At noon today, Friday, October 30, 2020, the Holy See has made public the appointment of Fernando Valera Sánchez as bishop of Zamora . Pope Francis has appointed this 60-year-old priest from Murcia, until now the spiritual director of the major seminary of San Fulgencio and the minor seminary of San José in the diocese of Cartagena.
The see of Zamora was vacant after the death of Msgr. Gregorio Martínez SacristánSeptember 20, 2019. He is at the head of the diocese, as diocesan administrator, José Francisco Matías Sampedro.
Fernando Valera Sánchez
A native of Bullas, a town in Murcia where he was born on March 7, 1960. In 1977, he entered the San Fulgencio Seminary of the Diocese of Cartagena, then in Granada, and completed his ecclesiastical studies at the Faculty of Theology in Granada. On April 3, 1983, he was ordained deacon in the city of Murcia and received priestly ordination on September 18, 1983, in his hometown.
In 1987 he obtained a degree in Philosophy from the University of Murcia, where he also completed a doctorate program. Reason, discourse and history in contemporary philosophy.. In 1995 he obtained a Licentiate in Spiritual Theology from the Pontifical University of Comillas and in 2001 a Doctorate in Theology from the same university.
He has several published works: In the midst of the world. Secular spirituality of the diocesan priest. y The Holy Spirit and the life of the presbyter as well as other collaborations in congresses and various articles in specialized magazines. In his 37 years of priestly life he has carried out various pastoral and academic assignments and activities. In his teaching work he has been Professor of Scientific Methodology and has taught the subjects of Sacraments at the service of the community y Pneumatology. Since 2007 he was Professor of Pneumatology as a key to understanding Fundamental Theology of the Theological Institute of Murcia OFM, a center attached to the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical University Antonianum of Rome. Professor of Spiritual Theology, Sacrament of Holy Orders and Matrimony at the Instituto Superior de Ciencias Religiosas San Dámaso, in its distance learning section in Murcia.
His pastoral assignments have been numerous and he also spent a year in the Highlands of Bolivia as a missionary priest. fidei donum.
At present, he was Spiritual Director of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family, of diocesan right, Spiritual Director of the Major Seminary of San Fulgencio and the Minor Seminary of San José. Member of the College of Consultors of the Diocese of Cartagena and Canon of the Holy Church Cathedral of Murcia.
