While still formally archbishop, Apuron was relieved of his pastoral and administrative authority in June 2016 following accusations he had sexually abused minors. Four months later, in October 2016, Pope Francis appointed Byrnes coadjutor archbishop of Agaña.
Apuron was found guilty of several abuse-related charges by the Vatican’s then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in March 2018. The conviction was upheld on appeal in February 2019, and the final sentencing was announced April 4, 2019.
Apuron was deprived of his office as archbishop of Agaña; forbidden from using its insignia, including the bishop’s miter and ring; and banned from living within the jurisdiction of the archdiocese. He was not removed from ministry and remains a priest under Church law.
In January 2019, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in federal court in the wake of numerous sex abuse allegations. The move, decided upon in November 2018, allowed the archdiocese to avoid trial and to begin to reach settlements in the abuse lawsuits, which amounted to over $115 million.
Byrnes, who succeeded Apuron in April 2019, went on extended leave from his duties in December 2022 for unspecified medical reasons. His resignation was accepted in March 2023.
New archbishop’s biography
Jimenez was born in Dumaguete City in the Philippines on Dec. 18, 1971.
He did initial studies in the Philippines before volunteering as a religion teacher to high school students in remote areas of his country.
Jimenez later immigrated to the United States, where he completed his seminary training at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in California, completing a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees in divinity and theology in 2003.
He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in 2003. In the mid-1990s, he had served the diocese as a teacher at the only Catholic school on the island of Rota.
In 2010, right before his 39th birthday, Jimenez was named apostolic administrator of Chalan Kanoa, becoming the spiritual leader of the over 43,000 Catholics of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
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He was recently awarded a doctorate in divinity from Fordham University.
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency’s senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.
