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 …More
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.”
Being a homosexual isn't a sin, so homosexuals have never been and aren't now barred from receiving Communion. They are subject only to the requirement that we all are, i.e., to be free of mortal sin when you walk up the aisle to receive. I really wish people speaking for publication would be more careful.
@JANET ZIMMER All sinners can receive absolution for their sins, but it is required they are contrite and have remorse for their sins. Celebrating their identity as homosexual does not express remorse.
If the shoe fits the bishop, then he wears it.