The Order of the Minor Brothers (Franciscans) today reported the death, at 85 years of age, of the Spanish priest Manuel Blanco Rodríguez, confessor of Pope Francis.
“We sadly announce that between the night of Thursday the 20th and the early morning of Friday, June 21 of this year, Br. Manuel Blanco Rodríguez, at the age of 85, left for the Father’s house,” says a use published on the Franciscan website.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
The Franciscan, the text explains, was “general definer, provincial minister, visitor in various entities of the Order, as well as vice-rector, dean and professor of philosophy at the Pontifical University Antonianum, and more recently confessor of Pope Francis.”
The funeral ceremony will take place on Monday, June 24 at 10:00 (local time), at the Santi Quaranta Martiri e San Pasquale Baylon Church in Rome.
The Archbishop of Oviedo (Spain), also a Franciscan Msgr. Jesus Sanz Montes, remembered Father Blanco as a “good brother and prudent Franciscan priest, philosophy professor and close friend. Rest in peace. He carries in the silence of his heart the help he gave to the Holy Father throughout his pontificate.”
In a letter sent by Brother Massimo Fusarelli to Brother Joaquín Zurera Ribó, Provincial Minister of the Province of the Immaculate Conception in Spain, it is stated: “We thank the Giver of all good for everything he has given us during the life of Brother Manuel , including the inevitable weaknesses that remain entrusted to the inexhaustible mercy of God.”
“May my closeness and my prayer of suffrage reach you, brother Minister and all the brothers of the Province of the Immaculate Conception, as they thank the Father of mercies for the gift of this brother of ours and entrust him to Him,” he adds.
Pope Francis and his confessor, Father Manuel Blanco Rodríguez
In September 2015, Pope Francis gave an interview to Radio Renascença, in which he spoke about the frequency with which he confesses.
On that occasion, the Holy Father explained that he confessed “every fifteen days, twenty days. I confess to a Franciscan Father, Father Blanco, who is kind enough to come here to confess to me.”
“And yes, I never had to call an ambulance to take him back, scared of my sins. (laughter)”, Pope Francis said then.
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.