- José Ignacio Munilla will take office in February
The new bishop of the Diocese of Orihuela-Alicante, José Ignacio Munilla, will take office in February.
The prelate was in Alicante in late December, staying in the Priestly House next to the headquarters of the Bishopric in the capital, to close the last details and present himself to the main ecclesiastical and lay authorities of the province.
Munilla arrives six months late to a position for which he has been specifically chosen in order to clean up and discreetly bring order to the ‘inheritance’ left by Jesús Murgui.
The election of Munilla, with a reputation for being ultra-orthodox in morals, but also a strong hand and rectitude in management, should have been carried out the last summer.
Rome decided to wait for the sentence of the first trial against the former treasurer of the Diocese, Francisco Martínez, regards the alleged fraud against a real estate consultancy in the sale of the Benalúa asylum to build a private hospital. Delayed after nine months plus, after the hearing.
The outcome of the investigation was carried out by the Civil Guard on the alleged collection of black money commissions for selling Church assets.
The Nuncio decided to wait for the publication of the sentence so that Jesús Murgui would assume his responsibility and not overshadow the beginning of the new bishop’s Pontificate.
The sentence will be delayed for several months, as other alleged events continue to be investigated crimes of the dismissed treasurer.
In November the Apostolic Nuncio of Pope Francis, Monsignor Bernardito Auza, went to Alicante and met with Murgui to inform him of the decision.
At the meeting it was agreed that after the Plenary Assembly of the Episcopal Conference, in Madrid during November 15- 19, 2021, Munilla’s appointment would be made official.
The appointment was not well received in the Alicante-Orihuela curia, which did not expect it and detracted from the Alicante Plaza information in this regard from the first moment.
Some historical parish priests of small towns in the province are waiting with concern for the arrival of the new bishop, as some of them are also haunted by scandals of varying magnitude that have so far deserved the bishop’s blind eye.
The new bishop of the Diocese, who will take office in February, faces the challenge of cleaning up an economic management under suspicion, since the alleged practices of the previous treasurer came to light.
Born in Zumárraga (Gipuzkoa) in 1961, José Ignacio Munilla was ordained a priest in the diocese of San Sebastián in 1986, after which he was curate in the church of La Asunción, in his hometown, to later be appointed pastor of El Salvador.
In 2006, he was appointed bishop of Palencia by Benedict XVI, who three years later appointed him bishop of San Sebastián.
