José María Calderón (TEO'86) is among the new members of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples recently made public by the Holy See. The national director of the Pontifical Missionary Works (PMS) of Spain has recognized the appointment as an opportunity "for the missionary spirit of the whole Church to grow".

"I am very happy and grateful to have been appointed, I was very surprised. I am happy if this serves to grow the missionary spirit in the whole Church, and for Christ to be better known and loved in the world," said José María Calderón after learning of his appointment.

José María Calderón (Madrid, 1963) graduated in Theology from the University of Navarra in 1986. He was ordained in 1989 and has exercised his priestly ministry in various parishes of the diocese of Madrid. He has been, among many other tasks, diocesan consiliary of Catholic Action, diocesan consiliary of Manos Unidas and since 2007 he was episcopal delegate of missions and director diocesan of OMP of Madrid. Closely linked to the missionary world, he has collaborated with the Missionaries of Charity as chaplain and confessor, and has had summer missionary experiences with young people in countries such as Ethiopia, Cuba, Sierra Leone and Dominican Republic among others. Since 2019 he is director national of the Pontifical Missionary Works of Spain, replacing Anastasio Gil García, from whom he took over at the head of the institution.