Outside the Walls

The Spanish government has given Cáceres three months to remove the Cross of the Fallen, arguing it is a Francoist symbol incompatible with Spain’s Democratic Memory Law. Local and regional authorities are challenging the order in court and seeking heritage protection for the monument The Spanish government has given the city of Cáceres three months to remove a prominent Civil War-era cross after formally designating the monument as a symbol contrary to Spain’s democratic memory laws. The Cross of the Fallen, which stands in Plaza de América in the western city of Cáceres, was added in April to the national catalogue of symbols and elements considered incompatible with the principles of Spain’s 2022 Democratic Memory Law. The measure was accompanied by an order requiring its removal from public space, with the government arguing that the monument constitutes a Francoist symbol and lacks the artistic or historical significance necessary to justify an exemption. The decision has been fiercely opposed by local and regional authorities, who insist the cross is primarily a religious monument and forms part of the city’s historic landscape rather than a political statement. Rafael Mateos, the Popular Party mayor of Cáceres, has pledged to challenge the order through the courts. The city council argues that the monument has long since ceased to function as an instrument of political exaltation and that its presence in the city centre is now understood in a broader historical and cultural context. Municipal officials have also raised procedural objections. According to the council, the original removal order issued in April was signed by an authority that lacked the legal competence to do so. Although the government later issued a fresh resolution in May, the city intends to contest that decision as well and seek a suspension of the deadline while legal proceedings are underway. The dispute has drawn in the regional government of Extremadura, which has begun proceedings to grant the monument Bien de Interés Cultural status, Spain’s highest form of heritage protection. Such a designation would strengthen the case for preserving the cross and could complicate attempts to remove it. Laureano León, Extremadura’s regional minister for culture, tourism and sport, has indicated that he believes the monument fulfils the criteria required for heritage protection. Speaking to journalists before appearing before the regional parliament’s culture committee, León said the designation process was already under way and would continue through the normal administrative channels. “Certainly, my opinion is that it meets the conditions,” he said, while adding that the final determination would depend on technical reports produced during the process. The controversy has also become a flashpoint in wider political tensions between Madrid and Extremadura. The regional administration is governed by the Popular Party with the support of Vox, and both parties have defended the monument’s continued presence. Álvaro Sánchez-Ocaña Vara, Vox’s deputy spokesman in the Extremadura Assembly, accused the central government of targeting the cross for political reasons and linked the dispute to the governing arrangement between Vox and regional president María Guardiola. “The Cross is not to be touched,” Sánchez-Ocaña told reporters in Mérida. He described the government’s resolution as “an outrage” and “political persecution”, arguing that the monument is “inherently religious, but above all historical and devoid of any political exaltation”. Sánchez-Ocaña further maintained that the legal justification for removing the cross was flawed because the monument no longer serves any ideological purpose. He called on the government to allow the structure to remain in place while appeals are considered. “We demand that the central government, until the appeal is resolved, leave the Cross where it is,” he said. “The Cross is the heritage of the people of Cáceres and it must remain so.” The dispute centres on competing interpretations of the monument’s meaning nearly nine decades after it was erected. The cross was built in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and culminated in the victory of General Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces. Throughout Spain, monuments dedicated to the “fallen” were erected during and after the war, often commemorating those who died fighting for the Nationalist cause. Many of these memorials incorporated overt political symbolism linked to Franco’s regime, while others took the form of large Christian crosses that remained in public spaces long after Spain’s transition to democracy. Since the end of the Franco dictatorship, Spanish governments have grappled with how to address such monuments. Efforts to remove Francoist symbols accelerated under the Historical Memory Law of 2007 and were expanded significantly through the Democratic Memory Law adopted in 2022. The legal challenge now being prepared by the city council is likely to determine whether the monument remains in Plaza de América or becomes the latest casualty of Spain’s long-running reckoning with the legacy of the Civil War and the Franco era.

