Roberto González Nieves

Roberto Octavio González Nieves, O.F.M. (born June 2, 1950) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church.

Roberto González was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on June 2, 1950, to Puerto Rican parents.

His father was a graduate of Seton Hall.

He moved with his family to San Juan and grew up in a parish staffed by Franciscans.

He has described himself as "a child of the Puerto Rican diaspora, my emotional and primary homeland".

From 1957 to 1964 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, from 1964 to 1968.

González 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 graduated from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, in 1973 with a B.A. in English.

González professed his first vows on 25 August 1974 and his solemn vows on 21 August 1976.

González earned a Master of Sacred Theology degree in 1977 from the Washington Theological Coalition in Silver Spring, Maryland.

On May 8, 1977, González was ordained a priest for the Franciscans by Lorenzo Graziano, Bishop Emeritus of San Miguel in El Salvador, himself a Franciscan.

He earned a master's degree in 1978 and then his doctorate in 1984, both in sociology, at Fordham University in New York City.

His these was Ecological, Ethnic and Cultural Factors of Church Practice in an Urban Roman Catholic Church.

Beginning in 1982, González served at St. Pius V Parish and then from 1986 to 1988 at Holy Cross Parish, both in the Bronx.

In 1987, New York City Mayor Ed Koch included González as one of his six appointees to the New York City Police Review Panel.

González previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston in Massachusetts from 1988 to 1995, and as bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas from 1997 to 1999 after two years as coadjutor.

He devoted his first decade as a priest to pastoral work in the Bronx borough of New York City.

On July 19, 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed González an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston and titular bishop of Ursona.

He received his episcopal consecration in Boston on October 3, 1988, from Cardinal Bernard Law, with two cardinals as co-consecrators: John O'Connor of New York and Luis Aponte Martínez of San Juan.

On May 16, 1995, González was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Corpus Christi in Texas by John Paul II.

On April 1, 1997, he succeeded as bishop of the diocese upon the retirement of Bishop René Gracida.

He served on two committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Hispanic Affairs and the Church in Latin America.

He has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Juan in Puerto Rico since 1999.

On March 26, 1999, González was appointed archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Juan by John Paul II.

He was installed as archbishop on May 8, 1999.

Attendees included the mayor of San Juan, Sila Calderón and former Governor Carlos Romero Barceló.

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".

He has articulated outspoken and often controversial views, particularly in defense of the US Navy-Vieques protests and in his denunciation of homosexuality, among other things.

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.

González has proclaimed his pride in being Puerto Rican, has asked the U.S. Government to work hard to preserve the national identity of Puerto Ricans, and criticized political corruption in Puerto Rico.

During the spring of 2006, along with several Protestant leaders, he was instrumental in persuading Puerto Rican 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.

Since becoming apostolic delegate to Puerto Rico in 2008, he had clashed repeatedly with González, particularly disturbed, according to La Stampa, by González' Puerto Rican advocacy.

He submitted confidential reports that included claims González had mishandled cases of priests accused of sexual abuse and sold Catholic school property without authorization.

González indicated he would contest, in particular, any claim that he had not properly dealt with charges of sexual abuse on the part of priests.

In 2011, González was the target of charges that he was mismanaging the archdiocese.

The Congregation for the Clergy, with the backing of the Congregation for Bishops, appointed an apostolic visitor, Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil in Ecuador, to conduct an investigation, which he began on October 25.

Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, was eventually identified as Gonzalez' "principal and most insistent accuser".