Pope Francis has awarded the medal For the Church and the Pontiff to the Spanish Lydia Jiménez, president of the Board of Directors of the Catholic University of Ávila (UCAV) and general director of the Crusades of Santa María Secular Institute.
According to reports the Catholic University of Ávila“the insignia received by the woman from Avila recognizes her career in the Santa María Crusades,” a secular institute founded by the Spanish Jesuit Venerable Tomás Morales.
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The Crusades of Saint Mary are present in 19 Spanish dioceses and have extended their apostolate to Germany, Italy, Ireland, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Cameroon, Cuba, the USA and Uruguay.
As detailed on its website, its spirituality has “Ignatian trunk with Carmelite sap,” as defined by its founder, and its apostolate is defined by being “consecrated in the world” and “contemplative in action.”
As the Catholic University of Ávila highlights about the winner, “John Paul II and Benedict XVI already appreciated in her a great collaborator of the Church. And, now, Pope Francis presents her with this badge of honor, for which Lydia Jiménez has thanked her, although she never thought she would be worthy of it, as she has commented.”
Fr. Morales and Lydia Jiménez collaborated since they met in Madrid in the 60s of the 20th century. In 1965, the Saint Mary Crusades obtained their approval as a Pious Union. In 1989 they were established as a Secular Institute of Diocesan Law and in 2000 as a Secular Institute of Pontifical Law.
From 1999 to 2016, Lydia Jiménez was a consultant to the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. Since 2001 she has also been a consultant to what is now the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
In 2012 she was appointed auditor at the Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith convened by Benedict XVI.
The Cross For the Church and the Pontiff It is a papal decoration instituted by Leo XIII in 1888 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination and seeks to recognize “long and exceptional service to the Catholic Church or the Pope.”
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.