Pope Leo XIV has appointed the Spanish bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, an Augustinian and until now undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, as the new Almoner of His Holiness and prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.
According to the Holy See Press Office, the Pontiff has decided to entrust him with this Vatican organism responsible for coordinating the Pope’s charitable works, also conferring upon him the dignity of archbishop.
The appointment comes after the transfer of Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, who for more than a decade directed the Apostolic Almonership and who has now been designated metropolitan archbishop of Łódź (Poland).
A Spanish Augustinian at the head of the Pope’s charity
Luis Marín de San Martín belongs to the Order of Saint Augustine and until now served as undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, an organism from which he has participated in the organization and development of the current synodal process in the Church.
Before this appointment, he was the titular bishop of Suliana.
With the Pope’s decision, he takes over the direction of the Apostolic Almonership, the Holy See organism that channels charitable initiatives directly linked to the Pontiff and that distributes aid to needy people in the name of the Pope.
The appointment also implies that the Spanish prelate receives the dignity of archbishop, in keeping with the responsibility he will assume in the Roman Curia.
More than ten years of Krajewski at the head of the almonership
The change marks the end of Cardinal Konrad Krajewski’s tenure, who has held the position of pontifical almoner since 2013, when he was appointed by Pope Francis.
For more than ten years, he directed the Apostolic Almonership and was subsequently designated prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity following the reform of the Roman Curia.
His time at the helm of this organism was marked by intense charitable activity and also by controversial episodes, such as the one in 2019, when he personally reconnected the electricity supply in a building illegally occupied in Rome to restore light to the residents of the property, an action that generated widespread political and ecclesial debate.
Now the Polish cardinal returns to his native country to assume the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Łódź.
A key dicastery in the Vatican’s social action
The Dicastery for the Service of Charity is the organism responsible for coordinating charitable works directly linked to the Pope and for managing the aid that the Holy See distributes to needy people in different parts of the world.
With this appointment, Leo XIV entrusts its direction to a Spanish prelate closely linked in recent years to the work of the General Secretariat of the Synod, in one of the recent movements within the reorganization of responsibilities in the Roman Curia.