A Salesian born in La Libertad

Cardinal Miguel Obando Bravo was born in La Libertad, in the present diocese of Juigalpa, in 1926. After attending courses at the Salesian boarding school in Granada, he pursued his bachelor’s degree in Latin and Greek in San Salvador. In that city he did a Master’s in mathematics, physics and philosophy. After entering the Salesian Congregation he studied theology in Guatemala and afterwards the psychology of vocations in Colombia, in Venezuela and in Rome. Ordained a priest in 1958, he was nominated auxiliary of Matagalpa by Paul VI in 1968. In the period spent in Matagalpa he dedicated particular pastoral attention to the campesinos and their urgent needs. In 1970 Pope Montini promoted him archbishop of Managua and in 1985 John Paul II created him cardinal. President of the Episcopal Conference for six different periods between 1971 and 1997, he has been so again since 1999. He is a member of the Congregations for Divine Worship, for the Clergy and for the Religious.