Carlos Osoro Sierra was born in Castañeda, in the province of Santander, on 16 May 1945. After studying the magisterium and a year of teaching, he entered the seminary for late vocations in Salamanca, taking licentiates in philosophy and theology, and was ordained a priest on 29 July 1973. He spent two decades in diocesan pastoral work in Santander, including as rector of the diocesan seminary and vicar general.
John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Orense in 1996, promoted him to the metropolitan see of Oviedo in 2002, and Benedict XVI transferred him to Valencia in 2009. On 28 August 2014 Pope Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Madrid. From 2014 he was also vice-president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.
Pope Francis accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Madrid on 12 June 2023, and as Ordinary for the Eastern-Rite faithful in Spain on 1 March 2024. Francis had created him a cardinal on 19 November 2016, with the titular church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
Major Works & Initiatives
Archbishop of Madrid
Led the capital's archdiocese through the second decade of the century.
Archbishop of Valencia
Metropolitan of Spain's third city before Madrid.
Archbishop of Oviedo
First metropolitan see, in Asturias.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.