They allege the commission won't look into all sexual abuse of minors but only those committed by members of the Catholic Church.

Of Spain's 15,000 open cases, the vast majority were committed by people who are not part of the Church.

"We want to state that to carry out an investigation of abuses only in the church, when it is clear that out of 15,000 open cases in Spain, only 69 refer to the church, is a surprising decision," says Bishop Luis Argüello, spokesman of the Spanish bishops' conference (pictured).

The regional government of Catalonia's investigation makes more sense, he says. It will look into all cases of abuse of minors, including those committed by the Church.

Argüello says the bishops have informed the national government of their decision, although they will "collaborate with civil authorities" within the framework demanded by Spanish law.

Argüello is also calling for "collaboration and prudence so as not to exaggerate and not to revictimise the victims."

In March, the Spanish congress voted in favour of creating a commission of experts responsible for conducting the first nationwide investigation into clerical sexual abuse in the country.

Just days earlier, the bishops' conference announced that it would carry out its own investigation into historical abuse cases, along the lines of other conferences in the US, Ireland, France and Portugal.

There is no official data on the size of the problem. However, a 2018 Spanish newspaper El País investigation identified 1,246 victims since the 1930s.

The Cremades law firm will carry out both the church and state investigations.

Argüello said the church's approach to opening the diocesan archives "will be carried out taking into account civil and canonical legislation and the law on data protection."

He warns the archives may not be as useful as some might hope.

For instance, in a recent case they investigated, a spokesperson says "We have had no evidence, either in diocesan documents or in people close to the person denounced."

Some victims' associations are wary of the Cremades law firm that will carry out the bishops' review, because it is founded and led by a member of Opus Dei.

Given this, Argüello is appealing to all victims and "those who know of cases of abuse" to "use any channel they consider necessary to report" abuse - the justice system, the media, or the church.

He also suggested survivors take part in the investigation being carried out by the Cremades law firm or the one by the Ombudsman's office.

Argüello explained that the prelates' desire for Cremades to undertake an external audit has been motivated by two things: an evaluation of the work being carried out at a diocesan level and the pressure from the media.

What matters is what society as a whole can do together, without the church "assuming the role of a scapegoat, so that an awareness arises in society that ensures the problem of abuse can be addressed in its full magnitude," he says.

Source

• Crux Now
• Image: Alfa y Omega

Sanchez says the practice "enslaves" women.

The unregulated prostitution industry was decriminalised in Spain in 1995.

So long as paid sex services don't take place in public places and the sex worker is offering their services of their own free will, no law is broken.

Pimping, or acting as a proxy between a sex worker and a potential client is illegal.

By 2016 the UN estimated Spain's sex industry was worth €3.7bn ($NZ6bn).

Reports about the number of Spanish men paying for sex vary.

A 2009 survey found that up to one in three Spanish men had paid for sex.

However, another report published in 2009 suggested that the figure may be as high as 39 percent. Then, a 2011 UN study cited Spain as the third biggest centre for prostitution in the world. Those ahead of it are Thailand and Puerto Rico.

Also during recent years significant concerns have been growing around the potential for women to be trafficked into sex work.

In 2017, Spanish police identified 13,000 women in anti-trafficking raids. They say at least 80 percent of them were being exploited against their will by a third party.

The sex industry has boomed since decriminalisation. Estimates suggest around 300,000 women work as prostitutes in Spain.

It's two years since Sanchez's party first pledged to outlaw prostitution.

In its 2019 election manifesto it called the industry "one of the cruellest aspects of the feminisation of poverty and one of the worst forms of violence against women".

Seen by some as a move to attract more female voters, two years on from the election, no legislation has yet been tabled.

Supporters of Spain's current system say deregulating the sex industry has brought huge benefits to the women working in the trade and made life safer for them.

Source

• RNZ
• Image:El Pais
  

Published in 1634, "The Two Noble Kinsmen" is a tragicomedy about love, enmity and madness written by Shakespeare in collaboration with Jacobean playwright John Fletcher.

