People from across the Rio Grande Valley paid their respects and said goodbye to Bishop Emeritus Raymundo J. Peña during a public viewing at the Basilica Of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle ahead of his funeral mass Thursday. 

The long-time bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville died “peacefully” in San Juan at the age of 87, the Catholic Diocese of El Paso announced Friday. 

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Bishop Peña was the fourth Hispanic in the country to be appointed bishop in 1976. He retired from the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville in 2009. 

The funeral mass for Bishop Peña will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Basilica Of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle located at 400 Virgen de San Juan Boulevard.