Bishop urges his replacement for health reasons, months after presenting his resignation

The Bishop of San Feliu de Llobregat (Spain), Mons. Agustí Cortés, has urged his replacement for health reasons as the first prelate of the diocese created two decades ago, months after presenting his resignation to Pope Francis upon his 75th birthday in October. of 2022.

In an interview with the newspaper The vanguard, Mons. Cortés points out about the possibility of appointing a new bishop for the diocese: “It is an unknown. We have insisted and talked about the matter, we also urged it due to my personal health situation, but I don’t know when it will happen. “I do not believe that the delay is due to a special complexity of the diocese, but rather to the difficulty of finding candidates who gather sufficient consensus.”

The prelate also explains that, faced with this situation, he has a double feeling: “On the one hand I am tired, since my personal situation prevents me from maintaining a vital tone and going to all my commitments, but on the other hand I am not in a hurry and I would like to continue. However, I believe this is not possible.”

Born in 1947 in Valencia, Mons. Cortés was ordained a priest in 1971. In 1998 he was named Bishop of Ibiza, receiving episcopal consecration on April 18 of that year. Six years later, in 2004, the Holy See entrusted him with pastoring the newly created Diocese of San Feliú de Llobregat, separated from the Archbishopric of Barcelona.

It has 89 diocesan priests, of which 41 are retired, who must serve 123 parishes, with the collaboration of 48 religious priests and 18 permanent deacons, according to the figures offered by the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE).

Mons. Cortés considers that the main challenge of this diocese is “to make more Christians, who can identify themselves and have that identity projected in their lives. It is the fundamental objective. “We don’t want to be less people.” Regarding the shortage of candidates for the priesthood, the prelate is convinced that with “faithful parishioners capable of living their existence vocationally, sooner or later there will be some.”

Asked about the problem of sexual abuse in ecclesiastical settings, Bishop Cortés believes that the Catholic Church “has not been forceful enough” especially when some met years ago.

“The Church has wanted to address them honestly, but it should have been more forceful and have moved towards a possible awareness of a deep and very serious problem for us, because the Church has always wanted to be an ethical body and a prophetic voice,” he expressed.