Career
Aguilar obtained a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in 1957 with a dissertation entitled “Maternitatis divinae diversa ratio apud Didacum Alvarez et Franciscum Suarez”. He is the archbishop emeritus of Pamplona y Tudela having been archbishop from 26 March 1993 until 31 July 2007 when he was succeeded by Francisco Pérez González. Before he was bishop of León from 22 August 1979 until 28 July 1983 when he stepped down.
He became archbishop co-adjutor of Granada on 8 April 1988.
Pope Francis announced on 12 January 2014 that on 22 February the archbishop, along with 18 others, would be inducted into the College of Cardinals.