The Catalan church unites to strengthen Catalan and influence the Pope
Around thirty organizations have joined together as a pressure group and are reaffirming the historic episcopal stance of 1985.
BarcelonaMovements within the Catalan Church. Catholic Catalanism has decided to mobilize, organize itself, and exert pressure on the Catalan clergy and their grassroots members, as well as on the Holy See, according to several sources in this newspaper. This comes at a crucial moment when Pope Leo XIV must make essential decisions regarding the appointment of bishops, such as the one in Barcelona, but also in a context marked by the proliferation of Catholic initiatives with conservative or ultraconservative and pro-Spanish leanings. Specifically, some thirty Catholic and Catalan nationalist organizations, many with a social focus, have joined together in the Network of Christian Entities, which has existed for a few months but was officially launched at an event this Thursday at noon.
An occasion that served to reaffirm the "relevance" ofChristian roots of CataloniaA document approved by all Catalan bishops forty years ago, on December 27, 1985, defended the thousand-year-old "Catalan national reality," its "national identity," and the right to self-government, within a Church deeply involved with the Catalan people and speaking Catalan—the language at the heart of the liturgy. Aware of demographic and social changes, they now reaffirm their national "commitment" to confront these new realities. What does this Catalan Christian group want, and who are its members?
Some of the organizations are well-known, such as the Spiritual League of the Virgin of Montserrat – founded by Bishop Josep Torras i Bages and Father Jacint Verdaguer – the Joan Carrera Foundation, Christianity in the 21st Century, Christianity and Justice, and Justice and Peace. The director of the Joan Carrera Foundation, Carles Armengol, former Director General of Religious Affairs, told this newspaper that the union of different organizations to create a stronger presence aims to "adapt the principles" of pastoral care "to the current moment of greater pluralism," in which there is "new immigration" and other "socioeconomic problems." "We identify with the Catalan ecclesial tradition, which risks being diluted, and with it, the country would also lose," says the head of the organization named in honor of Bishop Carrera, a progressive Catalan nationalist and author of a significant portion of the bishops' nationalist document. Armengol points out that they want to "make language important again" in the Church, after a "relaxation," also as a way to "welcome newcomers." She also defends a "bottom-up" approach, not a "spiritualist" one, but one rooted "in people's concerns," as advocated by Pope Leo XIV in Dilexit has, unlike what he claims happens in conservative movements like Hakuna. Meanwhile, the president of the Spiritual League of the Virgin of Montserrat, Joan Maluquer, rails against the ultraconservative "politicization" and emphasizes the desire to "exert force and pressure" to "make themselves heard here and in Rome" so that they are "taken into account" in initiatives, especially "now that the election for the eightieth anniversary is approaching." They will make this known through whatever "channels" are necessary, because "one must have a foothold" in the Vatican. Some of the concerns he expresses are the "process of Castilianization" and the use of this language by the clergy with non-Catalan Catholics in catechesis, which causes Catalan to lose its status as a language of integration. An example he cites is the Corpus Christi crisis of 1919, when the then Archbishop of Barcelona, the Valencian Enric Reig Casanova, "received a great deal of pressure from the [Spiritual] League and the Capuchins" after he opted to preach in Castilian and a year later he would be "sent" to Valencia as arch
Society and the Church have changed
Santi Torres, deputy director of Christianity and Justice, argues that the coming together of "a diverse group of organizations" is key to defending "inculturation as a fundamental element of evangelization," meaning respect for and promotion of local culture and language. He also points to profound changes, such as "a phenomenon within the Catalan Church in recent decades, including strong secularization, a loss of relevance, and a more noticeable influx of Catholics and people of other faiths speaking different languages," which in this context has had "a greater impact." One of the key focuses is ensuring that Catalan identity and language serve as a unifying element, preventing the proliferation of "chapels" representing different places of origin—a phenomenon that is already being observed.
In the same vein, the president of Justice and Peace, Dolors Fernández, comments that it was necessary to "recirculate" the document to emphasize, with "proposals," the need for a "welcoming Church integrated into the country" in a context where the Church "has much to say to the world with the source of E." A basic objective is to address immigration, which has changed society: "All people who come to our country must be welcomed, and all organizations must encourage them to learn about Catalan culture and language, and to participate in the community that welcomes them."
