Pope Francis to Spanish seminarians: Ask Saint James the Apostle to intercede for me

This Thursday, Pope Francis received the members of the “Apóstol Santiago” Interdiocesan Major Seminary of Spain, whom he invited to live their formation for the priesthood as a pilgrimage, with the goal of becoming “shepherds of the people of God.”

This seminar, created recently, arises from the unification of the training centers of the Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela and two of its suffragan dioceses, Tui-Vigo and Mondoñedo-Ferrol. This merger was agreed upon after an apostolic visit to Spanish seminaries last year, followed by a meeting with Pope Francis in November 2023.

The 22 seminarians of the center participated in this morning’s audience, accompanied by the Archbishop of Santiago, Mons. Francisco José Prieto, the bishop of the Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol, Mons. Fernando García Cadiñanos and of Tui-Vigo, Mons. Antonio José Valín Valdés.

The Holy Father made reference to this new formative modality at the beginning of his speech, thanking the seminarians for their availability and encouraging them to “move forward with renewed strength and hope.”

The Holy Father compared priestly formation to the Camino de Santiago, highlighting that, like pilgrims, seminarians feel a call that “drives them to go out,” to undertake an “adventure” and finally reach the goal, where the The objective is “to be shepherds of the People of God”, forged according to “the measure of the Heart of Christ, humble and merciful”.

In this context, he reminded them that on the path “they are not alone” and urged them not to be afraid to “open their hearts to the Lord and let Him accompany them, so that He may shape their lives.”

“Also, do not forget that along the way you will meet many different people, some of whom may be going through difficult times, are hurt, or do not know God. Be witnesses to all of them of the joy of the Gospel, offering them the tenderness and comfort of the Lord to heal the blisters along the way,” added the Pontiff.

He also invited the seminarians to be like “the yellow arrows” that show the way, guiding towards Jesus, especially in view of the Jubilee Year 2025.

The Holy Father ended his speech with a special request: “Please, when you return, ask the Apostle James to intercede for me.”

The Catholic Church in Spain has 86 seminaries erected, distributed in 55 formation houses, which implies that not all of them have an individualized training structure.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, for the first time, the number of seminarians in Spain fell below one thousand candidates for the priesthood, a trend that was confirmed for the current academic year.