Dom Alcuin Reid, prior of the Monastère Saint-Benoît in France, has called on Catholics to make June a month of prayer and fasting for the unity of the Church ahead of the SSPX’s planned episcopal consecrations on 1 July. He has urged prayers for Pope Leo XIV, his advisers and the Society of St Pius X Monastère Saint-Benoît, an international English-speaking traditional Benedictine monastery in the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, France, has called on Catholics to make June a month of prayer for the unity of the Church. The monastery’s prior, Dom Alcuin Reid, explained that “the Church faces the possibility of the hardening of divisions through the positions held by various parties in respect of the episcopal consecrations announced for 1 July by the Society of St Pius X.” The monk also drew on reflections made by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, in which he stated that, “looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity.” With this in mind, he appealed to Catholics to “make the month of June a time of earnest prayer and fasting for the unity of the Church, praying in particular for the Holy Father and his advisers as well as the leaders of the Society of St Pius X.” For its part, the monastery will offer up one day a week in particular for the intention. Dom Reid stated: “The monastery will observe one day each week as a day of particular prayer and fasting: Wednesdays, June 3, 10 and 17, and Friday, June 26 (respecting the feasts of the Sacred Heart and St John the Baptist). On these days the Conventual Mass will be a votive Mass Pro unitate Ecclesiae, and a Holy Hour of adoration will be offered before the Most Blessed Sacrament from the Office of Sext, concluding with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.” Dom Alcuin Reid is a renowned liturgical scholar whose 2004 book, The Organic Development of the Liturgy , featured a foreword by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In 2011, he went on to found the Monastère Saint-Benoît at the invitation of the then Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon, Bishop Dominique Rey. The monastery seeks to live a classical Benedictine life, celebrating the sacred liturgy in all its fullness according to the older traditional Latin forms of the Roman and monastic rites.

An Italian bishop has called on Catholics to share the Gospel with Muslim migrants and said that failing to proclaim Jesus Christ would amount to a betrayal of the Church’s mission An Italian bishop has urged Catholics to evangelise Muslims living in their communities, warning that failing to proclaim Jesus Christ would be a betrayal of the Church’s mission. In a pastoral letter issued for the Diocese of Ventimiglia-Sanremo, Bishop Antonio Suetta said Christians should welcome Muslim migrants with charity and respect while remaining committed to sharing the Gospel. “To neglect the proclamation of Jesus Christ would be to disregard His saving Cross and His universal mediation. Ultimately, it would be to betray our mission as the baptised,” the bishop wrote in a new diocesan pastoral letter, There Is No Greater Love Than This . The letter, published ahead of a diocesan initiative aimed at strengthening engagement with local Muslim communities, comes as parts of Italy continue to experience significant migration from North Africa and the Middle East. Drawing on the example of St Francis of Assisi’s encounter with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil in Egypt during the Fifth Crusade in 1219, Bishop Suetta argued that Christians should neither conceal their faith nor approach Muslims with hostility. Instead, he pointed to the saint’s instructions in the Regula non bullata of 1221, which encouraged friars living among non-Christians to bear witness through the example of their lives while also proclaiming the Christian faith. The bishop said many Muslims arriving in Europe encounter a secularised society and often mistake moral decline for Christianity itself. “Muslims arriving in Western countries are often bewildered by the secularisation of society, as they tend, mistakenly, to be sure, yet understandably, to equate public immorality with the Christian faith,” he wrote. “Only when they come into contact with Christians who live consistently with their faith do they realise that secularisation is a corruption of Christianity; thus, they begin to discover the true face of Jesus.” While emphasising the importance of dialogue and collaboration, Bishop Suetta insisted that Christian witness could not stop at hospitality alone. “Hospitality and collaboration are, in themselves, two ways of bearing practical witness to true faith in Jesus,” the bishop said. “Such acts must always be accompanied by our spiritual identity, speaking of Jesus Christ not through imposition, but with love.” The bishop devoted a significant section of the letter to the Church’s missionary mandate, citing both St John Paul II and Pope Francis. He argued that the changing religious landscape of Europe meant that the traditional missionary territories of previous centuries were now present within Western societies themselves. “If in the past the mission ad gentes to non-Christians had as its privileged setting countries with a non-Christian majority, the time has now come to take up this responsibility here at home, particularly towards Muslim immigrants,” Bishop Suetta wrote. Among the most striking passages of the document is a comparison between evangelisation and rescuing a drowning person. “If we see someone struggling to climb out of a river, yet being swept away by the current, and we happen to have a rope to assist them, it would be an act of grave negligence not to throw that rope,” the bishop wrote. “How many Muslims living among Christians will turn to them on the Day of Judgment and ask: ‘Why did you not throw me the rope? Why did you not make the truth known to me?'” The pastoral letter was issued as the Church prepares to mark the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi and follows Pope Leo XIV’s decision to designate a special Year of St Francis from January 2026 to January 2027. The document also coincides with the 60th anniversary celebrations of Nostra Aetate , the Second Vatican Council declaration on relations between the Church and non-Christian religions..

