Roberto González Nieves

Roberto Octavio González Nieves was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on June 2, 1950. He attended Academia Santa Monica in Santurce, a district of San Juan, and then began his priestly formation at St. Joseph Seraphic Minor Seminary in Callicoon, New York. He graduated from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, in 1970. He was accepted as a candidate for the Franciscans at Christ House in Lafayette, New Jersey, in 1970 and he entered the novitiate of the Order at St. Francis Friary in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1971. He professed his first vows in 1972.[1] González earned a Master of Sacred Theology degree at the Washington Theological Coalition (now Washington Theological Union) in Silver Spring, Maryland. He completed his doctorate in sociology at Fordham University. He authored The Hispanic Catholic in the United States: a Socio-Cultural and Religious Profile.

On May 8, 1977, González was ordained a priest. Beginning in 1982, served at St. Pius V Parish in the South Bronx, and then at Holy Cross Church, also in the Bronx. From 1986 to 1988, he served as pastor of that parish. In 1987 New York City Mayor Ed Koch included him on his list of his six appointees to the New York City Police Review Panel.[2]

On July 19, 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed him an auxiliary bishop of the Boston, serving under Cardinal Bernard Francis Law. González became popular with the Hispanic community of the region.

On May 16, 1995, González was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas. On April 1, 1997, he succeeded as bishop of the diocese. He was very popular with the Hispanic community.

On March 26, 1999, González was appointed archbishop of San Juan by Pope John Paul II.[3] He was installed as archbishop on May 8. Attendees included the mayor of San Juan Sila Calderón, former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló, and other Puerto Rican political figures. González' retiring predecessor Cardinal Luis Aponte Martínez observed that the ceremony marked the first time that a Puerto Rican archbishop handed the see over to another Puerto Rican archbishop.

Almost immediately, González raised his profile across the island. In September 1999, he joined Rev. Jesse Jackson at an interfaith prayer service in East Harlem in New York City, where he preached in Spanish on themes of Puerto Rican nationalism and anti-colonialism. He distanced himself from any specific position on the legal status of Puerto Rico, but said he favored institutions that "foster the national identity of the Puerto Rican people".[4] He has articulated outspoken and often controversial views, particularly in defense of the Navy-Vieques protests and in his denunciation of homosexuality, among other things.[5] His actions in the Vieques Protests won him international notoriety, and he has been viewed as a strong Latin-American leader of the Catholic Church.

He has proclaimed his pride in being Puerto Rican, asked the Government to work hard to preserve the national identity of Puerto Ricans, and criticized political corruption in Puerto Rico.[6]

During the spring of 2006, along with several Protestant leaders, he was instrumental in persuading Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Senate President Kenneth McClintock, and House Speaker José Aponte Hernández to resolve Puerto Rico's fiscal crisis, which had sparked a two-week-long government shutdown.[7]