Pope Leo XIV faces a major renewal of the Spanish episcopate. As of July 2026, four dioceses remain without a titular bishop and another six continue to be governed by prelates who have already passed the age of 75 and have submitted the resignation required by Canon Law.
In total, the Holy See will have to address at least ten significant decisions. Four involve filling sees that are already vacant; the other six will depend on the acceptance of the submitted resignations and the subsequent appointment of successors.
The accumulation of vacancies and pending resignations makes the upcoming appointments one of the important tests of Leo XIV’s pontificate in relation to the Church in Spain.
Four dioceses remain without a titular bishop
The currently vacant dioceses are Astorga, Teruel and Albarracín, Osma-Soria, and Cádiz and Ceuta. The first three became vacant due to the transfer of their respective bishops to other sees. The fourth has been vacant since Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Rafael Zornoza Boy.
Astorga, the oldest vacancy
Astorga is the Spanish diocese that has been waiting the longest for a new bishop.
The Holy See announced on 27 March 2025 the transfer of Jesús Fernández González to Córdoba, where he succeeded Demetrio Fernández after the latter’s resignation was accepted. Fernández González took possession of the diocese of Córdoba on 24 May 2025.
Since the following day, Astorga has been governed by Francisco Javier Gay Alcain, elected diocesan administrator by the College of Consultors.
The see has therefore been vacant for more than a year without the name of its new titular having been announced.
Teruel and Albarracín, vacant since September 2025
The diocese of Teruel and Albarracín became vacant after Leo XIV appointed José Antonio Satué Huerto bishop of Málaga on 27 June 2025.
Satué took possession of the diocese of Málaga on 13 September of that year. After his departure, the College of Consultors elected Alfonso Belenguer Celma as diocesan administrator.
Although the appointment was announced in June, the effective vacancy began when Satué took possession of Málaga.
Osma-Soria, without a bishop since the transfer of Abilio Martínez Varea
On 9 July 2025, Leo XIV appointed Abilio Martínez Varea bishop of Ciudad Real, after accepting the resignation of Gerardo Melgar Viciosa.
Martínez Varea took possession of his new diocese on 27 September, leaving Osma-Soria vacant. The College of Consultors then elected Gabriel-Ángel Rodríguez Millán as diocesan administrator.
The diocese of Soria is thus approaching a year without a residential bishop.
Cádiz and Ceuta, the only vacancy caused by a resignation
The case of Cádiz and Ceuta is different. The see did not become vacant due to the transfer of its bishop, but because of the acceptance of his resignation.
Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Rafael Zornoza Boy on 22 November 2025 and appointed Ramón Darío Valdivia Giménez, auxiliary bishop of Seville, as apostolic administrator.
Unlike what happened in Astorga, Osma-Soria and Teruel and Albarracín, the provisional government of Cádiz and Ceuta was not entrusted to a diocesan administrator elected by the College of Consultors, but to an apostolic administrator appointed directly by the Pope.
Zornoza is already listed as bishop emeritus, but the diocese continues to await the appointment of a new titular.
Six resignations pending acceptance
To the four vacant sees are added six dioceses whose bishops have passed the age of 75 and continue in office while awaiting Rome’s decision.
Canon 401 §1 of the Code of Canon Law establishes that diocesan bishops must submit their resignation upon reaching that age. The submission, however, does not automatically produce the vacancy of the diocese. The prelate retains all his faculties until the Pope expressly accepts the resignation.
Omella, more than five years after submitting his resignation
The longest-standing case is that of Cardinal Juan José Omella, archbishop of Barcelona.
Omella was born on 21 April 1946 and turned 80 in April 2026. He submitted his resignation to Pope Francis at the beginning of April 2021, a few days before reaching the age of 75.
More than five years later, he continues to lead one of Spain’s most important archdioceses.
The extension of his mandate cannot be separated from the influence he held within the Spanish Church during the previous pontificate. Omella presided over the Spanish Episcopal Conference from 2020 to 2024 and was one of the Spanish cardinals closest to Francis.
His replacement will be one of Leo XIV’s most important appointments in Spain, not only because of the historical and pastoral relevance of Barcelona, but also because of the consequences it will have for the internal balance of the episcopate.
Yanguas, waiting since 2022
José María Yanguas Sanz, bishop of Cuenca, was born on 26 October 1947 and submitted his resignation on the same day he turned 75, in October 2022.
In 2026 he will turn 79 and is approaching four years of waiting since he placed his office at the Pope’s disposal.
His continuity is one of the longest after Omella’s.
Taltavull and a continuity that is prolonged
Sebastià Taltavull Anglada, bishop of Mallorca, was born on 28 January 1948 and submitted his resignation in January 2023.
He turned 78 in January 2026 and has been leading the diocese for more than three years after reaching canonical age.
Reports published in Mallorca during this period pointed to the continuity granted by Rome, but the Holy See has not yet announced the acceptance of his resignation or the appointment of a successor.
