Daniel Fernández Torres

[2] In a 2009 letter to Puerto Rico’s apostolic delegate, Nieves recommended that the Vatican transfer Fernández to a U.S. diocese rather than appoint him bishop of Arecibo.

Nieves said that Fernández caused “friction” within Puerto Rico's episcopal conference, displayed "rigidity," and rarely socialized with priests of the archdiocese.

[6][2] In 2014, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that it had conducted an investigation into complaints of sexual misconduct against Fernández and dismissed the allegations.

[10][a] In July 2018, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, appointed Fernández to a five-year term as director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Puerto Rico.

In December 2020, Fernández wrote to Pedro Pierluisi, the incoming governor of Puerto Rico, about the problem of violence against women.

Fernández said that ...gender ideology...extrapolates the class struggle from Marxism to the context family life...to convert relations between the sexes...into a struggle of sexual classes where the woman is always the oppressed, just for being a woman, and the man the oppressor, just for being a man.Fernández said the outgoing administration of Puerto Rico had waged war on religion in the name of women's liberation.

He called for a rejection of the view that counts religion and the family among the social institutions to blame for the victimization of women in society.

[13] Fernández refused to sign an August 24, 2021, joint statement by the other bishops of Puerto Rico[b] that affirmed an "ethical duty to be vaccinated" against Covid-19.

Fernández stated in his letter to Francis that he had started transferring his seminarians from Spain to the interdiocesan seminary in Puerto Rico.

He expressed appreciation for the pope's willingness to receive him personally, but explained that he had not yet scheduled such a meeting because of his responsibility to care for his elderly parents.