Pope Francis appointed 66-year-old Archbishop Victor Hugo Palma Paul as the new Archbishop of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán, Guatemala. Until this appointment, Archbishop Palma Paul served as Bishop of the Diocese of Escuintla, where he served for 23 years.
The Holy See Press Office made the official announcement and communicated in Guatemala by the Apostolic Nunciature through the Communications Secretariat of the Episcopal Conference.
Guatemala, the most populous country in Central America with 18.6 million inhabitants, according to a 2022 census, has only two archdioceses: one in the capital and another in the region known as Los Altos.
The latter, located in the southwestern region of the country, has jurisdiction over the departments of Quetzaltenango, where the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit is located, and Totonicapán, home of the Co-Cathedral of San Miguel Arcángel.
In parallel, Pope Francis also accepted the resignation from the pastoral government of the Archdiocese of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán, presented by Monsignor Mario Alberto Molina Palma, 76 years old, of Panamanian origin and belonging to the Order of the Augustinian Recollects, who assumed the archbishopric in 2011.
According to the Holy See Bulletin, Archbishop Victor Hugo Palma Paul was born on April 10, 1958 in Guatemala City. He completed his philosophical and theological studies at the National Major Seminary of Guatemala and obtained a licentiate and doctorate in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy.
He was ordained a priest on December 23, 1983, and played various roles in the educational field, such as a teacher of Sacred Scripture and director of Studies at the National Major Seminary.
In 2001, Saint John Paul II appointed him Coadjutor Bishop of Escuintla, and in 2004 he assumed the role of titular Bishop of that diocese.