RIP: Bolivia Bishop Walter Toro Martínez dies after brief illness

[Episcopal News Service] Bolivia Bishop Walter Toro Martínez, the first Bolivian-born Anglican bishop, died April 16 after a brief illness.

“We give thanks to God for [Toro Martínez’s] life dedicated to the service of the Gospel, for his loving pastoral ministry and for his faithful witness to the care of God’s people,” the Anglican Episcopal Church of Bolivia, a diocese of the Anglican Church of South America, said in an April 16 statement posted to Facebook. “We trust in the Lord’s eternal promise and believe that he now rests in the glorious presence of God, sharing in the eternal life prepared for his faithful servants.”

Toro Martínez was consecrated bishop in 2022, succeeding the Rt. Rev. Raphael Samuel.

“We join the Anglican Church of South America in mourning Bishop Walter, and we give thanks to God for his life and witness,” the Rt. Rev. Anthony Pogo, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, told the Anglican Episcopal Church of Bolivia in an April 17 statement.

Other Anglican leaders offered their condolences to the dioceses, including the Very Rev. Belina Elizabeth Carranza-Lopez, provincial secretary of the Anglican Church of Mexico, and the Most Rev. Enrique J. Lago Zugadi, primate of the Anglican Church of Chile and South of Chile bishop.