Retired Bishop Manuel D. Moreno of Tucson, 75, was hospitalized in Phoenix Nov. 12 and described as being unconscious and in "very serious" condition, said Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas.

"Bishop Moreno is very much in our prayers this morning," Bishop Kicanas said in a message posted Nov. 13 on the Tucson Diocese's Web site. "He is in Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, and his condition is described as 'very serious' due to a significant health event that took place yesterday."

Bishop Kicanas, who was Bishop Moreno's coadjutor and succeeded him as head of the diocese in March 2003, said he had not received an official diagnosis of the bishop's situation but that when he spoke to Bishop Moreno's brother at 8 a.m. he learned the retired bishop was unconscious.

"Please pray for Bishop Moreno. During Mass, please entrust him to God's loving will," he said in the Web site message.

A statement from the Tucson Diocese at the time of Bishop Moreno's retirement said the prelate had been experiencing health problems since 1997 and had requested a coadjutor in December 2000 "because his health had so affected his ability to fulfill his responsibilities."

Although "it had been Bishop Moreno's fervent hope to serve as bishop of Tucson until age 75," he decided to request retirement at age 72 after his doctors told him in late 2002 that he had developed Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer, the statement said. But it added that "neither of these conditions is life-threatening at this time" and he had begun treatment.

Born Nov. 27, 1930, in Placentia, Calif., the young Manuel Moreno sometimes worked with his father, Antonio, in the citrus and walnut groves of the area to help the family make a living.

After his graduation from Fullerton Junior College and UCLA in 1953 with a degree in business administration, Bishop Moreno decided on the priesthood instead of a business career. He completed his studies at St. John's Seminary in Camarillo, and was ordained a priest of the Los Angeles Archdiocese April 25, 1961.

He was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in December 1976. Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop of Tucson Jan. 9, 1982.

---CNS