His Eminence Norberto Cardinal Rivera Carrera (born 6 June 1942) is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and that church's current Archbishop of Mexico City.

Rivera was born in La Purísima , a small town outside Tepehuanes in the Mexican state of Durango. He studied classics, philosophy, and theology at the seminary in Durango, Durango; he then earned a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Rivera Carrera was ordained a priest on 3 July 1966 by Pope Paul VI.

He returned to Durango, where he taught dogmatic theology for 18 years at the major seminary. In 1982, he was named a professor of ecclesiology at the Pontifical University of Mexico . While there, he was the founder of Movement for the Days of Christian Life , a member of the diocesan council and diocensan consultor, and director of the social communications of the archdiocese.

In 1985, he was named and ordained Bishop of Tehuacán by Pope John Paul II, and in 1995, Archbishop Primate of Mexico City . During this time, he was also chairman of the Mexican Episcopal Conference's Commission for the Family (1989–1995), and headed the Family Section of the Latin American Episcopal Council (1993–1995).

Rivera Carrera was incardinated by John Paul II in the consistory of 21 February 1998; he holds the title of Cardinal Priest of St. Francis of Assisi at Ripa Grande. He was one of the cardinals considered papabile in the 2005 Papal conclave to elect a successor to John Paul II.

External link

• Biography at catholic-pages.com