What led to the dissolution of the Marian Franciscans? As the community ceases to exist as a canonical entity, sources close to the friars point to events in Scotland The Marian Franciscans have been dissolved after Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth approved a request by the friars to suppress the community. The decision follows a vote by members of the Family of Mary Immaculate and St Francis on 27 April to seek dissolution after what they described as a period of discernment about their future in the United Kingdom. In a statement issued on 27 May, the friars said: “Despite growth in numbers and apostolic activity, it was not possible to secure the practical and canonical support needed for formation, sponsorship, and future priestly ordinations.” They added that “a range of options was explored” but none provided “a workable path” for the community to continue “in its present form”. The friars said the decision “is not the result of, or a reaction to, any single incident or series of incidents”, but arose from “broader questions about the future viability of the community and its mission in the UK”. Bishop Egan confirmed in a statement that he had accepted the request “after serious and careful consideration”. “The appropriate canonical and practical steps are now being taken,” he said. The bishop added that the friars intend “to join another association with a similar charism and in the coming months to relocate”. The Family of Mary Immaculate and St Francis was established in the Diocese of Portsmouth after Bishop Egan welcomed the friars in November 2014. The community assumed responsibility for St Mary’s Parish in Gosport and, in 2018, Bishop Egan formally erected the association. The friars subsequently established a second house in the diocese and developed apostolates that included parish ministry, retreats, preaching, publishing and online evangelisation. The community also ministered in London, including at Tyburn Convent. In 2022, members of the community relocated to the Diocese of Dunkeld after receiving the support of Bishop Stephen Robson. The move included Marian Franciscan sisters, and plans were explored for the acquisition of a friary, convent and chapel. Those plans came to an end in February this year when Bishop Andrew McKenzie informed the community that the proposed property purchase would not be ratified and that they would have to leave the diocese. The friars said supporters had credited the community with encouraging conversions, vocations, Marian devotion and greater participation in the sacramental life of the Church. Last year Fr Serafino Lanzetta, one of the community’s leading members, criticised the Vatican document Mater Populi Fidelis . He said the text represented “a significant downgrade” in the presentation of Mary’s role in salvation history and organised a filial appeal asking Pope Leo XIV to reconsider the document. Following the dissolution, the friars said priests incardinated in the Diocese of Portsmouth would be permitted to continue their apostolate at three existing locations within the diocese, including an Ordinariate church. Elsewhere, the community’s apostolates and activities will come to an end when the Marian Franciscans cease to exist as a canonical entity on 1 June. The friars and sisters will no longer remain members of the community, and transitional arrangements are being made through the Friends of the Marian Franciscans charitable trust. Bishop Egan acknowledged that the decision would be “a cause of sadness and concern for many people who have valued the ministry, prayer and pastoral presence of the friars”. He said the Diocese of Portsmouth “recognises with gratitude the ministry of the Marian Franciscans, and the prayer, generosity and friendship offered to them by the lay faithful and others who have supported the community over the years”. The bishop asked Catholics to “pray for the members of the community as they discern the next steps, and for all those who have been supported by their ministry”. The friars said the dissolution “marks the end of a distinctive chapter in contemporary Catholic life in the United Kingdom”, while expressing hope that “the spiritual fruits associated with it will endure and may one day return to Britain in a new form”. Neither the Marian Franciscans nor the Diocese of Portsmouth wished to comment further beyond their public statements. However, sources familiar with the situation suggested that the tensions which ultimately led to the community’s dissolution cannot be understood solely through the brief statements issued by the friars and the diocese. One source close to the community told Advaticanum that readers should be “reading between the lines” of the friars’ announcement. From this publication’s understanding, the issues stemmed from Scotland rather than Portsmouth. Several people familiar with events in Scotland pointed to difficulties that emerged after the arrival of Bishop Andrew McKenzie in the Diocese of Dunkeld. When the Marian Franciscans relocated part of their apostolate to Dundee in 2022 they had the support of Bishop Stephen Robson, who welcomed the friars and sisters and explored plans for a permanent home for the community. Those plans came to an abrupt halt in February 2025 when Bishop McKenzie informed the community that a previously discussed property acquisition would not proceed and that they would eventually have to leave the diocese, although the deadline was later extended until October 2026. From this publication’s understanding, Bishop McKenzie wanted an excuse to remove the community. Advaticanum has learned