"It's likely the play reached Spain between 1635 and 1640," said John Stone, a lecturer in English studies at Barcelona University who discovered it at the Royal Scots College, a seminary in the northwestern town of Salamanca founded after the Catholic Church was outlawed in Scotland. Read more

Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, president of the Spanish bishops' conference, and Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo have agreed "to establish a broad working agenda" for a mixed commission.

The meeting is the first since Omella was elected conference president in March.

In a joint statement Omella and Calvo said the meeting was in line with "policies aimed at exercising the right to religious freedom," with both sides "willingly and freely addressed issues of mutual interest."

However, Alfa y Omega, Spain's Catholic weekly has reported that discord remained intense over government reforms, especially in education.

There are "no plans for compromise" over "fundamental rights," Alfa y Omega said.

The newspaper also reported that the bishops' education commission "stressed the need to protect and promote the right to education, as set out in our constitution.

"Spanish society is wondering how the eighth education law in 40 years is now close to being approved when there is no will to build consensus. The outlook is bleak."

The government also unveiled plans for law reform that would restrict parental rights and downgrade religion classes.

Other projected legislation includes permitting "a dignified death and euthanasia" at public expense, the "recovery of assets improperly registered to the church," and a guarantee of "state secularity and neutrality toward all religious denominations."

Another of Spain's bishops, Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, told those at Mass at Valencia cathedral on 21 June that the proposed education law would "impose models of knowledge and ethics". He urged legislators to reject it.

Source

• UCA News
• Image: UCA News

"We want a solution which helps build a peaceful country," said Rodrigo Pinedo Texidor, archdiocesan communications director. Read more

The international movement against sexual harassment and assault has spread rapidly since last October. It is used to show the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment.

The Carmelite nuns published a post committing their support to Me Too last week. This followed a court acquitting five men of rape charges for an attack on a young woman during a festival in Pamplona, Spain, in 2016.

The men (known as the Wolf Pack) filmed seven short videos of the attack. They then left their victim alone and naked in an alley. The videos were used as evidence in court.

The police who worked the case testified that the videos are "revolting" and that the victim didn't participate willingly.

However, the judge held that since she "kept her eyes closed" and had a "passive attitude," no violence was involved.

According to Spanish law, the charge of sexual abuse differs from rape in that it doesn't involve violence or intimidation.

The defence alleged the victim felt intimidated and unwillingly became submissive.

The trial sparked a Spanish version of the "Me Too" movement.

Although the nuns cannot leave the cloister, they joined the national protests about the judge's decision via social media.

They say they are showing solidarity with the victim and "with every woman who has to think twice before going through a dark street alone or before they go home on their own."

Source

• Crux Now
• ABS
• La Croix
• Image: Crux Now

ETA has apologised to its victims, saying it regrets the harm caused by its violent campaign for an independent homeland.

"We thank God this terrible nightmare of blood and horror is now over — and we should congratulate ourselves on this victory for the Spanish people's democracy," Father Jose Maria Gil Tamayo says.

Tamayo, who is the spokesman for the Madrid-based bishops' conference, says no idea can justify terrorism.

It is always perverse in origin and essence, and nothing and nobody can justify the death of the "long list" of innocents, he says.

In his opinion effective reconciliation would require "difficult, costly, lengthy and most demanding work," since suffering would not "end with a declaration."

Catholic bishops from Spain's Basque and Navarre regions say they hope peace will "take root forever."

They have also pledged solidarity with victims of the violence.

"The church has received from Jesus Christ the vocation to be an instrument of peace and justice, consolation and reconciliation…

"… many men and women of the church have given their best in this task, sometimes heroically," they say.

"But we know there have also been acts of complicity, ambiguity and omission among us, for which we sincerely ask forgiveness."

Spain's bishops previously have threatened to excommunicate members of ETA, which killed more than 800 people.

ETA was formed during the 1960s during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

At the time, the Basque language and culture were suppressed.

Observers have cautioned that ETA has broken pledges and agreements in the past. It has also demanded the freeing of hundreds of imprisoned Basque militants, they say.

These militants have included top-ranking figures from the leadership of Herri Batasuna, a banned Basque political party co-led by a Catholic priest.

