Home Regional News Msgr. Juan R. Esposito-Garcia and Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala appointed auxiliary bishops in...

Msgr. Juan R. Esposito-Garcia and Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala appointed auxiliary bishops in Washington archdiocese

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This is a composite photo of Msgr. Juan R. Esposito-Garcia, left, and Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, both priests of the Archdiocese of Washington. Pope Francis appointed named both of them as auxiliary bishops for the archdiocese Dec. 19, 2022. (CNS photo/courtesy Archdiocese of Washington and Andrew Biraj, Catholic Standard)

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis has appointed two Washington archdiocesan priests, Msgr. Juan R. Esposito-Garcia and Father Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, as auxiliary bishops of their archdiocese.

Bishop-designate Esposito-Garcia, who turns 49 Jan. 10, is currently serving as an official in the Dicastery for Bishops at the Vatican. Bishop-designate Menjivar-Ayala, 52, is currently pastor of St. Mary Church in the Washington suburb of Landover Hills, Md.

Their appointments were announced Dec. 19 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican nuncio to the United States.

Born in Argentina, Bishop-designate Esposito-Garcia was ordained a priest for the Washington Archdiocese June 14, 2008. He has been a dicastery official since 2018 and was named a monsignor in 2021.

From 2016 to 2018, he was an adjunct judicial vicar and judicial vicar for the Washington archdiocesan tribunal.

Bishop-designate Menjivar-Ayala was born in Chalatenango, El Salvador, and came to the United States with his brother as a teenager because of the violence and unrest in his home country, while his family remained in El Salvador.

Ordained for the Washington Archdiocese May 29, 2004, he has been pastor in Landover Hills since 2017.