The word controversy It's lazy, especially in summer. Four syllables: controversy. When you go for the third one, it's already asleep, please don't give me a little controversy (what an uncontrollable desire for this twin, to end up saying: "controversy"). That's why there has been Controversy over the poster for the Fiestas de la Mercè It's neither hot nor cold. The bishopric has complained that the poster (which I find very pretty and, above all, with very little intention of "arguing") "violates the feelings of those who venerate and respect" the significance of Barcelona's patron saint. They also claim to accept "that the City Council wants to give an exclusively secular tone to the festival," but then they also express their "surprise at the fact that each year the poster introduces the use of religious elements."

The Archdiocese of Barcelona did not like the poster for the 2025 La Mercè Festival. In a statement released Tuesday, the diocese lamented that the poster, designed by set designer and film director Lluís Danés, "irreverently uses various religious forms with the intention of ridiculing the image of the Virgin Mary."

This June, the Archdiocese of Barcelona began paying the first compensation payments to victims of sexual abuse in the Church. Last year, following the cases reported over the past few years and the reports on abuse in the Church made by the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) and the Ombudsman, the comprehensive reparation plan for minor victims of sexual abuse, known as PRIVA, was implemented. Since its creation, the CEE's Comprehensive Reparation Advisory Commission has reviewed each case of individuals who reported having suffered abuse within the Catholic Church in Spain and are seeking compensation.