Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru

Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru was born in Vitoria, Spain, on 10 April 1951. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Prelature of the Holy Cross (Opus Dei) on 23 August 1977. He received doctorates in canon law and jurisprudence and served as professor of canon law, first at the University of Navarra (Spain) and then in Rome and Venice.^[1]

Arrieta was Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross from its creation in 1984 until 1993, and again from 1995 to 1999. He founded and until 2002 directed the journal Ius Ecclesiae. In 2003 he became Dean of the Institute of Canon Law of Saint Pius X, Venice.

In the Roman Curia he held the positions of canon prelate of the Apostolic Penitentiary, legal secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the State of Vatican City. He served as a consultor to the Congregation for the Clergy, the Pontifical Council for the Family, and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.^[2]

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Arrieta secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on 15 February 2007^[2] and named him titular bishop of Civitate on 12 April 2008.^[3] He received his episcopal consecration on 1 May 2008 from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.^[4] His position as secretary occasionally requires him to play a public role, commenting on a papal document^[5] or providing a legal assessment of proposals like that of the German synod in 2019.^[6]

On 26 June 2013, Pope Francis named Arrieta to the five-member Pontifical Commission investigating the Institute for the Works of Religion and made him the group's coordinator.^[7][8]