Leon XIV transferred to Mons. Satué of the Diocese of Teruel to the one of Málaga

Pope Leo XIV has decided the transfer of Mons. José Antonio Satué of the Diocese of Teruel and Albarracín to that of Malaga, after accepting the resignation of Mons. Jesús Catalá, who grazed the Andalusian diocese since 2008.

Born in 1968, Mons. Satué entered the Zaragoza Metropolitan Seminary in 1987. After studying the Bachelor in Theology, he was ordained a priest in September 1993. In 2004 he obtained a degree in Canon Law from the Gregorian University of Rome.

After initiating his pastoral work in the Diocese of Huesca, he was assigned as an officer of the Congregation of the clergy (today Dicastery), between 2015 and 2021, when Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Teruel and Albarracín.

Since September 2023 he is also a member of the Dicasterio for Bishops. In the Spanish Episcopal Conference, the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral and Human Promotion, specifically its section focused on migrations and human mobility.

Mons. Satué will take possession of the Diocese of Malaga next September. In a message aimed at his new diocesan, he encouraged to advance “under the guidance of the spirit to build a church at exit, cozy, synodal, Samaritan, bold and close to those who are discarded in any periphery.”

“I entrust to your prayer and your patience, so that this Aragonese, born at the foot of the Pyrenees, nine hundred kilometers from your land and accustomed to living faith and ministry in small dioceses such as Huesca and Teruel, so that I can know, value and promote the culture and religiosity of Andalusia and gradually introduce me in a diocese as Malaga,” he added.

Repeated short relay in the bishopric of Teruel

In one farewell letter To the diocesans of Teruel and Albarracín, Mons. Satué emphasizes that despite the continuous relays of prelates, after relatively short stays in recent years, the Pastoral Plan 2023-2028 must be continued.

“It cannot paralyze us the fact that the last bishops of Teruel and Albarracín have remained a short time in charge of the diocese. Despite the difficulties and confusion that this situation produces, there are plenty of reasons to continue,” he said.

Since 2004, the Diocese has seen and leave four prelates: Mons. José Manuel Lorca (2004-2009), Mons. Carlos Manuel Escribano (2010-2016), Mons. Antonio Gómez Cantero (2016-2021) and Mons. Satué (2021-2025).

This ecclesiastical demarcation is in the care of about 90,000 souls, for which there are 89 priests, of which 57 are retired, 31 have a pastoral position and one is out of the diocese. In 2023 the last diocesan presbyter was ordered and they have another seminarian.

Mons. Satué will have 132 active priests in Malaga, plus 101 retirees for a population of 1.8 million people.

The prelate of Aragonese origin has been involved in recent years in the controversy Gaztelueta Case or Case Cuatrecasasin which a Spanish teacher from Opus Dei, acquitted by the Vatican in a first investigation into sexual abuse, ended last March being convicted after a new canonical process reopened by Pope Francis and commissioned to Mons. Satué.

The professor, who has reiterated from the first moment his innocence, has repeatedly denounced violations of basic legal principles such as the retroactive non -application of a norm when he harms the denounced, among others.