Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga as Archbishop of Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and appointed three bishops in the Central American country.

Cardinal Rodriguez turned 80 years old on December 29 and is a member of the Council of Cardinals, the body that advises the Holy Father on the reform of the Vatican Curia.

According to canon law, the norms that govern the Catholic Church, bishops present their resignation when they reach 75 years of age, and then it is up to the Pope to decide whether to accept it.

Born on December 29, 1942, Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga made his perpetual vows as a Salesian on May 3, 1961, and was ordained a priest on June 28, 1970.

On October 28, 1978, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Tegucigalpa and received the episcopal consecration on December 8.

He has been Apostolic Administrator of Santa Rosa de Copán and San Pedro Sula. He was appointed Archbishop of Tegucigalpa on January 8, 1993.

Pope St. John Paul II created him Cardinal on February 21, 2001, in the same consistory in which Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, was also created, with whom he collaborated as secretary of the Drafting Commission at the meeting of Latin American bishops in Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007.

In accepting his resignation on January 26, Pope Francis appointed as the new Archbishop of Tegucigalpa Fr. José Vicente Nacher Tatay, until now pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in San Pedro Sula and Superior of the Congregation of the Mission.

The Holy Father also accepted the resignation of Bishop Ángel Garachana Pérez, 78, as Bishop of San Pedro Sula.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.