Juan Juárez[a] (died 1528) was a Spanish Franciscan friar and one of the Twelve Apostles of Mexico.
He has been named as the first bishop within what would become the United States;[1] he was also one of the first Spanish missionaries to set foot in Florida.
[5] Prior to leaving Spain, he was nominated as Bishop of Florida and Rio de las Palmas — which stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pánuco River[6] — by Charles V through royal patronage,[3] which was confirmed by the Holy See.
That Xuarez was a bishop is contradicted by every contemporaneous document, by the silence of all the Spanish writers, and by intrinsic facts.
[6] In addition, Edwin Ryan said that Juárez's appointment as bishop was based upon a source that was published in 1723, which he considered to be unreliable;[10] it was also agreed upon by historians that he did not receive episcopal consecration.