archbishop bishop cardinal priest theologian
Suárez Rivera studied classical literature at the conciliar seminary of Chiapas in San Cristóbal, where he was ordained a priest in 1952, and then philosophy at the archdiocesan seminary of Xalapa and the Pontifical Seminary of Montezuma in Montezuma, New Mexico, in the United States. After these studies, he completed a doctorate in theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Suárez Rivera worked for about ten years as a professor of classical literature and philosophy at the diocesan seminary of San Cristóbal de las Casas, then was a department head and secretary in the Archdiocesan Curia. In 1971, Suárez Rivera was named Bishop of Tepic. From 8 November 1983 until 25 January 2003 he served as Archbishop of Monterrey.
He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of 26 November 1994, and given the title of Cardinal-Priest of Nostra Signora di Guadalupe a Monte Mario.
Although eligible to vote in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, Suárez Rivera was one of only two cardinal electors unable to attend due to medical reasons (the other being Jaime Sin of the Philippines). The cardinal died on Holy Saturday, 22 March 2008, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico.
From 1979 to 1983, he served as an adjunct member of the Congregation for Bishops, and he was a delegate to the 1983 Sixth General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Reconciliation and Penance.