A day after ETA promised to end its decades-long campaign, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Bilbao in northern Spain.

They are demanding better conditions for jailed ETA members or collaborators.

Shouting "Basque prisoners home", they called for ETA prisoners to be transferred to jails closer to the Basque region, and freedom for those who are ill.

Source

• Catholic Philly
• The Local
• Image: The Local

Cardinal Ricardo Blazquez Perez, who is the Spanish bishops conference president, says he supports re-establishing constitutional order.

Bishops and priests should favour "peaceful coexistence" and "renounce concrete political actions that could diminish their mission which consists in being pastors for all", Perez's spokesman says.

Last month, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government took direct control of Catalonia.

It dismissed its separatist government led by Carles Puigdemont in a bid to block Catalan separatists' efforts to gain independence from Spain.

Catalonia's ousted president and four other regional ministers then fled to Belgium.

The remaining members of the Catalan government are in jail in Spain, charged with rebellion and sedition.

A poll published in El Pais newspaper on Monday showed just a quarter of Catalonia's 7.5 million people want to claim independence from Spain.

In recent years, Josep Maria Soler, who is the Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Montserrat in Catalonia, has spoken out in favour of the region's right to hold an independence referendum.

He has not backed secession, however.

Over 400 Catalan priests and deacons signed a manifesto in favour of a banned independence referendum.

The referendum went ahead on 1 October, despite Spain's central government and the courts banning it.

Rajoy's government has complained to the Vatican about the Catalan priests' defiance, Spanish media reports say.

Source

• Bloomberg
• The Local
• Reuters
• Image: InfoVaticana

The priest has since offered his resignation as the Vicar General of the diocese, which was accepted. Read more

The world is carrying in its heart "the pain of these terrorist attacks," Francis told the crowd in St Peter's Square on Sunday, before leading them in prayer for the victims.

Nineteen people have died so far as a result of a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso on 13 August. Two gunmen killed nine locals and nine foreigners as they dined on the terrace of the restaurant, and a policeman has subsequently died.

No group has claimed responsibility but Burkina Faso has witnessed a string of such attacks attributed to Islamist extremists, including Al-Qaeda

On 17 August, two terrorist attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort of Cambrils killed 14 people and injured 130.

ISIS is claiming responsibility for these attacks, which Spanish security forces believe were conducted by a jihadist cell of at least 12 people.

A third attack happened last Friday August when a man armed with a knife killed two women and injured eight people from at least Finland. This was the first terrorist attack of this sort in Finland.

The Finnish police shot and arrested the attacker, an 18-year-old Moroccan.

Source

• Firstpost
• America Magazine
• Image: Daily Express
  

On May 13, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Valencia delivered a homily in which he stated the family has become a target in various ways.

"The family is haunted today, in our culture, by an endless threat of serious difficulties, and this is not hidden from anyone," Cardinal Cañizares said.

"There we have legislation contrary to the family, the action of political and social forces, with added movements and actions of the gay empire, of ideas such as radical feminism, or the most insidious of all, gender theory," he said.

The cardinal is a former prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Soon after Cardinal Cañizares's remarks, several pro-LGBT and feminist organisations announced they were going to file an official complaint with the local "Office of Hate Crimes".

Technically, they intend to charge Cardinal Cañizares with "apologia", a term in Spanish law for encouraging or defending a criminal act.

Spain has had anti-discrimination laws including penalties for "hate speech" since 1996.

Seeing the reaction to his remarks, Cardinal Cañizares decided to publish the homily in full, with an accompanying note asking, "Is it homophobic to defend the family?"

He also requested "objective" lawyers and jurists to look at the homily content and decide if what he said is in fact "against the law" or homophobic.

In his letter, the cardinal said that the "censorship and condemnation" he received in some media, and the attacks from organisations and politicians, made him recall "stages of our past history" during which homilies and preachers were "censored and condemned".

He was referring to Spain's fascist past in which sermons deemed seditious could see priests heavily fined.

