In a country that is both Catholic and priest-eater like ours, the relationship between religion and politics has historically been sinuous and critical. Polarization became very extreme during the Civil War, the echo of which continues to resonate. Vox-PP remind us of it every day. At the same time, there are surprising phenomena: we have, for example, a socialist president, Salvador Illa, who does not hide his Christian humanism in the midst of a society that is going in another direction, increasingly secularized and orphaned of meaning. And at the same time, we have an independentist far-right that banally warns about the dangers facing Christian civilization, whose values it does not practice.

Movements 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.

What has become of the Catalan Church at the end of the last century? To mention just a few of those who are no longer with us, I'm talking about the Church of Bishops Pont i Gol, Deig, Camprodon, Guix, and Carrera. Of Archbishop Torrella and Cardinal Jubany. I'm talking about that Church of the Totosaus and the Alcaldes. Of the Huguets. Of the Marquises, Vilanova and Raguer, monks of Montserrat. And I'm not lying to the laity so as not to turn the entire article into a list of names.