Change in trend in the number of Spanish seminarians after years of decline

The number of Spanish seminarians once again exceeds the level of 1,000 candidates for the priesthood after years of decline, with 239 additions. In addition, 103 foreign seminarians are in training in Spain.

In total, the number of seminarians belonging to the 69 territorial dioceses and the Military Archbishopric amounts to 1,036 compared to 956 in the 2023-2024 academic year and 974 in the 2022-2023 academic year.

Of the 1,036, 79% belong to diocesan seminaries (825) while 211 are formed in the Mother of the Redeemerbelonging to the Neocatechumenal Way

Adding students from other countries who are trained in Spain, there is a total of 1,239 for the 2024-2025 academic year, according to data offered by the Spanish Episcopal Conference.

Of the 239 new seminarians, which is 35% more than last year, 59 join the seminars Mother of the Redeemer and 180 to the conciliar seminars. In terms of casualties, there have been 86, which is 20 less than last year, which was 106.

During the 2023-2024 academic year, 85 new priests and 69 deacons were ordained in Spain, who continue to be counted statistically as seminarians. The average age of seminarians ranges between 25 and 31 years, depending on the formative stage in which they are.

Each seminarian is “a true miracle”

The Spanish Episcopal Conference states that there are three factors that explain the apparent change in trend in the number of seminarians in Spain.

The first is “the revitalization of the entire pastoral care of the Church, and more specifically of youth and vocational ministry, after the stoppage of the pandemic,” the fruits of which are usually seen in the medium term. “Three years after completely restarting pastoral life in the dioceses after the pandemic, the first pastoral fruits of recent years are now beginning to be perceived,” defend the bishops.

Secondly, the prelates underline the impact of the World Youth Day held in Lisbon in 2023: “These extraordinary ecclesial events also tend to awaken in some boys a vocational concern towards the priesthood which, when appropriately accompanied, can imply entry in the Major Seminary.”

Thirdly, “as the main factor” and beyond the figures, the Spanish bishops defend that “it is essential to make a believing reading of this reality, based on the certainty that God continues to fulfill his promise to give us shepherds according to his heart.” ”.

“In the midst of a society in which the vocational dimension of the human being has been lost sight of, each of the seminarians becomes a true miracle and sign of God’s intervention in our history,” they add.

Seminars and training communities in Spain

The seminarians belong to 67 conciliar seminaries and 14 seminaries Mother of the Redeemer. However, of the 81 seminaries, some are grouped, in such a way that 56 training communities have been formed.

Of them, 25 are made up of a single conciliar seminary and 13 are made up of several that have been formed into a single community. Furthermore, the Mother of the Redeemer Madrid and Alcalá de Henares form another community, while the rest belong to a diocese.

To this we must add two interdiocesan seminars. That of Catalonia groups seven dioceses and that of Santiago de Compostela, three. And, finally, two training communities in Madrid and Barcelona aimed at training seminarians from different dioceses in the propaedeutic stage.

In January 2023, an apostolic visit was made to the Spanish seminaries by the Bishop of Maldonado-Punta del Este-Minas (Uruguay), Mons. Milton Luis Tróccoli, and the Bishop of Salto (Uruguay), Mons. Arturo Eduardo Fajardo.

In the month of November 2023, Pope Francis summoned all the Spanish bishops to the Vatican to convey to them the conclusions of the apostolic visit.

Next February the CEE organizes a vocational congress under the title Who am I for? Assembly of calls for mission, which will seek to promote a vocational view of the reality of the entire Church and will not be focused exclusively on candidates for the secular clergy or religious life.