Pope Francis has also warned against an "ideology of gender" with one recent example being in his exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

Valencia's auxiliary Bishop Esteban Escudero defended Cardinal Cañizares, noting that he was "defending the family amidst the challenges the Pope talks about".

Sources

• Crux
• Image: Plinthos

When the girl was 16, her parents interpreted her problems with anorexia and anxiety as a sign of demonic possession.

Her parents turned to exorcism after stays in hospitals didn't see her recover.

The parents sent her to a priest in Valladolid who allegedly carried out the exorcisms.

The girl told authorities she was forced to lie on the ground and was tied up with crosses placed over her head.

Images of saints were put on her body during the ritual, which often lasted between one and two hours.

The girl and members of her extended family complained to authorities.

A judge has declared that the exorcisms on the girl may have crossed the line into "domestic violence, causing injury and abuse".

Continue reading

I went to Barcelona by chance.

My brother's wife and daughters had been delighted by this elegant city in northern Spain and especially by the basilica of the Holy Family.

They convinced my brother that he too needed to see the city and he asked me to join him on a visit.

Naturally I knew of the church and of Pope Benedict's enthusiasm for it. One of the architects of the new Benedict XVI Retreat Centre of Sydney archdiocese had also written an article of commendation.

While I shared many of their artistic judgments, I was put off by photos of the basilica's exterior. It all seemed a bit loopy: Picasso in Hollywood.

But I knew nothing of the basilica's interior (and not much more, in fact, about the exterior). I was quite prepared to be unimpressed.

My visit completely changed my opinion as the basilica is a work of genius. This place of worship speaks of God to the people of today (and tomorrow) more eloquently then any church I know.

Catholic symbols are everywhere, teaching about Christ, the Church, light and life. Already 3,200,000 paying tourists visit each year, so enabling the construction to be continued.

The church is the product of Spain's turbulent religious history, and during its comparatively brief lifespan it has already been damaged and closed for a time by anti-Catholic violence.

In the 19th century, Barcelona was a centre for industrial development when Spain changed from being a colonial and largely rural society.

As the democratic, anti-religious and violent forces unleashed by the French Revolution of 1789 spread across Europe, the Spanish state, in 1836, expropriated all the Church's lands and assets.

In the consequent spiritual crisis the rise of militant unbelief was strongly contested by many Catholic priests and people.

The Association of the Devotees of St Joseph was founded in 1866 by the bookseller and philanthropist Josep Maria Bocabella, and grew strongly to a membership of half a million. In 1878 they decided to build an expiatory temple of prayer and worship dedicated to the Holy Family.

Work began in 1882, inspired in part by devotion to the Holy House of Nazareth, which was brought to Loreto, in Italy, in the 13th century, probably by Crusaders. Continue reading

• Cardinal George Pell in Catholic Herald

Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said that Pope Francis has taken a special interest in uncovering these men.

It "was precisely the pope who has been most belligerent in bringing this case to light", he said.

Gerard O'Connell in America reports that in August a young man wrote to the Pope saying he was 24 years old, a 'supernumerary of Opus Dei', and been abused while serving as an altar boy at the parish of San Juan Maria de Viannei.

The young man was astounded when Pope Francis called him on 10 August and asked his pardon for "this very great sin, and this very great crime," and promised to intervene.

With Pope Francis' encouragement the young man approached the archdiocese, the archbishop carried out an investigation and suspended the three priests.

The Archbishop reportedly did little else.

Pope Francis, in October, again called the young man in and was not pleased at how little had been done. He then encouraged the complainant to approach the civil authorities.

The boy claims the abuse took place over a five-year period when he was between the ages of 13 and 17.

He claims others were also abused.

Police have arrested three priests in Granada and "The Local", (Spain's news in English) claims another nine are being investigated about their involvement.

All the priests are members of a conservative spiritualist group called Los Romanones, led by Fr Roman (61), after whom the group took its name.

O'Connell reports Fr Roman is one of those arrested.

Asked on the way home from Strasbourg, how he reacted to the news of the Granada incident, Pope Francis said it pained him deeply.

