The Apostolic Nunciature in Peru has confirmed that Pope Leo XIV has appointed Fr. César Luis Caro Puértolas as Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Vicariate of San José del Amazonas (Peru), a responsibility he will assume on a provisional basis, continuing the pastoral service he has already been performing as vicar general.
The role of apostolic administrator is entrusted by the Holy See in particular situations to ensure the accompaniment and pastoral governance of an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. In this role, the administrator coordinates the Vicariate on behalf of the Pope, assuming the duties and powers of the ordinary bishop, with the limitations established by canon law, always remembering the ecclesial principle that, as this is a transitional period, “nothing should be innovated.”
Fr. César Caro, born in Mérida (Spain) in 1970, was ordained a priest in 2000 and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz. After several years of pastoral service as a parish priest in rural communities in his diocese of origin—where he forged his career as a “village priest”—he always kept his missionary zeal alive.
That desire came to fruition in 2014, when he was sent to Peru, to the parish of Rodríguez de Mendoza, in the Diocese of Chachapoyas. Two years later, his encounter with the Amazon definitively marked his path. Since February 2017, he has been a missionary in the Vicariate of San José del Amazonas, beginning his service at the mission post in Islandia, on the banks of the Yavarí River. In March 2020, he was appointed vicar general and transferred to Indiana, where he also served as parish priest. Since February 2022, he has resided at the administrative headquarters of the Vicariate in Punchana–Iquitos.
The Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) welcomes this appointment as a sign of pastoral continuity, missionary closeness, and deep knowledge of the Amazonian territory, entrusting this new service to the prayers of the People of God and renewing the commitment to walk together in mission, care for life, and listen to the Amazonian peoples.