Lluís Martínez i Sistach was born in Barcelona on 29 April 1937 and ordained a priest on 17 September 1961. A canon lawyer — doctorate in utroque iure (1967), professor, and president of the Spanish Association of Canon Lawyers (1983) — he wrote the standard work El Derecho de asociación en la Iglesia (1986; English: Associations of Christ's Faithful, 2008). Appointed auxiliary bishop of Barcelona in November 1987 (consecrated 27 December by Cardinal Jubany), he became Bishop of Tortosa in 1991 and Archbishop of Tarragona in February 1997.
On 15 June 2004 he was appointed Archbishop of Barcelona (installed 18 July), welcomed Benedict XVI for the consecration of the Sagrada Família in 2010, and was created a cardinal on 24 November 2007, with the title of San Sebastiano alle Catacombe; he voted in the 2013 conclave. He is Grand Prior of the España Oriental Lieutenancy of the Holy Sepulchre. He retired on 6 November 2015. His motto is Charitas Christi virget nos — “the charity of Christ urges us.”
Consequential Quotes
A church, a synagogue or a mosque are not the same thing.
We must all convert ourselves, and conversion is a painful experience.
Major Works & Initiatives
Archbishop of Barcelona
Eleven years in Catalonia's capital see.
The associations book
The standard work on canon law of associations.
Welcomed Benedict XVI
Hosted the Sagrada Família consecration.
Controversies
The 2007 places-of-worship law dispute
In December 2007 Martínez i Sistach opposed Catalonia's law requiring land set-asides for mosques and other worship places, saying “a church, a synagogue or a mosque are not the same thing” and that the law “impinges on our ability to exercise a fundamental right, that of religious liberty” (New York Times, 16 March 2008).