Background
Abril y Castelló was born in Alfambra, Spain.
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Abril y Castelló was born in Alfambra, Spain.
He attended the elite Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome.
He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Teruel and Albarracín on 19 March 1960. In 1961, he went to Rome to study and obtained a doctorate in social sciences at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum and a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He worked in Pakistan, Turkey and the Second Section of the Secretariat of State in Rome.
On 29 April 1985 he was appointed by Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Nuncio to Bolivia and Titular Archbishop of the Diocese of Tamada.
He received episcopal consecration on 16 June 1985 from Cardinal Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli. He later served as papal nuncio in other countries: Cameroon (1989–1996), Yugoslavia (1996–2000), Argentina (2000–2003), and Slovenia and Macedonia (2003–2011).
During a vacancy in the Papal See, he is first in authority after the cardinals and is entrusted with the surveillance of the conclave, to which no one is admitted without his permission. On 21 November 2011 he was named Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the Papal Basilica associated with Archbishop Abril y Castello"s native country of Spain, whose King, currently Felipe VI, is Protocanon of the Basilica"s chapter.
lieutenant was announced on 6 January 2012 that Archbishop Abril y Castelló would be created a cardinal on 18 February in Rome by Pope Benedict.
He was created Cardinal-Deacon of San Ponziano. He lost rights to attend these dicastery meetings and to vote in a papal conclave on his 80th birthday in 2015. On 28 July 2012, Cardinal Abril y Castelló was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as his special envoy to the celebrations of the 950th Anniversary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sapë (Sappa.
The seat of the Diocese is the town of Vau-Dejës, Shkodër County).
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis. On 15 January 2014, he was named member for the next quiquennium of the Commission of Cardinals overseeing the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR).
He was elected by his fellow members of the Commission of Cardinals of the Institute of Works of Religion as their President on Tuesday, 4 March 2014 (the IOR"sone of the Vatican"s banksreform board, who were appointed by Pope Francis in January 2014 to 5-year terms and meet at least twice a year). He continues his other duties. On 2 April 2011 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
On 21 April 2012 Cardinal Ayril y Castello was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
On 4 March 2014, the members of the Cardinals" Commission overseeing the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) nominated him as their president