The 64-year-old succeeds Father Camilo Maccise, a Mexican, who has been general superior for two terms.
John Paul II sent a message to the order’s 89th General Chapter, meeting in Avila. The gathering’s motto is “On the Way with St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross: Return to the Essential.”
According to the Holy See’s Pontifical Yearbook, the Order of Discalced Carmelites has 20 bishops and some 4,000 religious, including 2,550 priests.
Father Aróstegui’s pastoral assignments have included parish work in Dallas, Texas, with Mexican immigrants, in the 1960s. In addition to degrees in theology, he holds a doctorate in philosophy.
