Archbishop of Toledo
Francisco Cerro Chaves is Archbishop of Toledo, Spain. He was born on 18 October 1957 in Malpartida de Cáceres, Cáceres. He was ordained a priest in Toledo on 12 July 1981. He completed baccalaureate and philosophy studies at the Seminary of Cáceres and completed theological studies at the Seminary of San Ildefonso in Toledo. After priestly ordination, he carried out various ministries in the city of Toledo: parish vicar of San Nicolás de Bari Parish, diocesan chaplain for youth ministry, collaborator at Santa Teresa Parish, and director of the diocesan spiritual exercises house El Buen Pastor. At the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome he obtained a licentiate and doctorate in spiritual theology in 1997, with the thesis La experiencia de Dios en el Beato Fray María Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911-1938). Estudio teológico-espiritual de su vida y escritos. He is a doctoral candidate in theology of consecrated life at the Pontifical University of Salamanca. He is the author of more than 120 publications, written in language accessible to all and directed above all to the spiritual formation of young people and also of older people. Some of his books have been translated into several languages, including French, Italian, and Portuguese. He is a co-founding member of the Priestly Fraternity of the Heart of Christ and founder of the Secular Institute Cor Iesu. Since 1989 he worked pastorally in Valladolid, where he was chaplain of the National Shrine of the Great Promise, director of the Center for Formation and Spirituality of the Heart of Jesus, diocesan director of the Apostleship of Prayer, member of the diocesan presbyteral council, diocesan delegate for youth ministry, and professor of spiritual theology at the Augustinian Theological Study. The Holy Father appointed him Bishop of Coria-Cáceres on 21 June 2007. He received episcopal ordination and took possession of the diocese on 2 September 2007. On 27 December 2019, his appointment by Pope Francis as archbishop of the metropolitan see of Toledo, Primate of Spain, was made public. From that day he was archbishop-elect of that archdiocese and apostolic administrator of Coria-Cáceres. He took possession as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Toledo on 29 February 2020.