Joan-Enric Vives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succession: | Co-Prince of Andorra | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign: | 12 May 2003 – present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reg-Type: | Co-Prince | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regent: | Jacques Chirac (until 2007) Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012) François Hollande (2012–2017) Emmanuel Macron (2017–) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor: | Joan Martí i Alanis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Joan-Enric Vives i Sicília (in Catalan; Valencian ʒuˈan ənˈriɡ ˈbiβəz i siˈsili.ə/; born 24 July 1949) is a Spanish cleric who has served as Bishop of Urgell and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra since 2003. This makes him a joint head of state (alongside the President of France) and one of the two Catholic religious figures in the world who also leads a country, the other such prelate being the pope himself (who leads Vatican City).
He holds the rank of archbishop[1] as a personal distinction, his diocese being a suffragan diocese.[2]
Vives i Sicília was born in 1949 in Barcelona as the third son of Francesc Vives i Pons and of Cornèlia Sicília Ibáñez, who were small retailers.[3] He entered the seminary in 1965 and studied humanities, philosophy and theology.[4] In 1974, Vives was ordained a priest in his native parish Santa Maria del Taulat de Barcelona. He was later nominated as auxiliary bishop of Barcelona (and titular bishop of Nona) in 1993, and consecrated to the episcopacy and automatically became a member of the Spanish Episcopal Conference. Pope John Paul II nominated him as coadjutor bishop of Urgell in 2001. After two years, on the retirement of his predecessor Joan Martí Alanis in 2003, he succeeded him as Bishop of Urgell on 12 May 2003, and hence therefore as co-prince of Andorra in the Principality of Andorra located in the heights of the Pyrenees Mountains.[5] On 10 July 2003, he carried out the Constitutional Oath as the new Co-Prince of Andorra at "Casa de la Vall", Andorra la Vella. Vives i Sicília was later elevated to archbishop as a personal title by Pope Benedict XVI in March 2010.
Upon reaching age 75 on 25 July 2024, Archbishop Vives, like other bishops, became subject to being required to retire, with the Pope having the right to name the bishop who will eventually succeed him. On 12 July, Pope Francis named Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat as coadjutor bishop. As a result, Serrano will succeed Archbishop Vives when the archbishop retires, although the Pope did not immediately require Archbishop Vives to do so.[6] [7]