Lorca Planes, pending since October 2024
José Manuel Lorca Planes, bishop of Cartagena, was born on 18 October 1949 and submitted his resignation upon turning 75, in October 2024.
As of July 2026, he has been waiting for the papal decision for nearly a year and nine months.
Cartagena is one of Spain’s largest dioceses, so its eventual replacement will also carry significant weight within the episcopal map.
Cristau and López Llorente, the most recent resignations
Salvador Cristau Coll, bishop of Terrassa, submitted his resignation on 15 April 2025, the day he turned 75. In April 2026 he reached 76.
Casimiro López Llorente, bishop of Segorbe-Castellón, did the same on 10 November 2025. He is the last of the six prelates to join the list of pending resignations.
Although their waits are more recent, both are already part of the agenda of replacements that Leo XIV will have to address in Spain.
Ten decisions that do not have to occur at the same time
The existence of four vacant sees and six pending resignations does not mean that the Holy See will announce ten appointments immediately.
The Pope may accept resignations in a staggered manner, temporarily keep some bishops in their posts, or transfer prelates from other dioceses, thereby creating new vacancies.
That is precisely what happened during 2025. The appointments of Jesús Fernández to Córdoba, José Antonio Satué to Málaga and Abilio Martínez Varea to Ciudad Real resolved the successions in three dioceses, but left Astorga, Teruel and Albarracín, and Osma-Soria vacant.
The policy of transfers can accelerate certain replacements, but it also shifts the problem from one diocese to another when the appointment is not accompanied by the simultaneous coverage of the diocese of origin.
The name of Jordi Bertomeu among the rumours
Among the names circulating in ecclesiastical circles is that of priest Jordi Bertomeu Farnós, an official of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. For now, it is only a rumour and there is no confirmation that he is destined for a specific see.
His possible promotion cannot be ruled out due to the support he retains in certain circles linked to Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Cardinal Pedro Barreto. However, his name is not well regarded in broad sectors of the Curia and he carries a burden of blunders, recklessness, indiscretions and arbitrariness that is hardly compatible with a peaceful mitre.
InfoVaticana has reported on episodes that include the use of an FBI investigation as a means of pressure to request money, attempts to promote sanctions and threats of excommunication against inconvenient laypeople, the breach of the confidentiality of testimonies and statements in which he placed the institutional good of the Church above the victims.
Bertomeu is also one of the main defenders in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of the thesis that the dispensation from the clerical state allows investigations into abuse by a priest to be closed. Several high-ranking Vatican judicial authorities have denied this interpretation to InfoVaticana, considering it legally false.
Making the principal “plumber” of the Vatican disciplinary apparatus a bishop would be a sign of weakness. Nevertheless, if Leo XIV continues to seek balances and appease centres of power rather than imprint his own line, his appointment cannot be ruled out.
Also mentioned are the archbishop of Pamplona, Florencio Roselló, whose private audience with the Pope in February reactivated speculation despite having expressed his reservations; the bishop of Solsona, Francesc Conesa, the name most frequently cited in Catalan ecclesiastical circles; and that of Tortosa, Sergi Gordo, former auxiliary of Barcelona. Some also point to possible surprises, from Cardinal Bustillo to the abbot of Montserrat, in a decision that will set the course of the Spanish episcopate under the new pontificate.
In Madrid, meanwhile, rumours point to an upcoming expansion of Cardinal José Cobo’s team. According to sources close to the archdiocese, the Holy See is said to have approved the request to appoint three new auxiliary bishops, bringing the archdiocese to a total of five.
The name considered most certain is that of the vicar for the clergy, Juan Carlos Merino, while Antonio Secilla, Nicolás Álvarez de las Asturias, Santos Urías, José Luis Díaz Lorenzo and González Alemany also appear in the betting. Cobo’s intention, according to reports, would be to form a team of auxiliaries with diverse sensibilities to satisfy the different families of the Madrid clergy.
A test for the pontificate of Leo XIV
Episcopal appointments are not simple administrative decisions. They determine the pastoral, doctrinal and disciplinary governance of a local Church for years and, in many cases, for decades.
So far, Leo XIV’s appointments have not shown a clear break with the networks and balances inherited from the previous pontificate. Rather, there has been a tendency to combine sensibilities and avoid open confrontations with the main centres of ecclesiastical power.
Spain offers the new Pope the opportunity to begin defining his own line. The replacement in Barcelona will be especially revealing, but so will the appointments to smaller dioceses, where Rome may choose to promote priests from the local clergy, currently serving auxiliary bishops or officials of the Curia.
Leo XIV has before him the opportunity to correct inertia, reward solid profiles and restore credibility to selection processes too conditioned by personal relationships, quotas and networks of influence.
He may also limit himself to managing the inherited map and preserving the balances built during the pontificate of Francis.
The four vacant dioceses and the six pending replacements will provide a first response. Spain has become, due to the number and importance of the open decisions, one of the scenarios where the independence and strength of the new Pontiff can be most clearly measured.