Juan José Omella y Omella (also Joan Josep; born 21 April 1946) is a Spanish

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He has been serving as the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

since his installation on 26 December 2015 and as a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

since 28 June 2017. He was the president of the Episcopal Conference of Spain from 2020 to 2024. He previously served as

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

(1996-1999) and

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Barbastro-Monzón (1999–2004) and Calahorra y La Calzada-Logroño (2004-2015). He is a member of the

Council of Cardinals The Council of Cardinals (, , ; also called C9 because it contained nine cardinal members for a time) or Council of Cardinal Advisers is a group of cardinals of the Catholic Church appointed by Pope Francis to serve as his advisers. The counci ...

Biography

Omella was born in the municipality of Cretas,

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

. One of his sisters still lives there, while the other died at a young age. The village priest convinced him to enter the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

. He studied at education centres for

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

as well. On 20 September 1970 he was ordained a priest. He then worked for the church in Zaragoza and in

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him

on 15 July 1996 and he was consecrated a bishop on 22 September by Elías Yanes Alvarez, Archbishop of Zaragoza. John Paul II named him bishop of Barbastro-Monzón in 1999. He held the posts of Apostolic Administrator of

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

and of

Jaca Jaca (; in Aragonese language, Aragonese: ''Chaca'' or ''Xaca'') is a city of northeastern Spain in the province of Huesca (province), Huesca, located near the Pyrenees and the border with France. Jaca is an ancient fort on the Aragón (river), ...

from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 he was named bishop of Calahorra and La Calzada-Logroño. He has been a member of the Commission of Social Ministry of the

Spanish Episcopal Conference The Spanish Episcopal Conference (, ) is an administrative institution composed of all the bishops of the dioceses of Spain and Andorra, in communion with the Roman Pontiff and under his authority. Its purpose is the joint exercise certain pastor ...

since 1996 and president of that commission from 2002 to 2008 and from 2014 to 2017. On 6 November 2014,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed him a member of the

Congregation for Bishops The Dicastery for Bishops, formerly named Congregation for Bishops (), is the department of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church that oversees the selection of most new bishops. Its proposals require papal approval to take effect, but are usu ...

. According to '' El Periodico'', Omella engineered the November 2014 early retirement of

Manuel Ureña Pastor Manuel Ureña Pastor (born 4 March 1945) is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who became a bishop in 1988 and served as ordinary in Ibiza, Alcalá de Henares, and Cartagena before becoming Archbishop of Zaragoza, the position he held from ...

as Archbishop of Zaragoza, whom the local press later reported had mishandled a charge of harassment against one of his priests. On 6 November 2015, Pope Francis appointed Omella Archbishop of

. He was installed there on 26 December. On 21 May 2017, Pope Francis announced plans to make him a cardinal at a consistory scheduled for 28 June 2017. '' El Diario'' said the appointment made clear that Pope Francis's preferred representatives in Spain were Omella and Carlos Osoro, the Archbishop of Madrid whom Francis made a cardinal in 2016, and not the recently elected leadership of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, perceived as more conservative. It noted that Omella's appointment to the Congregation for Bishops positioned him to influence the future of church leadership in Spain. It cited as well his pastoral letters on social issues and ties to , an organization that focuses on the problems of developing nations. At the 28 June consistory he was assigned to the order of cardinal priests with the title of

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem or Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme () is a Catholic Minor basilica and titular church in rione Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. According to Christia ...

. Following the 2017-18 Spanish constitutional crisis the Catalan government suggested that Omella and the Abbot of Montserrat should act as mediators between the region and Spanish authorities. Francis made him a member of the

and of the

Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura () is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church (apart from the pope himself, who as supreme ecclesiastical judge is the final point of appeal on any ecclesiastical matter). In addition, ...

on 23 December 2017. Omella is the co-author, with Miguel Pothoes Mombiela and José María Navarro, of ''La aurora de Calanda, una antigua institución'', published in 1991. On 7 March 2023, Pope Francis appointed him to the Council of Cardinal Advisors. Some analysts have questioned Cardinal Omella's leadership in the Spanish Church, particularly regarding his handling of internal clerical dynamics. Omella has also been cited as a key figure in a series of alleged clandestine operations within the Spanish Church, working closely with Jesuit priest Germán Arana to influence episcopal appointments and internal Church politics, according to journalistic investigations. He participated as a cardinal elector in the

2025 papal conclave A conclave was held on 7 and 8 May 2025 to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis, Francis, who had died on 21 April 2025. Of the 135 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2025 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. Cardinal Piet ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIV Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the fir ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Omella, Juan Jose 1946 births Living people People from the Province of Teruel 21st-century Spanish cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Francis Archbishops of Barcelona Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II