Cartagena Renews Its Sacred Heart Consecration
At Monteagudo, some 4,000 faithful and 50 priests joined Bishop Lorca Planes for a televised Mass; Pope Leo XIV encouraged the diocese’s mission.
On October 31, 2026, Bishop José Manuel Lorca Planes of Cartagena renewed the consecration of his diocese to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, one hundred years after the first act, at the same Monteagudo site in Murcia.
The Mass began at 11:00 a.m. on an esplanade beside the Alicante road. About fifty priests participated, and roughly four thousand faithful gathered. Before the Blessed Sacrament the bishop pronounced the renewal formula: “We are yours and we want to be yours. May your love reign in our hearts and be manifested in our whole life.” The diocese has published the full text of the homily and of the prayer of renewal.
Centenary at the first monument
In his homily, Bishop Lorca Planes recalled that the Jesuits helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart in the diocese. He invited those present, and those following the regional broadcast, to offer their hearts to Christ. He stressed that the encounter with the Lord does not bring immediate perfection but begins a process of conversion.
During Eucharistic adoration after Communion, a message from Pope Leo XIV, read on his behalf by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was read. The Holy Father expressed his gratitude and encouraged the diocese to continue its evangelizing mission.
The parish priest of Monteagudo, Carlos Casero, said the renewal was not merely a memory of the past: “Jesus is still alive among us in this Diocese.”
The first consecration took place on October 31, 1926, when then-Bishop Vicente Alonso Salgado consecrated the diocese and the whole Region of Murcia to the Sacred Heart. The first diocesan monument to the Sacred Heart was blessed and inaugurated at Monteagudo that same day, which is why the centenary returned to the site.
Jubilee grace and night of adoration
For the centenary, Bishop Lorca Planes granted the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Antigua in Monteagudo a Jubilee Year. The faithful who took part in the October 31 Mass could gain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions: Communion during the celebration, confession, and prayer for the intentions of the Pope.
The evening before, the parish held twenty-four hours of Eucharistic adoration with groups from several ecclesial communities, preparing hearts for the public renewal of belonging to Christ.
The act places the diocese again under the Sacred Heart—an invitation to conversion, fidelity, and mission in continuity with a century of local devotion and with the encouragement of the Successor of Peter.