Resignation of bishop of Albacete, Spain and appointment of successor

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Albacete, Spain, presented by H.E. Msgr. Ciriaco Benavente Mateos.

The Pope has appointed H. E. Msgr. Ángel Fernández Collado as bishop of the diocese of Albacete, transferring him from the titular see of Iliturgi and from the office of auxiliary of Toledo.

H. E. Msgr. Ángel Fernández Collado

H.E. Msgr. Ángel Fernández Collado was born in Los Cerralbos, Toledo, on 30 May 1952. He was ordained priest on 10 July 1977. In 1984 he obtained a licentiate in Church history from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, and in 1990 a doctorate in theology. He also graduated in archivism from the Vatican School of Paleography (1984).

In the diocese of Toledo he served as parish vicar of El Buen Pastor and San José Obrero; diocesan assistant for Female Catholic Action; delegate for Cultural and Artistic Heritage; dean of the Section of Sacred Theology of the Theological Institute San Ildefonso of Toledo; episcopal delegate for diocesan Caritas and for Consecrated Life, and director of the Secretariat for the permanent formation of the clergy; pro-vicar general; canon; deputy director and coordinator of the two-year course in ecclesiastical history at the San Ildefonso Higher Institute of Theological Studies; archivist of the Cathedral and of the Capitular Libraries; coordinator of the historical section of the Aula de Estudios Hispano-Mozárabes; vicar general, and moderator of the Curia.

He was appointed as titular bishop of Iliturgi and auxiliary of Toledo on 28 June 2013, and was consecrated on the following 15 September. In the Spanish Episcopal Conference he is a member of the Episcopal Commission for the Liturgy since 2014 and the Commission for Cultural Heritage since 2017.