Spanish court orders rebel nuns out of convent
The nuns, from the Order of Saint Clara, announced in May last year that they were breaking with the Vatican over doctrinal differences and claims their wish to buy another convent had been blocked.
They have since declared allegiance to an excommunicated ultra-conservative priest who has rejected the validity of all popes since the death of Pius XII in 1958.
The Archbishop of Burgos asked the nuns to leave the 15th century convent in the northern town of Belorado, saying they had no legal right to remain there after excommunication but they refused.
In a the ruling, dated Thursday, a court in the nearby town of Briviesca sided with the archbishop, instructing the nine remaining nuns to leave and return the convent to the Church.
'If they do not comply voluntarily, they will be forcibly evicted,' the court said, noting that the Church had presented valid documentation of ownership, while the nuns had offered no legal title justifying their continued use of the property.
The court did not set a specific date for the eviction.
During a hearing on Tuesday, the nuns' lawyer, Florentino Alaez, said his clients would appeal if the court ruled they had to leave the convent.
One of the nuns, Sister Paloma, told reporters that the convent "is ours".
"We are not isolated nuns, we are a legal entity, and they are our possessions," she added.
The nuns issued a 70-page manifesto last year declaring their break from the Church.
They accused ecclesiastical authorities of sabotaging a planned purchase of another convent in Spain's Basque Country and denounced what they called the Vatican's "doctrinal chaos" and "contradictions."
They also declared allegiance to Pablo de Rojas Sánchez-Franco, a priest excommunicated in 2019 who leads the fringe group "Pious Union of Saint Paul the Apostle."
Rojas adheres to sedevacantism, a radical belief that all popes since Pius XII (1939–1958) are illegitimate.
du/ds/ach
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Controversy Erupts in La Liga Opener as Star Striker Sees Red
Story by Powered by Controversy Erupts in La Liga Opener as Star Striker Sees Red
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Moment UK drug kingpin who ran £26m empire dances for the camera as he's arrested by police in Spain
Watch the moment a leader of a crime gang that ran a £26million drug empire is arrested by Spanish authorities. Footage shared by Greater Manchester Police on Friday (15 August) shows Jamie Rothwell seemingly in good spirits as he is escorted away by officers, performing a dance and smiling mid-arrest. The 38-year-old from Salford, who was the leader of an organised crime gang which trafficked guns into the UK, was tracked down to an apartment in Barcelona where he was detained. Rothwell, 38, of Grindon Avenue, Salford, pleaded guilty to a string of drugs and firearms offences in February. On Thursday (14 August), he was sentenced to 43 years in prison. 'He is not dancing now,' the force said sharing the footage.
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Cardinal Blase Cupich celebrates 50th anniversary of Catholic ministry
Cardinal Blase Cupich is marking 50 years in the Catholic Church, including more than a decade as the leader of the Chicago Archdiocese. According to church law, Cupich had to submit his resignation when he turned 75, and he did that last year, but he's not going anywhere just yet. He'll remain in place, until Pope Leo XIV decides to replace him. Cupich said one thing from his 50 years in the Catholic Church he'll never forget is seeing his friend, Robert Prevost, be elected pontiff and becoming Pope Leo XIV in June. "I think it was standing on the balcony when the pope was announced, and when he came out … because some of the cardinals shoved me up to the front, because they, you know, being from Chicago and the pope was in the next balcony over. And to look over that crowd, and it was thrilling, the gathering of all the people that were there; and then to hear him speak," Cupich said. "My friend, Robert Prevost, speaking to the crowd in perfect Italian and then Spanish, I think that that is something I'll never forget, looking out over that basilica." Given Cupich's personal relationship with the pope, does he think there's a chance he might not be in a hurry to replace him as cardinal in Chicago? "I don't want to trade on that, but I think that he seems agree with me on a number of things. We've been friends for a good decade and then worked together in the last six years. So, he knows my mind and I know his. So, I think we're suited for each other in a very good way," he said. Is Cupich ready to step aside? "Yeah. You know, I would step aside when I do, when I'm asked to do that, but I'm not going to resign from the priesthood. I'm going to continue to do work," he said. "I started off teaching high school kids, and I liked that, and so if the new archbishop comes in, and there is an opening in a high school that he'd like me to be chaplain of or do some teaching at the college level, which I've done before, I'd be happy to do that." Cupich recently traveled to Nagasaki, Japan, to mark the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945. The cardinal made some poignant comments about the church's teachings on war and the "just war" theory, saying that historians tell us when President Harry Truman decided to use the atomic bomb, he did not find it a tough decision. What was the point that message? "I think that it was clear that, first of all, people – even those who invented this weapon – didn't know the catastrophic effects that it would have, because it had not been tested on people before," he said. "We have to make sure that we never have another nuclear explosion on this planet again; that we don't kid ourselves that we have security simply because we have atomic weapons." How did Cupich think his message in Nagasaki translated, and what did he want people to take away from that given the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza? "War is always a failure for humanity. So we have to look for a way in which we preempt all of that by making sure that we sit down and listen to each other and talk to each other before we begin to rearm. And that, I fear, right now is happening. We're rearming across the world," he said. Does Cupich worry that there could be another nuclear weapon used? "I think so, when you have nine countries that have them. We had this recent flareup between Pakistan and India. Both of them are nuclear nations, and I think anything's possible," he said.
