NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe New Mexican
ALBUQUERQUE — Former Santa Fe Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez, who became the nation’s first Hispanic bishop in 1974 and headed New Mexico’s largest Catholic diocese for nearly two decades before resigning over sex allegations, has died. He was 77.
He was surrounded by his family when he died Friday in Albuquerque, said officials with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. It did not release the cause of death but said Sanchez had been ill.
“I ask for prayers for the repose of his soul and the comfort and consolation of his family members,” Archbishop Michael Sheehan said in a statement.
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