Pope Francis named Filipino Bishop Ryan Jimenez as the new archbishop of Hagåtña in Guam on Saturday.

Jimenez, who is currently assigned to the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in the Northern Mariana Islands, will be installed as archbishop at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagåtña (formerly Agaña) on August 15.

Since the resignation of Archbishop Michael Byrnes in March 2023 due to health reasons, Filipino priest Fr. Romeo Convocar has served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Agaña Archdiocese.

“I look forward to being available to Guam and doing my best with the grace of God on my news mission for the people of the Archdiocese of Agaña,” Jimenez said in an interview with Guam local news KUAM.

“I never imagined [being an archbishop.] Even the priesthood was not in my mind when I came here. I came here as a migrant worker and teaching was my first passion, and still is my passion but in a different platform now,” he added.

Jimenez was born in Dumaguete City in 1971. He grew up in the neighboring island province of Siquijor.

He acquired his bachelor’s degree in pre-divinity at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1992.

In 1995, Jimenez moved to the Northern Mariana Islands and served as a teacher at Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja, the lone Catholic school on Rota Island.

He was accepted into the seminary program of the Chalan Kanoa diocese in 1999 and ordained priest in 2003.

Before he was appointed archbishop, Jimenez became the second bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in 2016.

Jimenez is currently the president of the Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici, and the vice president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania.

He is also a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.—Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News