Oscar Gerardo Fernández Guillén

Oscar Gerardo Fernández Guillén (born 22 December 1949) is a Costa Rican Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Puntarenas from 2003 until his retirement in 2026.

Early life and education

Fernández Guillén was born on 22 December 1949 in San Rafael de Oreamuno, Cartago Province, Costa Rica.

Priestly ministry

He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San José de Costa Rica on 8 July 1977 by Archbishop Carlos Humberto Rodríguez Quirós. He received episcopal consecration on 25 July 2003 from Archbishop Hugo Barrantes Ureña, with Bishop José Francisco Ulloa Rojas and Archbishop Emeritus Román Arrieta Villalobos serving as co-consecrators.

Following the resignation of Archbishop José Rafael Quirós Quirós from the presidency of the Costa Rican Episcopal Conference in 2025, Fernández Guillén assumed the leadership of the conference on an interim basis as first vice-president until the bishops elected a new president.

On 20 June 2026, Pope Leo XIV accepted his resignation from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Puntarenas upon reaching the canonical retirement age and appointed Elímar Gerardo Carvajal Durán as his successor.