The abbot of the Poblet monastery, Octavi Vilà, will become the new bishop of Girona, according to what Digital Religion reported this afternoon. The news comes hours before the diocesan administrator of the Bishopric of Girona, Lluís Suñer, appears before the media this Thursday at noon to announce the person who will succeed Francesc Pardo in office.
The diocese of Girona had been vacant since his death, on March 31, 2022. Although during this time several names had been mentioned to replace him, that of Octavi Vilà is unexpected. It is unusual for a monk to lead a diocese.
It was also not usual for a diocese to be in an interim situation for so long. Since Francesc Pardo died, the diocesan administrator Lluís Suñer has been in charge, and in his last appearances as well as in the last mass of Sant Narcís, patron saint of Girona, he insisted on the need to have a new prelate. "We need it and we hope for it," he published that week in the parish newsletter.
In June 2021, upon turning 75, Francesc Pardo presented his resignation to the Pope, as established by the Code of Canon Law. A fact that did not imply an immediate appointment.
Eight months later he died and since then Suñer, 77, has ruled the diocese. On October 7, the Pontiff, during the pilgrimage to Rome of the Brotherhood of the Mare de Déu de Montserrat, gave some clue by informing some of the members of the brotherhood that "soon" there would be a new bishop.
The current abbot of the monastery of Poble, Octavi Vilà, will become the 115th bishop of the diocese of Girona. Born in Tarragona in 1961, he is a Cistercian monk. He has been abbot since 2015, replacing Josep Alegre who died last January 26.
Graduated in Geography and History and graduated in Library Science and Documentation from the University of Barcelona, he completed a postgraduate degree in New Information Technologies at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and another in Cultural Management from Pompeu Fabra.
He studied Philosophy and Theology at the Faculty of Theology of Catalonia. Cistercian monk of Poblet since 2006, he made his temporary profession in 2007 and his final profession in 2010. He was ordained deacon in 2014 by the bishop of Urgen, Joan Enric Vives, and priest in 2015 by the archbishop of Tarragona, Jaume Pujol .
Secretary and vice-president of the Bibliographic Archive of the Holy Cross between 1998 and 2005, he has published several articles in the press and history works.
