Benedict XVI could not have found a better framework and a better time to announce the proclamation of St. John of Avila as Doctor of the Church than in a cathedral of the Almudena in Madrid full of seminarians at the framework of WYD 2011.

St. John of Avila was born in Almodovar del Campo (Ciudad Real) in 1499. He soon discovered his priestly vocation; he studied at the universities of Salamanca and Alcalá, where he was imbued with the Christian humanism of their classrooms; and once ordained, he directed his steps towards Andalusia. There, once his desire to go to America was truncated, he will deploy an intense apostolate, attending singularly to the spiritual direction of many people who wished to live their Christian life with greater intensity - the result of this work is the treatise Audi, filia -, including many priests who sought the committee of the Holy Master, as he was popularly called.

The fame of his eloquence and wisdom went hand in hand with the copious fruits of his apostolate. Listening to him in Granada, St. John of God discovered his vocation, as did St. Francis Borgia, who, after seeing the fleeting nature of human beauty, never again wanted to serve a lord who might die. St. Teresa of Jesus, the great doctor of the Church, who sought holy and wise confessors, asks for her committee . St. Ignatius of Loyola ardently wanted her to join the Society, which he loved so much, although this was not his vocation.

St. John of Avila understood well that God calls everyone to holiness. And he ministered to all, giving his priestly life with self-denial and joy. And to all he instilled the conviction that core topic lies in the correspondence to the Love of God.

The bishops of Cordoba and Granada asked him to preach to the clergy of their dioceses. And at the request of the latter, he prepared two memorials for the Council of Trent in which were encrypted the clues of the spiritual and pastoral renewal that, as a result of its celebration, were given in the Church, which he loved so much.

He died in Montilla on May 10, 1569 and his sacred remains rest there. The magisterium of St. John of Avila did not reach the resonance it deserved due to the difficulties of his canonization process, which was delayed for a long time. It was in plenary session of the Executive Council XX century when a group of priests and theologians made an effort to highlight the universal value of the doctrine and the example of life of this priest whose only desire was to follow Christ with fidelity and work for the salvation of souls.

Pius XII declared him patron of the Spanish secular clergy, Paul VI canonized him in 1970 and yesterday Benedict XVI, an intellectual of the first rank who is manifesting to the world day after day his heart of father and pastor, announced that he will add the humble but wise John of Avila to the select catalog of Doctors of the Universal Church.

This inclusion is endorsed not only by the unanimous request of the Spanish episcopate, universities and seminaries, orders and congregations, theologians and intellectuals, but above all by the solvency and eminence of a clear doctrine that draws from the sources of the Sacred Scripture, especially in the Gospels and the Pauline letters, and that is based on the ecclesial Tradition, beginning with the Holy Fathers. The luminous doctrine of a holy priest who, already in his time, was aware of the universal call to holiness proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council.

The subsequent influence of this eminent doctrine is discovered, here and there, in renowned authors of the history of spirituality and reaches us, with total freshness, in these beginnings of the Third Millennium in which the Church sample has an incredible vitality, as it is being shown these days in the WYD. Such is also the doctrine of St. John of Avila, fully evangelical and radically current because the Holy Master, rooted in Christ, not only always remained firm in the Faith but also helped, with his words and writings, and continues to help many others today to base their lives on Christ. For this reason, Pope Benedict XVI has made the appellative by which he was known in his day a full reality: St. John of Avila is no longer only a Teacher but a Doctor of the Church.