Bishop of León
Luis Ángel de las Heras, CMF, was born in Segovia on June 14, 1963. He entered the Claretian minor seminary in Segovia at the age of 14. In 1981, he began his novitiate year in Los Negrales (Madrid), where he made his first profession on September 8, 1982. That same year, he began philosophical and theological studies at the Claretian Theological Institute in Colmenar Viejo, Madrid (affiliated with Comillas Pontifical University). He made his perpetual profession on April 26, 1986, the year he completed his Licentiate in Ecclesiastical Studies. Upon finishing his initial formation, he was assigned to the Youth Ministry Team of the Claretian Province of Castile, while simultaneously pursuing a Licentiate in Educational Sciences at Comillas Pontifical University. He was ordained a priest on October 29, 1988. Msgr. de las Heras began his priestly ministry in 1989 in the parishes entrusted to the Claretians in the Madrid neighborhood of Puente de Vallecas (Santo Ángel de la Guarda and Nuestra Señora de la Aurora). A year later, in 1990, together with other Claretians and lay members of the parish, he founded the "Proyecto Aurora" Association (dedicated to the care and support of drug addicts, in coordination with "Proyecto Hombre") and directed it for six years. He also spent nine years promoting Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) within the former Claretian Province of Castile. In September 1995, he was appointed assistant to the Prefect of Students at the Colmenar Viejo Seminary. Later, he served as formator of postulants, superior, and novice master in Los Negrales (Madrid). In Colmenar Viejo, he also served as a consultor, provincial vicar, and prefect of major seminarians. Within the Claretian Confederation of Aragon, Castile, and León, he served as the Confederation Superior's delegate for formation from 2004 to 2007. In the latter year, he was elected Prefect of Spirituality and Formation for the Claretian Province of Santiago. During the six-year term from 2007 to 2012, he also served as Provincial Vicar and Prefect of Students and Postulants in Colmenar Viejo, as well as a professor at the Theological Institute of Religious Life and the Regina Apostolorum School in Madrid. On December 31, 2012, he was elected Provincial Superior of the Claretian Missionaries of the Province of Santiago. On November 13, 2013, he was elected president of CONFER. His appointment as Bishop of Mondoñedo-Ferrol was announced on March 16, 2016, and he took possession of the diocese on May 7, 2016. On October 21, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of León, and he took possession of that diocese on December 19, 2020.