LGBT and feminist activists want to have a Spanish cardinal penalised for hate speech after he said a “gay empire” is one of the threats to the family. 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 Read more
A Spanish priest is being investigated after allegedly performing more than a dozen exorcisms on a teenage girl with anorexia. 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 Read more
The exterior of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona is a bit loopy, but the interior is so awe-inspiring that it could win over future generations to Christianity. 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 Read more
Pope Francis directly helped uncover three priests and a lay person in Spain suspected of child abuse. 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 Read more
Fourteen people, including a priest, have been killed in a bus crash while travelling home from a religious event in Spain. 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 Read more
My family name, “Maron,” is a vestige of and a testament to the human capacity to hate. 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 Read more
The Catholic Church was within its rights not to renew the teaching contract of a Spanish married priest, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. 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 Read more
The image that surfaces when Sr Teresa Forcades speaks is evocative of spiraling energy, bubbling in spirit, and of being on the ground with the needs of the people of God. Forcades — a Benedictine nun, activist, feminist theologian and physician from Catalonia in Spain — and Francis — a Jesuit pope from Argentina — Read more
Bare-breasted feminists hurled knickers at the archbishop of Madrid as he arrived at church on Sunday in protest at his support for a tightening of Spain’s abortion law. 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 Read more
They come seeking refuge, but when asylum seekers cross into the European Union, they often find little compassion. In Greece, they are held in squalid detention camps, while in Italy they often end up on the street. Here is what they face at entry points across the EU. They know they are putting their lives Read more