"I read about it, I called the person and I said to them: you go to the bishop tomorrow. I wrote to the bishop asking him to get to work, hold an inquiry and get things moving. How did I react to the news? With great pain, great, great pain. But the truth is the truth and we must not hide it."

The group appears to have considerable money and houses which they use not only for catechetical purposes and encouraging vocations, but also for sexual activities, reports O'Connell.

On Sunday, Archbishop Francisco Javier Martinez (pictured) asked for forgiveness for the scandals and prostrated himself in front of the cathedral's high altar.

Many in Spain think the archbishop cannot remain as head of the diocese and more-so since a report over night claims a second man filed a complaint of sexual abuse against the Los Romanoes group.

Sources

• America
• La Stampa
• Associated Press
• El Pais (in English)
• The Local
• AFP
• Image: The Olive Press

The incident, which saw a bus plunge down a ravine in Murcia in southern Spain, was the worst such accident in the country for 13 years, officials said.

The bus was carrying passengers to their home village of Bullas back from the capital Madrid, where, according to media, they had been to a church ceremony.

The driver was charged with homicide and negligence, the prefect of the region, Joaquin Bascunana, told media, adding that it was thought the bus was travelling too fast.

The driver and his colleague tested negative for drugs and alcohol, he said.

Spanish media cited passengers saying that the driver had shouted before the crash that the coach's brakes were not working properly.

Ten of those on board, including Bullas's local priest, Fr Miguel Conesa Andúgar, 36, died in the crash.

Four others died later in hospital, the regional government said. A further 28 people were injured, 10 of them seriously.

More than 200 emergency workers rushed to the scene and worked through the night tending to the wounded, the regional government said.

The regional authorities decreed three days of mourning.

Spain's royal palace said King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were to attend the funerals for the victims on Monday.

It was the worst coach accident in Spain since 2001, when 19 retirees died in a crash near Huelva in the southwest of the country.

Spanish authorities have cracked down on road safety in recent years by increasing fines and launching shock road safety campaigns in the media.

The number of deaths on Spain's roads fell by 72 per cent between 2003 and 2013, the interior ministry said in January.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• The Guardian
• Image: The Guardian

My family tradition tells the story of my ancestors' expulsion — along with hundreds of thousands of other Jews — from the Iberian Peninsula by royal Spanish decree in 1492 following an era of great success and coexistence there.

Jews (and many Muslims) were given three options: convert to Christianity, leave their country and belongings, or die without trial.

My family changed our name to "Maron" as a reminder that we were "marranos," the term for Jews who were forced to publicly join the church and kept their Jewish identities in secret.

"Marrano" was a derogatory term literally meaning "pig" or "dirty"; this, of course, was meant to humiliate these Jews.

While historians continue to debate the exact figures, many believe that approximately 200,000 Jews were forced to convert to Christianity, hundreds of thousands more were expelled, and thousands were cruelly executed by auto-da-fé (burning alive on the stake).

So how was this brutal persecution enacted en masse?

The answer lies in the little-discussed fact that the Inquisition in fact began 200 years earlier, during the 13th century, under religious decree of Pope Gregory IX.

King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain greatly enhanced its far-reaching, destructive capacity in the late 1400s when they supplanted papal authority by assuming responsibility for the Inquisition themselves.

Their edict of expulsion called to "banish the ... Jews from our kingdom" for having "been most guilty of the said crimes ... against our holy Catholic faith."

The political monarchy's adoption of a radical religious agenda granted it dangerous power.

At a time when the pope and the king struggled with one another for political clout, only radical religion enabled by political legitimacy could mobilize and coordinate the massive discrimination and persecution including, but not limited to, the Spanish Inquisition.

So what does medieval Spain have to do with 2014 Iraq, Syria, and ISIS? Continue reading

Source

• Sam Maron in The Huffington Post

Sam Maron is a student at Princeton University.

In a nine to eight vote decision, the court ruled the decision not to renew Jose Antonio Fernandez Martínez's contract "was legitimate and proportionate".

Fernandez Martínez was ordained in 1961 and applied for a dispensation from celibacy 23 years later.

