Antulio Parrilla Bonilla

Bishop Antulio Parrilla Bonilla, S.J. (1919-1994) was a Puerto Rican Jesuit priest and auxiliary bishop of San Juan who became one of the most prominent religious voices for Puerto Rican independence and social justice.

Ordained in 1953, Parrilla Bonilla combined Catholic social teaching with liberation theology and Puerto Rican nationalism. He publicly supported independence from the pulpit, a bold stance in a political climate where independence advocacy carried severe consequences.

He was arrested multiple times for civil disobedience in Vieques, standing with fishermen and community members against the U.S. Navy's bombing exercises. He argued that colonialism was sinful and that the Church had a moral obligation to support the colonized.

His advocacy connected Puerto Rican liberation to the broader Latin American liberation theology movement. He wrote extensively on the intersection of faith, colonialism, and social justice, and mentored generations of Puerto Rican activists and progressive clergy.

Parrilla Bonilla demonstrated that resistance to colonialism was not merely a political position but a moral imperative — that the Church's preferential option for the poor necessarily included opposition to colonial exploitation.