On February 11, Leo XIV appointed Adolfo Miguel Castaño Fonseca as Bishop of Atlacomulco, Mexico.
Born on 27 September 1962 in San Mateo Mozoquilpan, State of Mexico, he was ordained as a priest in 1987.
He spent many years working in priestly formation in Toluca, and in 2010, Benedict XVI appointed him as an auxiliary bishop of Mexico.
In 2019, Pope Francis promoted him to bishop of Azcapotzalco. He is now returning to his home state to lead the Diocese of Atlacomulco.
Homosexuals Cannot Be Excluded from Receiving a Blessing
In his 2023 Christmas message, published on Facebook, Bishop Castaño defended the pro-homosexual pamphlet Fiducia Supplicans.
He accused Catholics of "exaggerating" and "polarising" certain aspects, claiming that "many erroneous things have been said" and that people had "not read the document in its entirety".
His belief: "No one can be excluded from receiving a blessing." And: "God is the Father of all, and excludes no one. We cannot become judges, nor can we exclude anyone."
Castaño compared "pastoral blessings" for homosexuals to parents blessing their children, even those who misbehave.
Francis's Synod Like Apostles' Council
Monsignor Castaño was a member of the Synod on Synodality. In his homily on 24 May 2022, he compared the First Council of the Apostles in Acts 15 to Francis's Synod.
The Apostels' Council was "a paradigmatic figure of what it means to ‘walk together,’ based on listening and discernment, under the action of the Holy Spirit."
"Here we find a clear and eloquent example of synodal practice, capable of exemplifying and inspiring future generations, just as Pope Francis is now asking us to do."
Becoming a Synodal Church
Below are some more quotes from a homily on 8 September 2024, published on DiocesisAzcapotzalco.org:
- "The call to salvation breaks down barriers that marginalise, exclude and discriminate."
- "Christ has come to destroy all discrimination based on race, social class, colour..."
- "...to establish truly fraternal relationships with everyone, without exclusion or discrimination of any kind."
- "Break the shells of silence that stand between people, suffocate encounter and generate exclusion and discrimination."
- "We may be proclaimers of the kerygma of salvation. Only in this way can we be a synodal Church in mission."
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