Ricardo Ernesto Centellas Guzmán

Ricardo Ernesto Centellas Guzman was born on 7 November 1962 in Suquistaca, Chuquisaca Department, Bolivia, within the Archdiocese of Sucre. An account published by Erbol after his death also identified his birthplace as Camargo in Nor Cinti Province. He completed primary and secondary schooling in Caiza D Municipality, Potosi Department.

In 1982 he took a propaedeutic course at the San Cristobal Seminary in Sucre. From 1983 to 1988 he studied philosophy and theology at the San Jose Seminary in Cochabamba. After ordination he pursued advanced studies in Rome, earning a licentiate in spiritual theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1993.

Centellas was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Sucre on 11 August 1988. From January 1989 to April 1991 he was parochial vicar of San Juan Bautista parish in Padilla. After returning from Rome he joined the formation staff of the San Cristobal Seminary, served as rector from 1996 to 2003, and was vicar general of Sucre from 1998 until his episcopal appointment.

On 30 June 2005 Pope Benedict XVI named him auxiliary bishop of Potosi and titular bishop of Turres Ammeniae. He was consecrated on 15 September 2005 by Bishop Walter Perez Villamonte, with Archbishops Jesus Gervasio Perez Rodriguez and Ivo Scapolo as co-consecrators. In October 2008 he took part in the Synod of Bishops' 12th Ordinary General Assembly. On 25 November 2009 he became Bishop of Potosi, taking possession on 28 January 2010.

Inside the Episcopal Conference of Bolivia he chaired the Area of Ecclesial Communion, sat on the Permanent Episcopal Council, and served as a substitute CELAM delegate. He was conference vice president from 2012 to 2015 and president from 2015 to 2021 after election at the 100th General Assembly and re-election in 2018.

As a Latin-rite Catholic bishop, Centellas lived under clerical celibacy. Public obituaries reviewed for this memorial emphasise his pastoral and academic work rather than private family detail beyond confirmation of death by relatives in Sucre, including a brother, Hugo Centellas, cited in Bolivian coverage. His episcopal motto was Deus spes mea (God is my hope).

Centellas died on 24 September 2026 in Oruro, Bolivia, aged 63, while taking part in anniversary activities of the Bolivian Catholic University. Auxiliary bishop emeritus Adolfo Bitschi said he had celebrated the Eucharist, later felt unwell, sought hospital care, and died of cardiac arrest. Family members in Sucre likewise attributed the death to a cardiac arrest. The Episcopal Conference of Bolivia confirmed the news and issued a statement of prayer and Christian hope.

A chapel of repose was opened in Oruro (Capilla Nazaria) while clergy from Chuquisaca arranged the transfer of his remains to Sucre. The Archdiocese of Sucre announced multi-day lying in state at the Metropolitan and Primatial Cathedral, with burial set for 29 September in the Capilla San Pedro inside the cathedral, where Archbishop Jesus Perez and Cardinal Jose Clemente Maurer are also buried.

Centellas is remembered as a formation priest who became bishop of Potosi, national conference president, and Archbishop Primate of Sucre. Bolivian coverage after his death described him as a pastoral and academic reference point for the church, noting nearly four decades of priesthood by August 2026 and his role as Grand Chancellor of the Bolivian Catholic University. His leadership of the Episcopal Conference from 2015 to 2021 placed him among the country's most prominent Catholic voices in public life.