New Bishop Appointed for Cancún-Chetumal Diocese

The Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico has announced the surprising appointment of Monsignor Salvador González Morales as Bishop of the Diocese of Cancún-Chetumal. The appointment comes through a brief statement issued by the nunciature, communicated via the General Secretariat of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, stating that His Holiness Leo XIV has deigned to appoint Monsignor Salvador González Morales, until now Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico.

The appointment is surprising because it occurs when the until-now bishop of the Cancún-Chetumal diocese, Monsignor Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas, had become one of the main critics of the Morena governments in Quintana Roo. In recent years, he had turned his pulpit into a platform to harshly expose the reality experienced by the Quintana Roo community, and according to informed sources, he received several criticisms from high Catholic hierarchies.

It is worth noting that the pastoral work of Monsignor Pedro Pablo was brilliant and rescued a diocese that had been overwhelmed by urban growth around its parishes. Pedro Pablo had at least two Sundays where he did not offer his customary press conferences after the noon mass at the Cancún Cathedral.

Another point that draws attention is that since its foundation as a prelature and its conversion to a diocese, the two bishops who have administered said diocese were Legionaries of Christ, and the newly appointed head of this demarcation is a prelate very close to the high Catholic hierarchy installed in the capital of the republic.

Bishop Salvador González Morales is a native of Mexico City and is from the close circle of the Primate Archbishop of Mexico, Carlos Aguiar Retes. His arrival in the most touristic and Morena state in the country means he will encounter a diocese distant from the Quintana Roo authorities, who were always dissatisfied with the harsh and real homilies delivered by Monsignor Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas, mainly on the topics of insecurity and social inequality, which far from being combated by the Fourth Transformation, were exacerbated by allowing the ostentation of some members of the ruling party.

Curriculum of the New Bishop of the Cancún-Chetumal Diocese

The appointment of Bishop Salvador González Morales occurred surprisingly through a brief statement issued by the Apostolic Nunciature in Mexico: “The Apostolic Nunciature communicates, through the General Secretariat of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, that His Holiness Leo XIV has deigned to appoint Bishop of the Diocese of Cancún-Chetumal, to His Excellency Mons. Salvador González Morales, until now Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico. We join in joy and prayer with the Church that pilgrimages in the Diocese of Cancún-Chetumal and wish a fruitful performance in his new episcopal assignment that the Lord has entrusted to him,” concludes the statement.

For his part, Salvador González Morales was born in Mexico City on December 20, 1971. He is a Mexican Catholic priest, recently appointed as the second Bishop of Cancún on December 6, 2025. Previously, he was auxiliary bishop of Mexico City from 2019 to 2025.

The Episcopal Shield used by Monsignor Salvador González Morales when he served as Titular Bishop of the Diocese of Lacubaza and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico said in its motto: His episcopal motto is: “According to your word,” in adherence to God’s plan manifested on Mary’s lips at the Annunciation, the day of his episcopal consecration.

In essence, in an interview granted to the Catholic magazine Desde la Fe, he indicated that being an Auxiliary Bishop implies an experience of episcopal communion with the Primate Archbishop, Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, through support in coordinating and animating the presbytery and pastoral agents, as well as in matters related to the archdiocesan pastoral project, which itself entails enormous challenges.

According to the newspaper close to the Holy See in the Vatican, L’Osservatore Romano, said at that time that on March 25, 2019, Monsignor Salvador González Morales received episcopal ordination to serve as Auxiliary Bishop of the Primatial Archdiocese of Mexico.

According to his biographical profile, Monsignor González Morales is the second of three children of the marriage formed by Don Salvador González and Doña María de Lourdes Morales. The bishop of the Primatial Archdiocese, Father Salvador González Morales, was born in Mexico City on December 20, 1971.

He was ordained a deacon on June 16, 2001, at the Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Guadalupe, by the imposition of hands of Cardinal Don Norberto Rivera, who carried out his Priestly Ordination in the same venue on May 18, 2002.

Father Salvador was general secretary of the Higher Institute of Ecclesiastical Studies from 2004 to 2007, a period in which he also served as prefect of discipline for the third grade of Philosophy at the Conciliar Seminary of Mexico.

From 2007 to 2011, he held the position of Vice-Rector of the Conciliar Seminary of Mexico, Tlalpan house, and subsequently, from 2011 to 2014, he was choir chaplain at the Basilica.

Between August 2014 and January 2016, he served as parish vicar of San Bernardino de Siena, in the Xochimilco borough, a venue that welcomed him as parish administrator at the end of his vicarial services.

In 2017, he began serving as head of the Second Deanery of the VIII Episcopal Vicariate, and since August 2018, he has been parish priest in solidum in the San Bernardino de Siena Pastoral Unit.

It should be noted that, from 2012 to 2014, Father Salvador González Morales was also coordinator of the Bachelor’s Degree in Theology and Guadalupan Culture at the Pontifical University of Mexico – with headquarters at the Basilica – and between 2014 and 2016, coordinator of the Master’s in Philosophy at the Catholic University “Lumen Gentium,” of which he remains a professor of Philosophy to this day.

His Appointment Alongside Auxiliary Bishop in Monterrey

Pope Leo XIV made the appointment of two new bishops for Mexico: in addition to the new Bishop of Cancún-Chetumal, in the state of Quintana Roo, he appointed an Auxiliary Bishop for Monterrey, in Nuevo León: Monsignor José Eugenio Ramos Delgado, a 52-year-old priest.

Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Monsignor Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas, LC, 76 years old, from the pastoral government of the Diocese of Cancún-Chetumal.

During the two decades of Elizondo Cárdenas’ management, the Catholic Church in the region increased its presence in urban and rural communities, as well as in areas marked by population mobility and social care demands.

His departure opens a period of internal reorganization and continuity of established pastoral projects. According to canon law, bishops must submit their resignation to the Vatican upon turning 75 years old, which is accepted at variable times as determined by the Holy See.

In a statement, the bishops of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) assured their gratitude for “the episcopal ministry performed by Monsignor Pedro Pablo in the Diocese of Cancún-Chetumal.” At the same time, they indicated that they join “in joy and prayer for this particular Church with its new pastor, Monsignor Salvador, to whom we wish a fruitful performance in the new episcopal assignment that the Lord has entrusted to him.”