Francisco José Cox facts for kids

Francisco José Cox Huneeus (18 December 1933 – 12 August 2020) was a native of Chile and a former archbishop of the Catholic Church. He was a member of the Schoenstatt Movement. He was Bishop of Chillán from 1975 to 1981 and Coadjutor Archbishop of La Serena from 1985 to 1990 and Archbishop there from 1990 to 1997. He was laïcized in 2018.

Biography

Cox Huneeus was born in Santiago de Chile on 18 December 1933. He was ordained a priest on 16 July 1961. On 14 December 1974 he was named Bishop of Chillán, and he received his episcopal consecration on 2 March 1975.

He was appointed Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family in Rome on 4 August 1981 and left his position in Chillán on 9 November. On 22 January 1985 Pope John Paul II named him Coadjutor Archbishop of La Serena, and on 29 September 1990 he became archbishop.

Pope John Paul II accepted his resignation as Archbishop of La Serena on 16 April 1997. Mental health issues were said to explain the resignation long before the usual age of 75. From 1997 to 2002 he performed administrative assignments in Rome and in Colombia, and then left Chile permanently to live at the Schönstatt community's central headquarters in Germany at the request of the Congregation for Bishops. There he worked on translations.

On 11 October 2018 Pope Francis laicized Cox. He was no longer a priest and could not appeal that decision. He remained a member of the Schönstatt community, whose leaders announced they were ordering a medical evaluation to determine if Cox was fit to return to Chile for legal proceedings. He was reported to be suffering from senile dementia and requiring nursing care.

On August 12, 2020 Cox died of respiratory failure and multisystemic failure. At the time of his death, Cox was awaiting trial and was forced to return to Chile from Germany, were he lived between 2002 and 2019. Cox was also buried the same day with all four of his brothers present.

See also

In Spanish: Francisco José Cox para niños