According to reports from the Archdiocese of Madrid and the Archdiocese of Valencia, both dioceses have inaugurated the 2025-2026 academic year with the highest numbers of seminarians in Spain. Madrid has 96 young men in priestly formation, 18 of them new admissions, while Valencia begins the year with 60 seminarians in its Major Seminary, plus others in its minor colleges, and 17 new incorporations.
In a time when priestly vocations are facing a general crisis in Spain and Europe, Madrid and Valencia are consolidating as the two great poles of hope for the future of the Church in our country.
Madrid opens academic year with 96 seminarians and 18 new admissions
The Conciliar Seminary of Madrid officially inaugurated the academic year on September 16 with a Eucharist presided over by Cardinal José Cobo, Archbishop of Madrid, in the seminary’s own chapel. The celebration brought together seminarians, formators, and members of the diocese, followed by a fraternal dinner.
The rector, Antonio Secilla, emphasized the importance of prayer, humility, and communal discernment as key elements of the formative year. The Conciliar Seminary, founded in 1885, today has a team of 7 formators and 7 spiritual directors who accompany the 96 seminarians on an eight-year journey.
One of them, Jaime Viniegra, 26 years old, described this start of the academic year as “very exciting,” highlighting the reunion with his companions, the welcome to the new seminarians, and the experience lived at the Jubilee of Youth in Rome.
Valencia starts academic year with 60 seminarians and 17 new ones
The Major Seminary La Inmaculada de Moncada began the academic year on September 9 with a Mass presided over by Archbishop Enrique Benavent, who invited the seminarians to “trust in the Lord and the Church” and to live their vocation with gratitude.
This academic year will have 60 seminarians, 17 of them new admissions, most beginning the propaedeutic stage. To them are added the seminarians from Valencia’s minor colleges: four in the Colegio Seminario la Presentación y Santo Tomás de Villanueva and four more in the historic Corpus Christi – El Patriarca.
During the opening, the new vice-rector, Fernando Carrasco, was also presented, joining the formative team.
Madrid and Valencia, foci of vocational hope
The two dioceses together concentrate more than 150 seminarians, a figure that represents almost a third of the total in Spain. In this way, they are referents in a context marked by the decline in vocations in many dioceses, where seminaries barely have a few candidates.
Faced with this reality, Madrid and Valencia show that vocations continue to emerge where faith is lived deeply, with parish communities that accompany, families that transmit the Catholic tradition, and bishops who support future priests with closeness and prayer.
The challenge of vocations in Spain
Both the Madrid rector and the Valencian archbishop coincided in the same message: the priestly vocation is a gift that is asked of God. Therefore, in addition to training programs and discernment, it is essential that the entire Church prays and works to foster new vocations.
The start of the academic year in the seminaries of Madrid and Valencia reminds us that, amid the cultural and spiritual crisis in Europe, the Lord continues to call and there are young people willing to respond with generosity. A sign of hope that should encourage the Church in Spain not to stop praying and to rediscover the beauty of the priesthood as service to God and to people.