He did not receive a response and married a year later, going on to teach Catholic religion in a high school in the Murcia region.

In 1997, the local bishop declined to renew his contract.

The previous year, the Murcia newspaper La Verdad published an article about the "Movement for Optional Celibacy" of priests (MOCEOP) of which Fernandez Martínez was an active member.

The article included comments from several people disagreeing with the Church's position on abortion, divorce, sexuality and contraception.

It was illustrated by a picture of Fernandez Martínez with his family.

The following year, he was granted dispensation from his clerical duties, but was told that his contract would not be renewed unless a bishop agreed.

After several hearings in Spanish courts, the case was appealed to the ECHR.

The ECHR held it is not unreasonable for the Church to expect particular loyalty of religious education teachers, since they could be regarded as its representatives.

When one of the Church's teachers challenges its teaching, it raises a credibility problem, the ruling noted.

Fernandez Martínez had been voluntarily part of a circle of people bound by a duty of loyalty to the Church, it added.

Being seen as part of a movement campaigning against that teaching clearly ran counter to that duty, the ruling continued.

In a dissenting opinion, Russian Judge Dmitry Dedov said Europe's human rights convention "does not entitle religious organisations, even in the name of autonomy, to persecute their members for exercising their fundamental human rights".

He said the discipline of priestly celibacy "contradicts the idea of fundamental rights and freedoms".

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• The Journal
• Image: La Vie

Forcades — a Benedictine nun, activist, feminist theologian and physician from Catalonia in Spain — and Francis — a Jesuit pope from Argentina — share a kindred vision of empowering the poor through nonviolence.

Both understand the relationship between capitalism and poverty.

Francis has denounced the "idolatry of money" and implored world leaders to assure all people "dignified work, education and healthcare."

In a way, Forcades takes it further by advocating that the state must be challenged from the bottom up. The people must be the agents of change.

"When I talk about church, we talk about how the Gospel inspired us. There are many kinds of church, and I identify with the people at the bottom, at the base.

"Many people have a hope that the Catholic church might change because of the pope, but if you look at history, change comes from bottom up, not from top down," Forcades said to a room overflowing with "local radical activists" Continue reading.

Source: National Catholic Reporter

Image: psalmboxkey.com

Five topless protesters swooped on Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela as he got out of a car to attend an evening mass at a church in central Madrid.

They hurled red-stained knickers at the cardinal, who they say is one of the forces behind the conservative government's planned abortion reform.

Clerics and worshippers rushed out of the church to fend off the protesters, who fled before the police were called, an AFP photographer at the scene said. Continue reading

They know they are putting their lives at risk. Nevertheless, many people board ramshackle watercraft and set sail from the coast of Africa in the hope of a better life in Europe.

While a few years ago it was predominately North African migrants coming to Italy in search of work, today it is often refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia who are fleeing chaos and violence in their countries. The number of asylum applications in Europe has sharply increased in the past six years.

Refugees are "particularly vulnerable people," warned German President Joachim Gauck after hundreds of people drowned off the coast of Lampedusa on Thursday. "Protecting lives and granting refugees the chance to be heard is at the foundation of our legal and moral codes," he concluded. On Tuesday, the EU interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg to discuss the consequences of the accident, which resulted in around 300 deaths. But despite heavy criticism, they couldn't manage to come to a decision about comprehensive change to European asylum policy.

The expectations of refugees who come to Europe often go unfulfilled. Many must struggle through long asylum application processes or fight against ingrained local prejudice. In some countries, they endure appalling living conditions in refugee camps; in others, they end up on the streets.

The correspondents of SPIEGEL ONLINE report on the situation in various European countries.

ITALY

By Hans-Jürgen Schlamp

The Lampedusa disaster has shaken the world — especially Italy. The populace watches the images on television with horror, the body bags lined up across the beach. How can this be? "A disgrace," says Pope Francis. "Yes," agree many, "a disgrace." There is talk of solidarity. Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta awarded posthumous Italian citizenship to the deceased. Continue reading

Sources

• Spiegel Online
• Image: euobserver.com