Pope Francis congratulated the Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta (Spain), Mons. Rafael Zornoza Boy, for his golden weddings as a priest, since he was ordered on March 19, 1975.
In the local cathedral, full of faithful who accompanied the prelate on Saturday, March 15 for this important celebration, Mons. Zornoza said: “You all are part of my life, you hold me in the Church and you are the cause of my thanks today to the Lord.”
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
“Also mention the Congratulations from the Holy Father, Pope Francis who congratulated me yesterday afternoon. I thank Christ who made me capable and fied on me and he entrusted me with this mystery, ”said the bishop, according to the website diocesan.
The bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta also stressed that “the infinite goodness of God has presented me with this undeserved gift. This is the time to thank God our Lord the privilege that the priesthood has been for me, nothing less than for 50 years. ”
“50 years celebrating the new alliance and its blood and consecrating the bread of life on behalf of Jesus Tomad, comed this is my body,” he said.
Before the final blessing, Mons. Zornoza received the congratulations of several lay people, as well as that of Fr. Ricardo Jiménez Merlo on behalf of the local clergy, who directed a few words and handed him a pectoral cross.
The Archbishop Emeritus of Granada, Mons. Francisco Javier Martínez Fernández, the Bishop of Asidonia-Jerez, Mons. José Rico Paés, and the auxiliary bishop of Seville, Mons. Teodoro León Muñoz, as well as various local priests.
Who is Monsignor Rafael Zornoza Boy?
Mons. Rafael Zornoza Boy, Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta since 2011, was born in Madrid on July 31, 1949. He is 75 years old, has already presented his resignation to the Holy Father for having reached the retirement age of the bishops and now corresponds to Pope Francis to accept it or not.
He website From the Spanish episcopate, he says that after being ordained a priest in March 1975 he served in different ministries in Madrid and, in 1991, with the creation of the Diocese of Getafe, he worked as secretary of the local bishop.
On December 13, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of Getafe, to then move to Cádiz and Ceuta in 2011.
At the Spanish Episcopal Conference he is a member of the Episcopal Commission for Missions and Cooperation with the Churches since March 2024. He has also been president of the Commission of the clergy and member of the Commission for Seminars and Universities.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.