Javier Lozano Barragán

Early life and education

Born in Toluca, State of México, Lozano Barragán trained as a priest in Zamora, Michoacán, and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in theology and was ordained in 1955.

Bishop

In 1979, Lozano Barragán was appointed auxiliary Bishop of Mexico City, then Bishop of Zacatecas in 1984. He went to the Vatican in 1996 as President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers, and was named Archbishop ad personam.

Cardinalate

Bishop Lozano Barragán was elevated to Cardinal-Deacon of San Michele Arcangelo by Pope John Paul II on 21 October 2003.

Lozano Barragán was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

On 18 April 2009, Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Cardinal Lozano Barragán for reasons of age and appointed Zygmunt Zimowski to the post.

Having served 10 years as a cardinal-deacon, he was promoted to Cardinal-Priest of Santa Dorotea by Pope Francis on 12 June 2014.

Abortion

Cardinal Barragán has expressed strong opposition to abortion, especially with regards to the RU-486 pill, which has abortive effects on the conceptus.

John Paul II

Cardinal Lozano Barragán was among the first to promote the canonization of Pope John Paul II after his death in April 2005, claiming that the 1990 recovery of a boy with terminal leukemia, whom the Pope blessed, is a miracle attributable to John Paul.

AIDS and contraception

In 2006 it was reported that Cardinal Lozano Barragán was preparing a report for Pope Benedict which might state that using condoms is the lesser of two evils when one of the people is infected with AIDS However, the story was later downplayed when the cardinal declared that he did not have the authority to give definitive doctrinal directives. Moreover, in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI argued that the spread of AIDS "cannot be overcome by the distribution of prophylactics: on the contrary, they increase it."

Euthanasia

Cardinal Lozano Barragán has publicly intervened in high-profile euthanasia cases, notably with Terri Schiavo and Eluana Englaro, which he unabashedly described as murders.

Homosexuals and transsexuals

In December 2009 a website published a statement by Cardinal Lozano Barragán in which he said that, while the Church regarded homosexuality as an insult to God, this did not justify discrimination against gay and transsexual people. The cardinal quoted Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans as indicating that homosexuals and transsexuals will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He later clarified that this did not mean that no individual homosexual can be saved, since existence of grave fault requires not only grave matter but also full knowledge and consent, and since being homosexual is often due not to personal fault but to education and environment. Saying that people are not born homosexual, he attributed homosexuality to reasons such as education and failure to develop one's identity during adolescence.

Holy See Press Office spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, S.J. said the website should not be considered an authority on Catholic thinking "on complex and delicate issues such as homosexuality". For the teaching of the Catholic Church on the matter, Lombardi referred to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2357–2359, which states that, while "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered", those who have homosexual tendencies "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity" and "every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided".