Óscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga is the Chairman of the HHH Executive Board. He is also the 11th President of Caritas Internationalis. A staunch defender of human rights and a powerful voice in the global fight against poverty, he was the Vatican's spokesperson with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on the issue of Third World debt. Cardinal Rodriguez continues to challenge leaders of the world's richest nations to keep their promises to increase and improve development aid to the world's poorest countries.
Born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in 1942, he entered the Salesian order in 1961. In 1978, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Pudenziana and Auxiliary Bishop of Tegucigalpa. In 1993, he was named Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, and in 2001 he became his country's first cardinal.
He is multilingual, with degrees in philosophy and theology and a diploma in clinical psychology. He was President of the Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM) from 1995 to 1999. He has also been a member of several Pontifical Councils, including the Council for Social Communications, the Council for Justice and Peace and the Commission for Latin America.
