In a significant appointment to the Roman Curia, Pope Leo has chosen the Spanish-born Augustinian bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, 64, to be the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, or papal almoner, and raised him to the rank of archbishop. Archbishop Marín currently serves as undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod and is known to be a close and trusted friend of the pope.
Leo named Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, 62, the outgoing papal almoner, as the new archbishop of Lodz in central Poland.
While Cardinal Krajewski’s reassignment to Poland was not unexpected, since he has served for 12 years as papal almoner, Pope Leo surprised many in Rome by appointing Archbishop Marín as the new papal almoner. In doing so, he has chosen a man whom he has known well for many years, considers both a friend and brother, and fully trusts. It is a significant appointment early in his pontificate, and it would come as no surprise if Leo also gave him the red hat in his first consistory appointing new cardinals.
Born in Madrid in 1961, Luis Marín de San Martín took first vows in the Augustinian order in 1982, took solemn vows in 1985 and was ordained a priest in 1988. He earned a doctorate in theology from Comillas Pontifical University in Madrid and served in various positions in his order, including as formator, as prior of the monastery of Santa Marta de La Vida and as a professor of theology in Augustinian centers.
In 2008, then-Father Robert Prevost, prior general of the Augustinians, called Father Marín to Rome to serve as archivist general of the order and to participate in various commissions of the Augustinian Curia.
As Vatican Media reported in an interview with then-Bishop Marín soon after the election of Pope Leo, “For five years they shared the same house, being part of the same community in Rome, seeing each other every day, which allowed them to deepen their friendship.” It added that “When Prevost’s commitments took him to other parts of the world, they remained in contact. During his episcopal ministry in Chiclayo, the current Pontiff called Marín to Peru on several occasions, entrusting him with the formation of the clergy.” It said that Bishop Marín knows Pope Leo’s “values, his commitment, his sensibilities and his style of government perfectly.”
Pope Francis appointed Father Marín as joint undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod, along with Nathalie Becquart, X.M.C.J., on Feb. 6, 2021, and made him a bishop. He participated in the whole process for the Synod on Synodality, including the two month-long synod meetings in Rome. He is the author of several books and publications, including two on the Augustinian order and two on Pope John XXIII.
It had been expected for some time that Cardinal Krajewski, whom Pope Francis appointed as papal almoner in 2013, might be appointed to a diocese in Poland. “Don Konrad,” as he was popularly known, served as Pope Francis’ right-hand man in helping the poor and vulnerable in Rome and elsewhere, including in war-torn Ukraine and refugee camps in Greece. He worked with great creativity, establishing showers and other services for the poor under the colonnades of St. Peter’s Basilica, not far from the bronze door leading to the Apostolic Palace.
In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Krajewski said: “[Francis] asked me to sleep next to the poor, to go out from the Vatican, and always, at the end of the day, to have the bank account empty because everything was destined for works of charity.
In recognition of his work and to emphasize the importance he gave to the work for the poor, Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2018, the first time in history that the papal almoner had been given a red hat. Subsequently, in his reform of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis raised the almoner’s office to the rank of a dicastery and placed it in the third-ranking position of the Curia after the Dicasteries for Evangelization and the Doctrine of the Faith.
For Cardinal Krajewski, today’s appointment marks a return home. He was born in Lodz in 1963 and ordained a priest in 1988 for the archdiocese, where he served first in a parish before being sent to Rome for further studies. There he earned a licentiate in liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of San Anselmo and a doctorate in theology, with specialization in liturgy, from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (“the Angelicum”). On his return to Lodz, he served as master of liturgical ceremonies at the cathedral and taught in the seminaries of the diocese and of the Franciscans and Salesians before being called to Rome by Pope John Paul II to work in the office of papal liturgical ceremonies.
It was while he was in that position that he began his work at night with those in need. After Francis became pope, he appointed him as his almoner.
In an interview today with Vatican News, the cardinal revealed that Pope Leo asked him if he wanted to bring all the experiences gained at the heart of the universal church to a local church. The cardinal said: “I accepted willingly, because the good of the Church is born from closeness to the faithful. My diocese is large; it has two and a half million inhabitants; I am ready to serve.”
“I never really left Poland,” he admitted, “I always remained among the people, and I also had a bit of longing.”
He now returns to his homeland as archbishop of a diocese with 1,355,000 Catholics, 219 parishes, more than 700 priests and over 400 women religious, as successor to Grzegorz Ryś, whom Francis made cardinal in 2023 and Pope Leo appointed as archbishop of Krakow last November.
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