Manuel Donoso

Manuel Gerardo Donoso Donoso was born in Santiago, Chile, on 16 October 1936, the son of Manuel Donoso Montt and Teresa Donoso Carrasco. He completed his schooling at the Colegio de los Sagrados Corazones in Santiago and studied law for a couple of years at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

He then entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, making his perpetual profession in 1958. He was ordained a priest on 23 September 1961 in Valparaíso Cathedral by Bishop Emilio Tagle Covarrubias. He earned a licentiate in theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and specialised in moral theology at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

On 16 June 1996 Pope John Paul II appointed Donoso titular bishop of Elo and auxiliary bishop of La Serena. He was consecrated on 10 August 1996, taking as his motto He admirado tu obra, Señor (I have admired your work, Lord). On 16 April 1997 he was named Archbishop of La Serena, succeeding Francisco José Cox, and took possession of the archdiocese on 4 May 1997.

His tenure in the Coquimbo Region included the founding of Radio San Bartolomé and its network of stations on 24 August 2001, and the pastoral letter Por fidelidad a Jesús, que quiere que todos tengamos vida en abundancia, published in July 2007, which addressed poverty as a shared social responsibility. He supported the restoration of churches damaged in the 1997 earthquake, notably the Temple of the Niño Dios de Sotaquí, unusable for 15 years, which was handed back in August 2013 and declared a sanctuary in January 2014. He received the Medalla Ciudad de La Serena in 2012.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation on age grounds on 14 December 2013, naming René Rebolledo Salinas as his successor, and Donoso served as apostolic administrator until March 2014.

After retiring, Donoso settled in Coquimbo and continued pastoral work with the prison chaplaincy and with the Casa de la Esperanza foundation, which supports people dependent on alcohol and other drugs. The municipality of Monte Patria honoured him in 2014. Known affectionately as Mañungo, he was popular with young Catholics in the archdiocese. On 16 August 2019 he said farewell to La Serena and moved to Viña del Mar to live with his sister Laurita, and some months later, because of health difficulties, moved to the provincial house of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts in Santiago.

Manuel Donoso died in Santiago on the morning of 29 October 2026, aged 90. His death was announced by Father Sandro Mancilla, provincial of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, whose statement spoke of the passing of "our brother Manuel" with hope in the Resurrection. Archbishop René Rebolledo Salinas and Auxiliary Bishop Enrique Balzán Caruana of La Serena offered condolences to his sister Laurita and to the congregation, recalling his simplicity as a pastor and his generous care for prisoners and the poor. No cause of death was given, and the congregation said details of the wake and funeral Masses would follow.

Donoso is remembered in the Coquimbo Region as a pastor close to his people, whose time in La Serena left a Catholic radio network, restored heritage churches including the Sanctuary of Sotaquí, and a strong tradition of ministry in prisons and among people struggling with addiction.