that concerns raised with diocesan authorities in Scotland included allegations of overly rigid attitudes among some members and questions surrounding the ages of certain novices and sisters entering religious life. The Diocese of Dunkeld has not publicly commented on such claims and has never publicly detailed the reasons behind its decision regarding the property purchase or the community’s future in the diocese. The developments followed years of uncertainty for communities attached to the traditional Latin Mass after Pope Francis issued Traditionis Custodes in 2021, placing new restrictions on celebrations of the older form of the Roman Rite. The Marian Franciscans later said that diocesan authorisation for celebrations of the traditional liturgy had become more restricted. While there were growing congregations, baptisms, Marian devotions and increasing numbers of young families at the community’s apostolates, the future of the institute remained unresolved. On 27 April this year, the friars voted to petition for dissolution, and on 24 May Bishop Egan issued the decree approving the suppression of the association.

France’s Catholic bishops have urged lawmakers to reject legislation that would require priests to break the seal of confession, stating that “the secrecy of confession is not a privilege for priests, but a right for the faithful” France’s Catholic bishops have urged lawmakers to reject a proposed law that would require priests to report abuse disclosed in confession. The intervention comes ahead of a debate in the National Assembly on 1 June on a bill intended to strengthen the protection of children and combat violence in schools following the Bétharram abuse scandal, which saw hundreds of complaints emerge against the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram in relation to their school in Lestelle-Bétharram and led to allegations that former French Prime Minister François Bayrou had participated in a cover-up. The legislation, introduced by Renaissance deputy Violette Spillebout and supported by Paul Vannier of La France Insoumise, would significantly expand mandatory reporting obligations relating to violence against minors. A key provision states that ministers of religion would no longer be exempt from reporting information obtained in the exercise of their ministry. Paragraph 9 of the proposed legislation states: “Ministers of religion are not exempt with regard to information which they have become aware of in the exercise of their ministry.” The explanatory memorandum accompanying the bill goes further, stating that ministers of religion are subject to reporting obligations “even if they became aware of them in the course of their duties: no ‘seal of confession’ can prevent them from doing so”. In a statement issued before Monday’s debate, the Conference of Bishops of France said it shared the determination of public authorities to combat violence against children but expressed “great concern” about elements of the proposed legislation. The bishops said the text called into question “several fundamental freedoms” and appealed directly to parliamentarians to reconsider the measures before they come before the Assembly. According to the bishops, the proposal raises questions concerning “freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and respect for private life”, while also challenging long-established protections surrounding professional confidentiality and religious ministry. Bishop Jean-Marc Eychenne of Grenoble has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the proposal. “The secrecy of confession is not a privilege for priests, but a right for the faithful,” he said. Under the Code of Canon Law, a priest is absolutely forbidden from revealing anything heard during confession, regardless of the circumstances. Priests who directly violate the seal face the Church’s most severe penalties. The inviolability of confession has been recognised in Catholic practice since the early centuries of Christianity and was given formal expression by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which ordered priests to maintain absolute secrecy regarding sins disclosed during confession. The principle has remained unchanged ever since. Under the Ancien Régime, French legal authorities generally recognised the special status of confessional secrecy and treated it as a protected professional confidence. Although tensions periodically arose between civil authorities and ecclesiastical institutions, the seal remained embedded in both legal and religious culture. The French Revolution transformed relations between Church and state. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy subordinated the Church to the revolutionary government and subjected priests to unprecedented state control. While revolutionary legislation did not directly abolish the seal of confession, the wider campaign against the Church created profound pressures on sacramental life and religious practice. During the nineteenth century and under the Napoleonic legal order, French law continued to recognise protections surrounding professional secrecy. The relationship between religious confidentiality and state authority remained the subject of debate, particularly as republican governments expanded their influence over public life. Those tensions resurfaced during the anti-clerical campaigns of the Third Republic, which introduced aggressive secularising measures and sought to reduce the influence of the Church in French society. Yet even during periods of intense conflict between Church and state, the confessional seal itself remained intact. More recently, the issue returned to national prominence following the publication of the Sauvé Report into clerical sexual abuse in 2021. The report recommended that the Church clarify that the secrecy of confession should not prevent the reporting of abuse against minors and vulnerable persons. The recommendation sparked a public confrontation between Church leaders and the French government after Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, then president of the bishops’ conference, defended the inviolability of confession. