Suquía Goicoechea, Angel

b. 1916, Zaldivia, Guipúzcoa

   Cardinal Archbishop

   Created Bishop of Almería in 1966, of Málaga in 1969, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela in 1973, of Madrid in 1983 and designated Cardinal in 1985, Suquía was elected President of the Spanish Bishops" Conference (CEE) from 1987–90, was re-elected from 1990–3, and retired in 1994, having overseen the completion of Madrid's Almudena Cathedral. Considered to be highly conservative, contrasting in attitude and style with his immediate predecessors as CEE Presidents, Díaz Merchán and Enrique y Tarancón, both men of dialogue, he was very much in tune with the "restoration" attitude of Pope John Paul II. During his presidency of the CEE, and with entrenched positions on both sides, church relations with the socialist PSOE government were strained.

   See also: church and state; religion; Roman Catholicism; social attitudes

   AUDREY BRASSLOFF