Edmundo Valenzuela
Archbishop Edmundo Ponziano Valenzuela Mellid SDB is a Roman Catholic missionary currently serving in Paraguay as the sixth Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Asunción. On February 13, 2006 he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as Apostolic Vicar to Chaco Paraguayo, an area with a population of 18,000 but only 5 ordained priests. As a result of this appointment, he was consecrated to the episcopate 22 April 2006. Prior to this appointment, Valenzuela served as a high-profile missionary in Angola. Valenzuela was ordained a priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1977.
Upon the resignation of Metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Asunción Pastor Cuquejo due to age, Valenzuela, as Coadjutor, became the new Metropolitan Archbishop of Asunción on 6 November 2014, as the 44th bishop of Asunción and the 6th metropolitan archbishop. He received the archiepiscopal pallium from Pope Francis on 29 June 2015 at St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.