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin subsequently summoned the archbishop for discussions amid a national debate over the relationship between French law and canon law. Five years later, the dispute has returned to the National Assembly in an even more direct form. As deputies prepare to debate the bill, French bishops are warning that a measure introduced in response to abuse scandals could fundamentally alter the relationship between the state and one of the Catholic Church’s most closely guarded sacraments.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa has reportedly intervened with Israeli authorities after military personnel allegedly attempted to halt a Marian festival in Taybeh, the last entirely Christian Palestinian town in the West Bank Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa has intervened after the Israeli Defence Force personnel allegedly attempted to halt a Catholic Marian festival in the Christian West Bank village of Taybeh on Friday. Representatives of the Vulnerable People Project (VPP), an organisation that seeks to protect vulnerable people around the world from violence, said they were present in the village when Israeli military vehicles entered Taybeh early in the morning and ordered organisers preparing for the annual celebration in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary to leave the area. The parish priest overseeing the festival immediately contacted Church authorities, and the matter was escalated to Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. According to VPP, the cardinal subsequently spoke with Israeli authorities and secured permission for the event to proceed. The incident took place in Taybeh, regarded as the last entirely Christian Palestinian town in the West Bank. Jason Jones, founder and president of the Vulnerable People Project, told this publication that the events highlighted the precarious position of Christian communities throughout the region. “Christians with influence and power in the United States may be the last line of defence between vulnerable Christian communities and the forces driving them from their ancestral homelands,” he said. “From Gaza to the West Bank and Lebanon, ancient Christian communities are under immense pressure. If they are erased and we remained silent, we will share responsibility for that loss.” The president of VPP added: “The disruption of a Marian festival by the IDF is not just an attack on a celebration; it is another warning sign that the Christian presence in the Holy Land is in peril. “At the Vulnerable People Project, we launched Save West Bank Christians because we believe the descendants of the first Christians have the right to remain where Christianity was born. The time for solidarity is now.” A spokesman for the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem declined to comment. Lex Pouliot, manager of Middle East projects for the Vulnerable People Project, who witnessed the events, told AdVaticanum that organisers had initially feared disruption from Israeli settlers. “Our fear this morning was that radical settlers would disrupt preparations for the Marian Festival,” she said. “Instead, it was far more disturbing to watch the Israeli military intervene. Hearing a stun grenade explode as Christians prepared for a permitted religious celebration brought into sharp focus the countless stories I have heard throughout my time in the West Bank. “What we witnessed today should concern Christians around the world.” The allegations follow months of complaints from Church leaders and residents over increasing pressure on the Christian community in Taybeh. In March, Fr Bashar Fawadleh appealed for international attention after reporting that settlers had taken over privately owned land belonging to village residents. In April, Cardinal Pizzaballa and other heads of Churches in Jerusalem lodged a formal complaint with the authorities over alleged encroachments on Church-owned property in the area. During Holy Week, Cardinal Pizzaballa and Father Francesco Ielpo OFM, Custos of the Holy Land, were blocked from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Holy Mass, marking the first time in centuries that Mass had not been celebrated inside the church on Palm Sunday. The clerics later issued a joint statement describing the incident as a “grave precedent” that disregarded “the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem”. The latest incident also follows reports that Israeli soldiers entered a brewery compound in Taybeh on Thursday. According to VPP, troops prevented the owner from accessing parts of the property while members of the organisation were interviewing local workers. Taybeh, identified with the biblical Ephraim, is the last remaining entirely Christian Palestinian town in the West Bank. Home to about 1,000 residents, the village has become increasingly vocal about pressure from nearby settler activity in recent years. Neither the Israel Defense Forces nor Israeli authorities had publicly responded to the allegations at the time of publication.