Juan José Omella was already past the usual retirement age when the succession at Barcelona’s archdiocese was announced. Canon law requires diocesan bishops to submit their resignation to the Pope at 75, though the pontiff may allow them to remain in office beyond that age. Vatican News reported that Omella’s resignation from pastoral governance was accepted at 80. He had led the Barcelona archdiocese since 2015.
On 11 November 2026, Pope Leo XIV appointed Octavi Vilà Mayo, then bishop of Girona, as metropolitan archbishop of Barcelona, succeeding Omella. The appointment took effect when the Vatican published its official bulletin. Vilà’s installation at the Sagrada Família was scheduled for 19 December; Barcelona Cathedral was unavailable because of renovation work. The planned ceremony fell close to Christmas. Barcelona’s seasonal calendar had also included a Christmas lights announcement, covered in RUSSPAIN’s Christmas lights report.
Vilà was born in Tarragona in 1961. He studied Geography and History, then Library Science and Documentation, at the Universitat de Barcelona, and pursued postgraduate study in information technologies and cultural management. Before entering monastic life, he worked for more than 20 years in Tarragona’s newspaper archive. He entered Poblet in July 2005, made his solemn profession in 2010 and was ordained a priest on 1 May 2015. Seven months later, he was elected abbot of Santa Maria de Poblet, a position he held until 2024.
After Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Girona on 29 February 2024, Vilà moved from monastic leadership to diocesan governance. He had served in Girona for less than three years when Pope Leo XIV named him to lead Barcelona. Since July 2024, he had also been a member of the Spanish Episcopal Conference’s Commission for Consecrated Life.
Poblet’s role as the burial place of the kings of the Crown of Aragon gives the monastery a public dimension. Its preservation trust includes representatives of the state and the Casa Real, alongside the Generalitat de Catalunya and territories once within the Crown of Aragon. Spanish reports described Vilà as having a more Catalan-oriented profile than Omella. The source account identifies him with the Catalanist current in the Church.
Omella said he had met Vilà at Poblet during visits for prayer. He described his successor as intellectually well prepared and able to build communion and relationships. Omella, born in Aragón, arrived in Barcelona in November 2015 after serving as bishop of Calahorra y La Calzada-Logroño.
Vilà’s transfer left Girona without a titular bishop, and the diocese now needs a new appointment. It had already been vacant for about two years following the death of Francesc Pardo, with an apostolic administrator in charge before Vilà’s appointment in 2024. Appointments in Terrassa and Mallorca also remained pending.
In his first reported remarks as archbishop-designate, Vilà spoke about secularization, saying that efforts were being made to relegate God to the background. He made the remarks as Omella appeared in Barcelona on the day the Vatican announced the appointment.
