Leonidas Proaño

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Leonidas Eduardo Proaño Villalba (born January 19, 1910 in San Antonio de Ibarra , † August 31, 1988 in Quito ) was an Ecuadorian Roman Catholic priest and theologian . He was bishop of Riobamba from 1954 to 1985 and one of the most important representatives of liberation theology in Ecuador. He has become known as the "Bishop of the Poor" and "Bishop of the Indians ".

Life

Leonidas Proaño was born into a poor farming family, his parents were Agustín Proaño Recalde and Zoila Villalba Ponce. In 1930 he entered the seminary in Quito, where he studied theology and philosophy, and was ordained a priest in 1936 by Archbishop Carlos María de la Torre . From the beginning he was interested in the most progressive tendencies in the field of Catholic social teaching . In the diocese of Ibarra he founded the Juventud Obrera Cristiana (German Christian working-class youth ). In 1954 he was called to be Bishop of Riobamba. He was ordained bishop on May 26, 1954 by the then Apostolic Nuncio of Ecuador and later Cardinal Opilio Rossi .

From his bishopric in Riobamba he was constantly committed to more social justice for the indigenous population, the "Indios", and declared - emphatically representing the teachings of liberation theology - his goal to improve their situation significantly and sustainably. Among other things, he founded the Centro de Estudios y Acción Social (German Center for Studies and Social Action) in 1960 to support the indigenous village communities in their development efforts, and in 1962 the Escuelas Radiofónicas Populares (German radio popular schools) with the aim of literacy and Education. From 1960 to 1965 Proaño took part in the Second Vatican Council and was involved, among other things, in the drafting of the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes . In the late 1960s and 1970s he actively supported indigenous communities and their associations in the struggle for appropriate land reform (see also Indigenous Movement in Ecuador ).

In this context, his diocese was visited and monitored in 1974 by an Apostolic Visitator and Proaño was summoned to the Vatican because he was suspected of supporting guerrilla activities. Proaño was acquitted of all allegations. During the military dictatorship under Guillermo Rodríguez Lara , he was arrested with 16 other bishops at a meeting in Santa Cruz, Chimborazo Province, and imprisoned for 28 hours in Quito.

Under his direction , a working group translated the four Gospels into Quichua of Ecuador , published in 1972.

In 1985, after reaching the age limit of 75, he retired as Bishop of Riobamba. At the request of indigenous organizations, John Paul II appointed him "Bishop of the Indians". In the same year, the Argentine Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel proposed him for the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize .

He was awarded various honorary doctorates from domestic and foreign universities, including in 1987 by the Philosophical Faculty of Saarland University . In 1986 he received the Rothko Chapel Prize in Houston, on July 8, 1988 the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights and in the same year posthumously the United Nations Human Rights Prize .

Fonts

  • Rupito. 1953.
  • Creo en el Hombre y en la Comunidad. 1977.
  • El Evangelio Subversivo. 1987.
  • Concienciación, Evangelización y Política. 1987.

literature

  • Giancarlo Collet : “Sharing sorrows and hopes”. Leonidas Proaño (1910–1988), Bishop of Riobamba / Ecuador. In: Johannes Meier (Ed.): The poor first! Twelve life pictures of Latin American bishops. Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-7867-2133-5 , pp. 66-80.
  • Giancarlo Collet: “Sharing sorrows and hopes”. On the 10th anniversary of the death of Leonidas Proaño, Bishop of the Indians. In: Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft , Vol. 82 (1998), pp. 183–196.
  • Autobiografía de Mons. Leonidas Proaño (PDF, 3 pages). To download from the homepage of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education (Spanish).
  • Enrique Rosner (ed. And translator): Revolution of the poncho: Leonidas Proaño - Liberator of the Indians . Verlag Josef Knecht, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-7820-0629-1 .
  • Enrique Rosner: Leonidas, el amigo . Artes Gráficas Silva, Quito 2010, ISBN 978-9942-03-124-2 .
  • Pastoral Diocesana (ed.): Encuentro de Riobamba. 10º aniversario de la Pascua de Mons. Proaño. 30º aniversario de Medellín . Riobamba 1998.
  • Ilena Almeida, Nidia Arrobo Rodas (ed.): En defensa del pluralismo y la igualdad. Los derechos de los pueblos indios y el Estado. Aportaciones del Simposio organized en homenaje a Monseñor Proaño, Obispo de los Indios, que tuvo lugar dentro del 49. Congreso Internacional de Americanistas 1997 in Quito . Abya-Yala, Quito 1998, ISBN 9978-04-417-5 .
  • Adolfo Pérez Esquivel : The Prophet of Chimborazo. On the 20th anniversary of the death of Bishop Leonidas Proaño . In: Awakening - Impulses from the Nonviolent Struggle in Latin America , No. 57, 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Raúl Lugo Rodríguez: Monseñor Leonidas Proaño, obispo de los indios , accessed on January 19, 2019.
  2. ^ Leonidas E. Proaño (ed.): Jesucristopaj Alli Huillai Evangelio Nishca. Los Evangelios en Quichua. Editorial Don Bosco, Quito 1972.
  3. ^ List of previous recipients. (PDF; 43 kB) United Nations Human Rights, April 2, 2008, accessed on December 29, 2008 (English).
predecessor Office successor
Alberto María Ordóñez Bishop of Riobamba
1954–1985 		Victor Corral
personal data
SURNAME Proaño, Leonidas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Proaño Villalba, Leonidas Eduardo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ecuadorian clergyman, Bishop of Riobamba
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH San Antonio de Ibarra , Ecuador
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 1988
Place of death Quito