The Medals awarded by the Principality of Asturias – the term with which the Autonomous Community of Asturias is identified – are the highest honour awarded by this institution. They are awarded given the truly singular merits of persons or institutions, whose importance and relevance to the general interests of the community make them worthy of such recognition. In April 2022, the General Assembly of the Autonomous Community approved a law that unifies in a single category the two types of medals (gold and silver) that previously existed, it being understood that the merits to receive this award must be of great importance, regardless.
Already announced at the Coaña session on 19 January, they have now been officially ratified; and the Council of Government has decided to grant the title of "favourite son" to Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, a native of Luanco, a fishing village part of the municipality of Gozón, in the region of Avilés.
Ángel Fernández Artime, 10th Successor of Don Bosco, Titular Archbishop of Ursona, is the seventh Asturian cardinal in history, and will receive this recognition, along with the other winners, on 8 September 2024, on the occasion of Asturias Day.
