Archbishop Sistach is succeeding Cardinal Ricardo Carles Gordó, 77, who had presented his resignation when he turned 75.
The Vatican press office today announced at the same time that the Holy Father has raised Barcelona to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese, and established the new dioceses of Terrassa and Sant Feliu de Llobregat with territory taken from the Barcelona Archdiocese.
Lluís Martínez Sistach was born in Barcelona on April 29, 1937. He was promoted to metropolitan archbishop of Tarragona in February 1997.
The new archbishop of Barcelona is a member of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, and a consultor for the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
He is being succeeded as archbishop of Tarragona by Monsignor Jaume Pujol Balcells, an Opus Dei priest who currently is a theology professor and director of the Institute of Religious Sciences of the University of Navarre.