Pope Francis on Saturday appointed Filipino Bishop Ryan Jimenez of Chalan Kanoa in the Northern Mariana Islands as the new archbishop of Agaña in Guam.
Jimenez will take over from Archbishop Michael Byrnes, who resigned in March 2023 at age 64 due to health issues.
Since then, Fr. Romeo Convocar, also a Filipino, has been temporarily in charge as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese.
Jimenez, 52, has been the bishop of Chalan Kanoa since 2016.
He will be installed as archbishop of at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna, Guam on Aug. 15, 2024, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The archbishop-elect is currently the president of the Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici (CEPAC), and the vice-president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO).
FCBCO is composed of the bishops conferences of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and CEPAC.
He also serves as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.
Born and raised in Dumaguete City, Jimenez began his studies and formation for the priesthood at St. Joseph Seminary College (high school department) in Dumaguete.
He then enrolled at San Jose Major Seminary in Quezon City and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Pre-Divinity from Ateneo de Manila University in 1992.
After college, he joined the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines, working as a community organizer in the southern Philippines. From 1993 to 1995, he taught at a Jesuit high school in Cebu City, Sacred Heart School for Boys.
In 1995, Jimenez moved to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) as a migrant worker and taught at Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja, a Catholic school on the island of Rota.
In 1999, he was accepted into the seminary program of the Chalan Kanoa diocese and was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 2003.
He completed his studies in the United States at Saint Patrick’s Seminary and University in California, earning his Bachelor in Sacred Theology, Master’s degree in Divinity, and Master’s degree in Theology in 2003.
In 2010, he was appointed apostolic administrator of Chalan Kanoa and, in 2016, became its second bishop.
