The 2026 General Chapter of the Legionaries of Christ have elected Fr. Carlos Gutiérrez López, LC, as the new General Director for the 2026-2032 term.
The election took place this morning at the General Directorate in Rome.
The new General Director is originally from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. He is 51 years old.
After a year as a Regnum Christi Mission Corps Missionary in 1998, Fr. Carlos entered the Congregation in 1999 and has served in Chile, Italy, Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico, and until today was the Territorial Director for Northern Mexico.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and a degree in industrial and systems engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology.
He also holds a master’s degree in psychology from Divine Mercy University (United States). He has served in ministry as an ECYD assistant in Santiago, Chile (2001-2004), assistant to the general secretary, assistant to the territorial director for the apostolate in Colombia-Venezuela (2009-2012), superior of the community in Bogotá, Colombia, territorial councilor for Venezuela, director of ECYD in Monterrey (2014-2015), coordinator of the area of family and youth ministry, and territorial director for Colombia-Venezuela (2018-2022).
Since 2022, he has served as Territorial Director for Northern Mexico.
As he accepted the role, Fr. Carlos made the profession of faith and the oath of fidelity, as is customary in the Church.
The General Chapter entrusts Fr. Carlos with the mission of continuing the path of renewal undertaken by the Congregation in recent years under the guidance of the Church, and fostering the evangelization of all people as a become a community that goes out to meet people on the peripheries of society.
In this new role, Fr. Carlos will also join the General Directive College of Regnum Christi, as its president.
With Fr. Carlos’ election, Fr. John Connor, LC, who has been General Director since 2020, concludes his service in this role.
The Congregation thanks him deeply for his generous self-giving, his pastoral governance, and his leadership along the path the Legion has travelled during these past six years.
The new government begins in continuity with the last in the ongoing work towards an institutional culture of transparency and of care and service of all people, in communion with the Church.
The General Chapter, the highest form of a religious congregation’s government, began January 20, 2026, and is comprised of 60 priests from 13 different countries.
In the days to come, it will continue its work with the election of the general councilors and administrator of the General Government, and it will continue to reflect on the various aspects of the life and mission of the Legionaries of Christ.
This moment represents a new stage in the path that the Congregation continues to travel, always seeking to know, love, and follow Christ more closely, at the service of the Church and evangelization.
About the Legionaries of Christ
The Legionaries of Christ is a religious Congregation of pontifical right, founded in 1941, composed of priests and candidates for the priesthood.
It forms part of the spiritual family of Regnum Christi. Today, it numbers two bishops, 1,033 priests, and 273 brothers and transitional deacons in formation throughout the world.
Its mission is to make the Kingdom of Christ present by means of the sanctification of its members and apostolic action at the service of the Church and all people.
It lives a Christ-centered, contemplative, and evangelizing spirit, with a filial love for the Pope and in communion with the bishops.
Its main fields of apostolate are education, family pastoral care, youth work, works of Christian charity and social aid, evangelizing missions, catechesis, and work in parishes.