The death of the priest Francisco Fernández Carvajal, which occurred in Madrid at the age of 88, closes the trajectory of one of the most influential authors of spirituality in the Spanish language in recent decades. His name remains inseparably linked to a work that has accompanied the interior life of generations of faithful: Hablar con Dios, the extensive collection of meditations for each day of the year that became a habitual reference for personal prayer in numerous countries.
Born in Albolote (Granada), Fernández Carvajal studied History at the University of Navarra and obtained a doctorate in Canon Law at the Angelicum in Rome. In 1957, he requested admission to Opus Dei and was ordained a priest in 1964. From then on, he developed an intense pastoral work, first in Barcelona and later in Madrid, where for years he exercised the priestly ministry in various fields, including as chaplain of the Orvalle school and as confessor in different parishes.
His figure was also linked to the journalistic field. For more than a decade, he was editor-in-chief of the magazine Palabra, a publication that preceded Omnes, where he published numerous informative and formative articles and interviews. From those pages, he contributed to spreading a clear and accessible vision of Christian life, a style that later also characterized his books on spirituality.
The work that made him especially known was Hablar con Dios, published by Ediciones Palabra. The project gathers more than 450 brief meditations intended for daily prayer and has been translated into multiple languages—including English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Polish, or Russian—becoming one of the most widely disseminated titles of spirituality in the contemporary Catholic sphere.
Along with this work, Fernández Carvajal published numerous books focused on the meditation of the Gospel and spiritual life, such as Vida de Jesús, El Evangelio de San Mateo, El Evangelio de San Lucas, La tibieza, Quédate conmigo, or Como quieras Tú, dedicated to the Passion of Christ. Among his works also stands out an extensive Antología de textos para la oración y la predicación, which gathers thousands of quotes from Church Fathers and spiritual authors from different eras.
His last book, El paso de la vida, appeared in 2018. With his passing, a priest disappears who dedicated a good part of his life to facilitating the personal prayer of the faithful through brief, direct texts deeply rooted in the spiritual tradition of the Church. His work, widely disseminated and constantly reedited, will continue to form part of the spiritual itinerary of numerous Christians.