Madrid archdiocese launches support course for 70 priests facing loneliness and overwork

The Archdiocese of Madrid has launched a support course for 70 priests intended to address the loneliness and heavy workloads carried by many of them in their ministry. The idea came out of concerns raised at the Convivium assembly in February 2026, where participants spoke openly about the need to care for priests in every area of their lives, said Juan Carlos Merino, the archdiocese's vicar for clergy.

Merino said the volume of work builds up pressure on priests, to the point that lay people themselves see their pastors as very dedicated but also stretched and overloaded. The course was put together with priests experienced in providing this kind of support and with the deans, who hold that responsibility by virtue of their office.

In 2024 the Archdiocese of Madrid had 462 parishes and 1,340 diocesan priests. Of those, 624 are in ministry in the diocese, more than 500 are retired, 127 work outside it and another 50 are missionaries. Madrid has a larger clergy than many other dioceses, but its priests face the same difficulties as the rest of the population, and those difficulties can leave them living increasingly alone.

Merino also said that while the number of seminarians is growing, the number of active priests is falling: between 10 and 15 ordinations a year against around 30 deaths. The population of the diocese is rising at the same time, so the workload is not easing. The answer, he said, lies in better organization and in giving priority to time and to relationships so that priests do not end up isolated.

The course focuses on relational conversion and on the physical, mental and spiritual care of the priest. Merino said a priest is not an isolated figure, and that his ministry depends on healthy bonds with the bishop, with his fellow priests and with those entrusted to him. "We are not priests to be alone," he said, calling for stronger mutual support among priests.

Many lay people have wanted to join this work. They do so through follow-up groups organized by the archdiocese and through courses on priestly leadership that also involve Catholic women with solid formation. A group of volunteers also supports retired priests, to reduce the risk of loneliness at that stage and make the move into retirement easier.