Father Apel·les, the media priest who went abroad

During the nineties of the last century, Father Apel·les (Barcelona, 1966) was a recurrent television presence. Ordained a priest in 1993, he built a parallel career as a pundit and polemicist, appearing on Canal 9 programs and later entering the Mediaset universe with shows like Moros y cristianos and Crónicas marcianas. He even managed to have his own show, Cita con Apeles (1997), a short-lived talk show that he co-hosted with Rocío Carrasco, daughter of Rocío Jurado, and which was produced by Gestmusic.

Every great rise has its fall, and in Father Apel·les's case, his television decline began in the 2000s. The priest has admitted that he did not manage his progressive disappearance from the screens very well. After his retirement from television, he trained militarily and was appointed captain in the reserve of the army. In 2019, he settled in Rome, stating at the time that he was tired of independentism. "I spend a lot of time reading, working in archives, researching matters of Church history. I also take advantage of being in Rome, which is not only the center of Christendom but also, from a cultural point of view, an incredible city," he explained in a recent interview on the program Col·lapse on 3Cat. In that same conversation with Jordi González, he did not make it very clear what he lived on. When the presenter asked him, he simply replied with a sly smile, "I simply live."

Although officially retired from show business, he still makes an appearance at the occasional event. This year, for example, he was one of the eclectic guests at the Santa Eulàlia festival of the Gremi de Restauració de Barcelona held at La Paloma, and he also attended the premiere of Torrente presidente.