The Bishop of the Diocese of Pereira, Monsignor Rigoberto Corredor, recently announced that he had submitted a letter of resignation from the first post of the Diocese of Pereira, after having served the Catholic Church for 35 years.
The letter of resignation was delivered to Pope Francis through Monsignor Giovanni Bicchierri, secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature in Colombia, who acts as an intermediary between the Catholic Church in the country and the Holy See. In this letter, Monsignor Corredor informs Pope Francis that he will be 75 years old on August 5, and in accordance with the “motu proprio” signed by the pontiff on February 12, 2018, the prelates, bishops and holders of special pastoral positions they must tender their resignation from their pastoral duties upon reaching that age.
“In that letter he says that he has already reached the age of 75 on August 5. Therefore, we must anticipate the resignation “ affirmed the prelate.
Monsignor Rigoberto Corredor began his priestly career in 1973 as Cooperator Vicar of Arabia. Subsequently, he served as parish priest of Purembará in 1975 and San Antonio del Chamí in 1981. In 1982, he came to the Diocese of Pereira as Episcopal Vicar for Pastoral and later assumed the role of Episcopal delegate for Missions, Catechesis and Diaconate Permanent.
During the period between 1982 and 1988, he worked as a professor of Theology at the Major Seminary.
In 1988, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop to Monsignor Darío Castillón, and in 1996 he assumed the position of Bishop of the Diocese of Buenaventura, where he carried out outstanding pastoral work in remote areas.
Later, he was transferred to Garzón, in the department of Huila, where he remained for seven years. Finally, he returned to Pereira on October 1, 2004, where he has exercised his pastoral action to date.
Currently, Monsignor Rigoberto Corredor awaits the response of Pope Francis, as well as the Congregation for Bishops and the Secretary of State. Once he receives the answer, he must submit a report on the state of the Diocese and begin the search process for his successor.
In an interview conducted in March of this year for El Diario, the prelate expressed: «I consider that my retirement is fair and necessary. It is a deserved rest, since it has really been a very heavy load ».
In addition, he stated: “I will try to go to a parish to collaborate, I will try to read and write, I want to tell all those experiences of Buenaventura, especially those journeys through the rivers, write a little about everything that really happened to me, the encounter with those people, dialogue with them. In the pastoral part, to see everything they thought, also the burden of deaths and such things. I want to have a little lucid mind to write, help some parishes, but I also feel that one gets rid of the piano that he is carrying, as it is to carry an entire Diocese ”.