Santos Abril y Castelló

Styles of
Santos Abril y Castelló
Reference style The Most Reverend
Spoken style Your Excellency
Religious style Monsignor

Santos Abril y Castelló (born 21 September 1935) is the archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore since his appointment on 21 November 2011.[1]

Abril y Castelló was born in Alfambra, Spain.[2] He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Teruel and Albarracín on 19 March 1960. He was summoned to attend the elite Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He worked in Pakistan, Turkey and the Second Section of the Secretariat of State in Rome.

On 29 April 1985 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia and Titular Archbishop of Tamada. He received episcopal ordination on 16 June 1985 by the then Cardinal Secretary of State, Agostino Casaroli. He later served as papal nuncio in other countries: Cameroon (1989–1996), Yugoslavia (1996–2000), Argentina (2000–2003), and Slovenia and Macedonia (2003–2011).

Soon after reaching the obligatory retirement age of 75 for nuncios, he was on 22 January 2011 appointed Vice-Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, which means that, during a vacancy in the Papal See, he is first in authority after the cardinals, and is entrusted with the surveillance of the conclave, to which no one is admitted without his permission. On 2 April 2011 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Bishops.[3]

On 21 November 2011 he was named archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the papal basilica associated with Archbishop Abril's native country of Spain, whose king is protocanon of the basilica's chapter.[4]

References

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Preceded by
Alfio Rapisarda
Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia
29 April 1985 – 2 October 1989
Succeeded by
Giovanni Tonucci
Preceded by
Ubaldo Calabresi
Apostolic Nuncio to Argentina
4 March 2000 – 9 April 2003
Succeeded by
Adriano Bernardini
Preceded by
Bernard Francis Law
Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
21 November 2011 – present
Incumbent