The Regional Prosecutor's Office of Chiriquí (Panama) began an ex officio investigation this past Wednesday, January 31, into the alleged disappearance of the cardinal and bishop of David (Panama) and Augustinian Recollect religious José Luis Lacunza, originally from Navarra.
This was confirmed by the Attorney General's Office of Panama this Thursday in a message published on the social network 'X'. According to the Panamanian press, personnel from the Bishopric in David (Chiriquí) filed a complaint because they did not know the whereabouts of the cardinal, who was last seen last Tuesday afternoon.
The Church of Panama has asked the Panamanian people for prayers for the bishop. "By confirming with the ecclesial authorities of the Diocese of David, the lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of Cardinal José Luis Lacunza, we ask the people of God to unite in prayer at this time, asking for his prompt appearance," said the Archdiocese of Panama.
José Luis Lacunza was born in Pamplona, on February 24, 1944 and at the age of 12 he entered the San José Minor Seminary, in Artieda (Navarra) of the Augustinian Recollects; He studied philosophy at the Convent of Valentuñana (Sos del Rey Católico, Zaragoza) and the Novitiate and theology at the Seminary of Pamplona (Berriozar).
He was ordained a priest on July 13, 1969, in Pamplona, and was soon assigned to Panama, where he graduated in Philosophy and Letters. He served as professor and rector of the San Agustín school in Panama and was professor and rector of the Sta. María la Antigua Catholic University of Panama (USMA).
He became a Panamanian citizen in 1982 and was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Panama in January 1986, at the age of 42. He was president of the Panamanian Episcopal Conference for two three-year terms and has worked in the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) in various positions. It was there that he met, collaborated and became friends with the cardinal of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, especially at the Aparecida Assembly (Brazil, 2007).
As auxiliary bishop of Panama, he had to stand up for the Panamanian Church against the dictator Manuel A. Noriega, between 1987 and 1990. Later, as bishop of David, "he defended the indigenous people of his diocese, who demanded respect for their lands, in the face of the government of the nation that did not attend to their claims.
On February 14, 2015, Lacunza was created cardinal by Pope Francis, in a consistory in Rome in which Ricardo Blázquez also received the cardinal purple. Lacunza thus became the first cardinal of the diocese of Panama, in its 500 years of history and the first of the Augustinian Recollect Order, in its more than 400 years of foundation.
