Archbishop of Tarragona
Joan Planellas Barnosell was born in Girona on November 7, 1955. In 1975, he entered the Major Seminary of Girona, where he pursued his philosophical and theological studies. He obtained a Licentiate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome while residing at the Spanish College in Rome. He was ordained a deacon in Verges (Girona) on April 26, 1981, and a priest in Banyoles (Girona) on March 28, 1982. He served as an associate pastor at the parish of Santa Maria dels Turers in Banyoles and later at the parish of Sant Martí in Palafrugell (Girona). Between 1985 and 1988, Joan Planellas taught Theology at the Girona Seminary, and from 1988 to 1998, he served as director of the Girona Institute of Theology, which became the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences in 1996. Since 1988, he has taught courses on the Sacrament of Holy Orders, Ecclesiology, and Fundamental Theology. Between 2002 and 2004, he worked on his doctoral thesis at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, beginning his teaching career at the Faculty of Theology of Catalonia that same year. He has been a full professor at the Faculty since 2012. He served as vice-dean of the Faculty from 2010 to 2015, becoming dean in September 2015, by which time the Faculty had been integrated into the Sant Pacià University Athenaeum. His pastoral work has included serving as associate pastor of the Sant Narcís parish in Girona (1988–1991), parish administrator of Grions, Gaserans, and Massanes (1990–1991), pastor of Navata, Lladó, Cabanelles, Espinavessa, Taravaus, Vilademires, and Sant Martí Sesserres (1991–1996), rector of the Conciliar Seminary of Girona (1996–2002), and pastor of Sant Miquel de Fluvià, Sant Mori, and Vilamacolum (1997–2019). Msgr. Joan Planellas has served as Archbishop of Tarragona since 2019. At the time of his episcopal appointment, he was a canon of the Cathedral of Girona and parish priest of the Shrine of Font Santa, as well as of Jafre, Garrigoles, Colomers, Foixà, Rupià, La Sala, La Tallada, and Marenyà. He was also a member of the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Girona. During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Holy Father appointed him a Missionary of Mercy. His appointment as Archbishop of Tarragona was announced on May 4, 2019, and he received episcopal ordination on June 8, 2019.