Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez

Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez (born October 31, 1936 in Barranca, Dominican Republic) is the current archbishop of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. 
He was ordained on 18 March 1961 by Francisco Panal Ramírez, O.F.M., bishop of La Vega. He served as Vicar cooperator of the cathedral of La Vega, 1961-1963. Further studies in Rome, 1963-1965. Chancellor and secretary of the diocesan curia of La Vega, 1966-1968. Further studies, Rome, 1968-1969. In the diocese of La Vega, 1969-1978, diocesan assessor for the pastoral of the youth and pastor of the cathedral, 1969-1970. Vicar for the pastoral and pro-vicar general, 1970-1976. Vicar general, 1976-1978.
He earned degree in in social science from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). Besides his native Spanish, he speaks Italian, English, German, Portuguese and Latin.
==Episcopate==
He was appointed bishop of San Francisco de Macorís on 16 January 1978 by Pope Paul VI and was consecrated on 25 February 1978, by Cardinal Octavio Antonio Beras Rojas, archbishop of Santo Domingo, assisted by Juan Antonio Flores Santana, bishop of La Vega, and by Jesús María De Jesús Moya, auxiliary of Santiago de los Caballeros. He serced as rector of the University of San Francisco de Macorís from 1979-1984. He was promoted to the metropolitan and primatial see of Santo Domingo on 15 November 1981. He was elected president of the Conference of the Dominican Episcopate in July 1984 and served as President of the Latin American Episcopal Council from 25 April 1991 to 1994. He was created and proclaimed Cardinal-Priest of San Pio X alla Balduina in the consistory of 28 June 1991. 
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.
He holds the title of "Primate of the Americas," because the diocese of Santo Domingo was the first erected in the New World.
==Views==
López Rodríguez organized a meeting of the Latin American bishops held in Santo Domingo in 1992, which was a showcase for his very traditional views, described as "temporalist and pyramidal" by veteran Vatican observer Giancarlo Zizola. He has integralist leanings; he has insisted that the parliament in the Dominican Republic approve a law instituting the Catholic feast of the Annunciation, March 25, as a national holiday. Who Will Be the Next Pope?
====References====
Category:1936 births
Category:Living people
Category:Cardinals of the Dominican Republic
Category:Alumni of the Pontifical Gregorian University
Category:Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II
de:Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
fr:Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
it:Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
la:Nicolaus Iesus López Rodríguez
no:Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
pl:Nicolás de Jesús López Rodriguez
pt:Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez
ru:Лопес Родригес, Николас де Хесус