rosa in Lo Barnechea from 1984 to 1986 and again in 1989, when he also served as its acting parish priest; a professor at the pontifical seminary from 1985 to 1986 and in 1988; a member of the liturgy team of the commission for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Chile from 1986 to 1987; and formator and prefect of philosophy at the Pontifical Major Seminary of Santiago from 1987 to 1988. He obtained a licentiate in theology at the faculty of theology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1989, and as a student of the Pontifical Pio Latin American College in Rome he took a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University between 1989 and 1992. From 1992 to 1999 he was an official of the Congregation for Bishops, and on November 18, 1996, he was named a chaplain of His Holiness. On his return to Santiago he was appointed parish priest of the Nativity of the Lord and elected secretary of the presbyteral council in March 2000, and he served as chancellor and acting vicar general of the archdiocese from 2000 to 2003 and as a professor at the Pontifical Major Seminary of Santiago from 2001 to 2003. In March 2003 he was appointed vicar general and moderator of the curia of Santiago de Chile. On April 25, 2003, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago de Chile and Titular Bishop of Illiberi. He received episcopal ordination on June 21, 2003, at Santiago, with Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa as principal consecrator and Carlos González Cruchaga and Sergio Valech Aldunate as co-consecrators. On March 7, 2014, he was appointed Bishop of Melipilla, and he was installed on May 31, 2014. His episcopal motto is Ven Señor Jesús.