Letters to the Editor

On Abbot Escarré's statements in 'Le Monde'

On the television program Més 3/24, in connection with a discussion of a book by Albert Balcells, the abbot of Montserrat, Aureli M. Escarré, was discussed. Arriving late, the program director (whom I sincerely congratulate for her performance) suggested continuing the discussion another day, but the subject of the abbot's famous statements in the French newspaper Le Monde had already been insinuated. Statements that were of historical importance because they helped many Catalans take a clearly anti-Franco position.

But someone was "envious" of the abbot and spread the word that the statements were not his work but those of the activists who had accompanied Antoni Novais (Le Monde's delegate in Madrid) to see the abbot of Montserrat. Unfortunately, this lie has spread. I have seen it written by very renowned Catalan writers.

When the interview between Abat and Novais took place, I was still a monk at Montserrat, and I can assure you that not a single monk doubted the authorship of the statements. Neither those of us who rejoiced nor any of those who were hurt, nor any of the four who were present at the event in question (Fathers Taxonera, Boix, Busquets, and Estradé).

At that time, Abbot Aurelius felt justified in his, let's say, political actions by Pacem in Terris, the encyclical of John XXIII, which, in short, states that a Christian should not live like a spiritualist, somewhat removed from everyday life, from what happens in the world, but rather highly exalted. Doctrinally, then, the statements offered him no ideological commitment. And as for the danger he was exposing himself to, he had taken even greater risks two months earlier, in the homily of the pontifical on September 8 (the ancient major festival of Montserrat), where he said, among other things: "The Pope himself has proclaimed to us the validity of the principles of the revolution, principles that are Christian [...] adapt but he does not do so with the true principles. He gives us material progress, of propaganda and dazzlement, not of freedom and justice.

If these words were not as or more dangerous in the eyes of the Franco government, what prevented him from uttering the others, which he always made his own and never retracted anything, despite the fact that they cost him such painful consequences as exile from Montserrat and Catalonia; and even the prohibition, by the Congregation for Religious of the Vatican, from returning temporarily to Catalonia on the occasion of the death of his mother?

The only living testimony of those events, the activist and registered lawyer Josep M. Macip i Gich, confirms what I say (see El abad de un pueblo, Aureli Maria Escarré, Jordi Vila-Abadal, p. 297).

The persecution by the aforementioned Vatican organization never stopped, until they managed to strip him of the title of abbot of Montserrat. Fortunately, the grateful and friendly Catalan people, ignoring canon law, proclaimed him abbot of Catalonia.

If Montserrat's weaknesses in recent days cannot be hidden, neither should its glorious deeds. And especially on the occasion of its millennium.

Jordi Vila-Abadal

Barcelona

Blessed ignored trees

The pollution generated daily by the thousands of air conditioners installed due to the lack of trees and shade is so severe that if local councils were aware of it and the Generalitat (Catalan government) forced them to, they wouldn't hesitate to invest more in shade planting. Unfortunately, we're already too late... Just look at the thermometer.

Lola Arpa

Peratallada