Monsignor Mario Ríos Montt was born in Huehuetenango on March 17, 1932 and died on April 5, 2026at 94 years old, on Easter 2026.
He traveled to Colombia; later, to the National Major Seminary of Costa Rica, from where he returned to Guatemala to be ordained a priest of the Order of Saint Vincent de Paul in the chapel of the Central House, in 1959. He received episcopal ordination on September 27, 1974, and served the church for more than 65 years.
In 1987 he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Guatemala. He held the position of Pastoral Vicar in the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese.
In 2010, Ríos Montt asked for his retirement, which was accepted. In 2011, at the age of 79, he was appointed apostolic administrator of the Vicariate of Izabal.
Among priests and ecclesiastical authorities, the change of bishop caused surprise, since Ríos Montt had retired since October 2010.
His appointment came in 2013 as director of the Archbishopric’s Human Rights Office (ODHA), after the death of Monsignor Juan Gerardi Conedera.
He described himself in an interview in 2014 with Prensa Libre: “I am a Pauline – Vincentians are called that here – who has been walking in this for quite a few years; there are 40 years of priesthood in the congregation and 25 as a bishop in Guatemala. That makes me have a few gray hairs, a few experiences and some hopes. For example, that the case of Monsignor Gerardi be resolved,” he said then.
On September 22, 2024, a thanksgiving mass was celebrated for his 50 years of episcopal ordination in the Nuestra Señora de Concepción parish, Escuintla Cathedral.