The Vatican announced this Thursday that Pope Francis has appointed the Spanish Mons. Alejandro Arellano, president of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, as a member of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
Originally from the town of Olías del Rey, belonging to the Archdiocese of Toledo (Spain), he was born in 1962. His theological training took place at the San Ildefonso Theological Institute of Toledo, after which he was ordained a priest in 1987.
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Mons. Arellano is a member of the Confraternity of Operators of the Kingdom of Christ and to his basic theological training it must be added that he received a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome and obtained a degree in Ecclesiastical Studies from the Faculty of Theology of Burgos.
To date, he collaborated with the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints as an external auditor. His incorporation as a member of this department of the Vatican Curia shows the growing trust that Pope Francis places in him.
On March 30, 2021, Bishop Arellano was appointed dean of the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota, where he had served as a consultant since 2007, being the first Spaniard to assume this high responsibility in one of the main Vatican judicial bodies.
On October 9, the Pontiff appointed him Pontifical Commissioner to address the conflict between Opus Dei and the Bishopric of Barbastro-Monzón over the “Torreciudad complex” in Spain.
Bishop Arellano has been a professor at the San Pablo CEU University and the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical University, both in Madrid, as well as the Pontifical Gregorian University, in Rome. He also teaches Jurisprudence classes at the Rotal Study of the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota.
In March 2024, Bishop Alejandro Arellano was consecrated as Titular Bishop of Bisuldino in a ceremony presided over by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, which took place in the Primate Cathedral of Toledo.
Pope Francis has also granted him the personal title of archbishop.
Nicholas de Cardenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish husband and father and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specializing in sociopolitical and religious information. I have worked for more than 10 years in defense of human rights and have accreditations in Journalism and Comprehensive Communication. Since July 2022, I have been a correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.