The position had been vacant since the death of Francesc Pardo in 2022
The specialized medium Religión Digital reported this Wednesday that Pope Francis has chosen the abbot of Poblet, Octavi Vilà, as the new bishop of Girona, a diocese that had been without a title for almost two years. The appointment will be made official tomorrow at twelve noon in a simultaneous press conference from Girona and from Vimbodí and Poblet, where the new bishop will be accompanied by the archbishop of Tarragona, Joan Planellas.
Octavi Vilà, born in Tarragona in 1961, has been a monk in Poblet since 2006 and a priest since 2015, the year he was elected abbot of the Cistercian community. He succeeded José Alegre, who died the same year. As abbot of Poblet, Vilà has promoted the restoration of the monastery, the training of new monks and the relationship with civil society.
Pope Francis accepted the candidate last year
The process of appointing the new bishop of Girona began in October last year, when Pope Francis signed the acceptance of the candidate presented to him. Since then, it was pending for the candidate to accept the position and for his public presentation to be prepared. The pontiff has chosen Vilà from a trio of names sent to him by the Congregation for Bishops, the body of the Holy See that is responsible for proposing candidates for vacant dioceses.
The diocese of Girona has been without a bishop since March 31, 2022, when Francesc Pardo died, who had submitted his resignation in June 2021, upon turning 75, the age limit set by canon law. Since then, the diocesan administrator of Girona, Monsignor Lluís Suñer, has assumed the functions of governing the diocese, which has around 500,000 faithful and around 300 priests.
A surprising and non-punitive appointment
The appointment of Vilà as the new bishop of Girona has surprised the Catalan ecclesiastical world, since he was not one of the names that sounded the strongest to occupy the position. Vilà has a more contemplative than pastoral profile, and his experience as abbot of Poblet has given him a deep knowledge of monastic life, but not so much of the social and cultural reality of the Girona diocese. However, Vilà is considered a dialogic, cultured and approachable man, who could bring a new and renewing vision to the Church of Girona.
Cardinal Joan Josep Omella, archbishop of Barcelona and president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, acknowledged last July that the delay in the appointment of the new bishop of Girona had caused him some strangeness, but he denied that it was a punishment for part of the Holy See. Omella made these statements in the presentation of the new bishop of Tortosa, Sergi Gordo, who was until then auxiliary bishop of Barcelona.