Celso Morga Iruzubieta (Huércanos, La Rioja, 1948), a graduate the School of Canon Law of the University of Navarra, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy - of which he was Undersecretary - and Archbishop of Alba Maritima. The episcopal ordination will take place on February 5 in St. Peter's Basilica.

Bishop Morga completed his ecclesiastical programs of study at the diocesan seminar of Logroño and was ordained a priest in 1972. He then completed a licentiate degree in Canon Law at the University of Navarra, where he obtained his doctorate in 1978 with the thesis "Preaching and catechesis in the Synods of Calahorra-La Calzada and Logroño".

Later he developed his pastoral work in various parishes of La Rioja and was judicial vicar attachment of the Diocesan Tribunal between 1974 and 1980. That year he moved to Córdoba (Argentina) to teaching Canon Law at the Archdiocesan seminar . He was also a judge in the Ecclesiastical Tribunal and chaplain of a religious high school for girls.

Upon his return to Spain in 1984, he was appointed pastor of the parish of San Miguel in Logroño and in 1987 he was called to Rome to work in the Congregation for the Clergy, where he has been head of section and, since November 2009, undersecretary. In addition to his responsibilities in the Roman Curia, he has carried out intense pastoral work in various parishes in the Italian capital and is the author of several works on the priesthood and books on spiritual theology.

Attention to 400,000 priests worldwide

The Congregation for the Clergy is a Vatican dicastery that deals with matters concerning the life and ministry of 400,000 priests worldwide. It is divided into three sections. The first collects, suggests and encourages initiatives for holiness and intellectual update and promotes an adequate distribution of the clergy in the world.

The second is dedicated to the religious training of the faithful of every age and condition; it establishes the norms on the teaching of catechesis and grants the approval of the Holy See for the Catechisms and Directories of the Episcopal Conferences.

The third is the management assistant, responsible for subject conservation and administration of the temporal goods of the Church: real estate, fees, taxes, alienations; it is also responsible for the remuneration, pensions for invalidity or old age and the health attendance of the clergy. It also receives communications, petitions and suggestions from all the Catholic priests of the world.