Juan Francisco Fresno

Cardinal Juan Francisco Fresno Larraín ( born July 26, 1914 in Santiago de Chile, † 14 October 2004, ibid ) was Archbishop of La Serena, later of Santiago de Chile.

Life

Coming from a better family, he was able to study the fourth of five children theology in Santiago and Rome and was ordained a priest in December 1937.

First priest in Santiago, he became in 1958 Bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Copiapó. As such, he participated in the Second Vatican Council. In 1967 he was appointed Archbishop of La Serena, in 1982 Archbishop of Santiago. There, he was initially cautious and conservative as Raúl Silva Henríquez than its predecessor, which had the murders of the dictatorship bluntly denounced and found the favor of Augusto Pinochet, who had many influential friends in Rome.

However, due to its efforts to balance in all directions, he soon got the nickname of " Red ". In 1985, he was received by Pope John Paul II as a Cardinal with the priestly title Immacolata di Lourdes church of Santa Maria a Boccea in the College of Cardinals and hosted the national convention of the banned parties to restore democracy. In 1987 at his instigation take a visit of Pope John Paul II in Chile, which was perceived as difficult balancing act. The following year, Pinochet lost a referendum on his presidency. In the first democratic elections in Fresno entered retirement in 1990, but remained highly regarded around the world.