Leo XIV appoints military bishop who wants to “make a different Church”, and is open to female deacons and Communion for homosexuals.
On September 14, Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Pedro Luis Fuentes Valencia, 58, as Military Ordinary for Bolivia.
The Passionist bishop has served as apostolic administrator of the Military Ordinary since 2022, alongside his duties as auxiliary bishop of La Paz.
Fuentes represented the Bolivian bishops at both sessions of the Synod on Synodality in Rome in 2023 and 2024.
"Synodality Is Nature of Church"
In October 2023 he spoke of having “the courage to build a different kind of church”.
In June 2024, he defined synodality as “the very nature of the Church”.
In July 2024, he repeated: “The Synod on Synodality is a way of being the Church.” And: “This is the Church’s identity: listening to one another, sharing, walking together, maturing together, growing together,”
Communion for Homosexuals
In October 2023, Monsignor Fuentes spoke about Holy Communion for adulterers and those “not in full communion with the church”.
According to Ceb.bo this included “the situation of the LGBT community”.
Bishop Fuentes said: “This remains under debate, and the issue is still open. But to enter into Communion, one must reflect on one’s life—not so much in a moralistic sense, but in terms of what it means to be a Christian, for that is the direction we are heading in: what it means to be baptized and to be a follower of the Lord.”
Female Deacons Are Open Question
In July 2025, he claimed that “the debate on women's participation in ministries such as the diaconate has begun, although these issues are still under discussion.”
Already in July 2024 he had told the Bolivian bishops that female deacons are an open question. He thought that the Synod would “approve women’s potential access to the diaconate” but the delegates couldn’t agree”.
In the same presentation, Bishop Fuentes called for a structural reform of the ministry and alternatives to the ministry in many communities and for women. His example are laywomen authorized to baptize, officiate at weddings, lead a community, and offer counsel.
Such new ministries are “a sign of hope” in “keeping with the spirit of a synodal Church.”
Change Hierarchical Church
Monsignor Fuentes furthermore spoke against “a very clerical, very hierarchical Church”.
Priests were not formed for the synodal process and have thus to reprogram their minds (“take out those chips”).
God Speaks at Synod
In January 2025, Monsignor Fuentes labelled the Synod as “a second spring”.
He wrote that the Holy Spirit was guiding the Synod: “It was not merely a gathering of cardinals, bishops, priests, religious sisters, and laypeople, but something willed by God, who—through specific circumstances and people—has spoken to us and continues to speak to us.”
“I invite you to read the conclusions with a positive attitude and an open mind.”
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