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Mauricio López Oropeza

Key Details

Job title:
Ecclesial Affiliate

Mauricio has been involved in enabling networking and pastoral action within the church throughout his career, inspired by his early experiences studying and later working with the Jesuits. Mauricio moved to Ecuador in 2009 as the Director of Cáritas Ecuador, and it was there that he first visited the Amazon basin - a transformative experience that has informed his life and work ever since. Mauricio went on to serve as Executive Secretary and co-founder of REPAM (Red Eclesial Panamazónica / the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network) which connects bishops’ conferences and church communities across the nine countries of the Amazon region. Mauricio was one of two non-bishops on the pre-synodal council responsible for preparations for the 2019 Amazon Synod. He participated in the Synod Assembly as an auditor.

Mauricio is now Executive Secretary of CEAMA (Conferencia Eclesial de la Amazonía / Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon) which is working to implement the proposals of the Amazon Synod. He is also Director of Networking and Programs for Pastoral Action at CELAM (Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano / Conselho Episcopal Latino-Americano / Episcopal Council for Latin America and the Caribbean). In 2021, he was appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. 

As the Ecclesial Networks Alliance for Integral Ecology promotor at the Laudato Si' Research Institute, Mauricio intends to foster, accompany, and articulate the emerging territorial ecclesiastical networks world-wide. The aim is to offer a space in which reflection, the exchange of experiences, and the possibility of creating thematic research groups will allow us to embody the Integral Ecology approach laid out in Laudato Si' and contribute to the reforms of the Catholic church at local, regional, and global levels. This work will be shaped by the lessons of the Amazon Synod and the concrete experience of REPAM, as well as the evolving processes coming from those in other territories such as the Congo basin, the Asia Pacific and Oceania tropical forests system, Mesoamerica, the Gran Chaco and the Guaraní aquifer, North America, and Europe. This territorial approach will present us with the opportunity to accompany the key itineraries for the reform of the Church, led by Pope Francis and in close collaboration with social movements, indigenous peoples' organisations, and key Vatican offices.

Mauricio is Mexican by birth, Ecuadorian by choice, and Amazonian by vocation. He is the former world president (2013-2018) and member of Christian Life Community CLC. Married to Ana Lucia Torres, he lives and works in Ecuador.

  • Education

    Masters degree in Social Sciences applied to Territorial Development, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), Ecuador

     

    Postgraduate studies in Human Development, Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla

     

    Special studies in Latinamerican Theology and Theology for the Laity, Universidad Iberoamericana León and CLC

     

    Special studies in Human Rights - Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador and Ruiz de Montoya University in Peru

     

    Spiritual guide and accompagnateur

     

    Undergraduate Studies in Management, organizational development and business administration

     

    Special studies in organizational development

  • Research Interests

    Mauricio's research interests are connected to territoriality, networking, human rights, cultural diversity, traditional spiritualities, and the social teaching of the Catholic Church.

     

    He has been involved in the following research projects:

    • Human Rights, Integral Ecology, and the Amazon region. AUSJAL (Jesuit Universities Network in Latin America).

    • Intercultural health and identities in Indigenous peoples in the Panamazon region. PUCE (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador) / AUSJAL. 

  • Selected Publications

    Beloved Amazonia: A Love Letter for the Conversion of Hearts. National Catholic Reporter, 14 February 2020.

     

    I was at the Amazon Synod. Here Are Its 3 Significant Lessons (and Challenges) for the Church. America Magazine, 19 February 2020.

     

    Beyond the Pandemic: Believe Everything or Deny Everything? Thinking Faith: The Online Journal of the Jesuits in Britain, 7 May 2020.

     

    Four Criteria to Interpret the Amazon Synod. La Civiltà Cattolica, 15 October 2019.

     

    Make Room for the God of Surprises. The Tablet, 15 August 2019.

     

    The Pan-Amazon Synod – Walking Together in an Ecclesial Kairos. Vatican News, 30 June 2019.

     

    Stanford, Peter. The Amazon Comes to Rome: An October Synod and the Future of the Planet (interview with Mauricio). The Tablet, 30 May 2019.

     

    Books and chapters in books:

     

    López Oropeza, Mauricio. 2012. Entre La Identidad y La Ruptura Territorial: La Construcción Socio-Histórica y Socio-Económica En Intag. Editorial Abya-Yala y Pastoral Social Cáritas Ecuador.

     

    López Oropeza, Mauricio. 2020. ‘El Grito Panamazónico Reclama Un Nuevo Rostro de Iglesia’. In Los Clamores de Los Pobres y de La Tierra Nos Interpelan. 50 Años de La Conferencia de Medellín: Conversatorios, 221–27. Fundación Amerindia.

     

    López Oropeza, Mauricio. 2020. ‘El Sínodo Panamazónico: Caminar Juntos en un Kairós Eclesial’. In La Sinodadlidad en La Vida de La Iglesia: Reflexiones para Contribuir a La Reforma Eclesial. Editorial San Pablo.

     

    López Oropeza, Mauricio, and David Martínez, eds. 2013. La Participación Socio-Política Del Laicado Cristiano. Reflexiones y Experiencias Desde La Espiritualidad Ignaciana en La CVX América Latina. Universidad Iberoamericana León.