Spain

Archbishop Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, has reiterated that Catholics living in a new conjugal relationship following the breakdown of a valid sacramental marriage cannot receive Holy Communion The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference has reminded Catholics that those living in a new conjugal relationship following the breakdown of a valid marriage cannot receive Holy Communion. Archbishop Luis Argüello of Valladolid made the remarks in a pastoral message for Corpus Christi in which he reflected on the Eucharist and the dispositions required to receive it worthily. “When a marital relationship has broken down and those who were part of that marriage are living a new conjugal relationship,” Communion cannot be received, the archbishop said. Archbishop Argüello said those in such circumstances remained members of the Church, but that “this breaking of the Sacrament of the Covenant prevents Eucharistic communion”. “They may participate in the celebration, as well as in the life of the Church in many ways, but receiving Holy Communion is not possible,” the president of the Bishops’ Conference said. The Archbishop of Valladolid issued the message as Catholics in Spain prepare to celebrate Corpus Christi later this month. In the reflection, published as part of his diocesan pastoral programme for the first half of June, Argüello also referred to other situations which he said were incompatible with receiving Communion. These included “participating in a sinful relationship”, as well as abuses committed against others “whether in the economic or labour sphere, or in the psychological or emotional sphere”. He also referred to those publicly defending positions contrary to Christian morality. “In those cases, we cannot approach Communion without a firm decision to change our lives, making reparation for the damage caused by our situation of sin,” the archbishop said. Archbishop Argüello said the inability to receive Communion should encourage Catholics to seek a resolution consistent with the Church’s teaching on both marriage and the Eucharist. “The pain of not receiving Communion should awaken the desire to seek a solution that respects the meaning of the two sacraments at stake: Matrimony and the Eucharist,” Archbishop Argüello said. The intervention comes as Archbishop Luis Argüello prepares to accompany Pope Leo XIV during the pontiff’s apostolic visit to Spain from 6 to 12 June. Archbishop Argüello, who was elected president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference in 2024, has become one of the most prominent voices in the Spanish Church. His election was widely viewed as signalling a more doctrinally direct approach from the episcopal conference following the presidency of Cardinal Juan José Omella. Catholic teaching holds that a valid sacramental marriage is indissoluble. For that reason, those who enter a new conjugal relationship while a previous sacramental marriage remains valid are ordinarily unable to receive the Eucharist. The issue received renewed attention during and after the Synods on the Family convened by Pope Francis and following the publication of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia in 2016. Archbishop Argüello’s latest remarks, however, amounted to a straightforward restatement of the Church’s doctrine.

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.

Religious orders and dioceses across Spain are increasingly turning to professional investment managers and ethically screened funds as ageing communities, falling vocations and rising maintenance costs force Catholic institutions to modernise their finances Spain’s religious orders are increasingly turning to professional investment managers and ethical funds as declining vocations, ageing communities and rising maintenance costs force Catholic institutions to modernise the way they manage their finances. According to Bloomberg News, the change was evident during a seminar held at the Theological Institute of Religious Life in Madrid, where members of religious congregations met bankers and financial advisers to discuss investment strategies, artificial intelligence and the economic uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s second term in the White House. The gathering is indicative of a shift taking place across the Spanish Church, which has traditionally relied on donations, rental income and a system allowing taxpayers to allocate 0.7 per cent of their income tax to the Catholic Church. But falling numbers in religious life and growing financial pressures have led many dioceses and congregations to professionalise the management of their assets. Figures published by the Spanish bishops’ conference show the number of men and women in religious orders in Spain fell by around 45 per cent between 2014 and 2024. The number of priests has also continued to decline during the same period, though recent years have seen a small increase in the number of seminarians. Many religious communities possess valuable property portfolios, including schools, hospitals, convents and apartments in major cities, but these assets have not always been managed with profitability in mind. Guillermo Vanrell, head of finance and administration for a diocese in eastern Spain, said he was struck by the outdated state of Church administration when he first entered the role more than a decade ago. “I hadn’t seen an Olivetti typewriter since I was a kid,” he said, recalling how receipts were still being produced manually. He said diocesan investments had been concentrated in fixed-term deposits and banking products with little long-term strategy behind them. Since then, he has worked to modernise accounting systems and restructure investments while monitoring financial markets more closely. The scale of Church assets can vary widely between religious institutions. Smaller congregations often struggle with limited resources, while larger orders may oversee international portfolios worth hundreds of millions of euros. Many institutions must also navigate both civil and canon law obligations, particularly where schools, hospitals and heritage properties are concerned. The growing complexity of Church finances led CaixaBank and the Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid to establish Spain’s first postgraduate programme dedicated to the administration of ecclesiastical property and religious institutions. Some congregations have been forced to make difficult decisions about properties they can no longer afford to maintain. The owners of Hospital La Milagrosa in Madrid sought outside advice when the cost of modernising the hospital became unsustainable. The religious order eventually reached an agreement with the Vithas Group, which now manages the hospital and has pledged to invest €30 million in renovations, while the congregation retained ownership of the property itself. As Church institutions become more active investors, Vatican guidance has increasingly shaped how Catholic organisations approach financial markets. In 2022 the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences published Mensuram Bonam , a document setting out “faith-consistent investing” guidelines for Catholic institutions following a series of financial scandals linked to Vatican finances. The document warned against investments in industries connected to weapons, pornography, contraception and addictive products while encouraging support for businesses linked to sustainability, human dignity and social responsibility. María Canel, who oversees the finances of the Religiosas de la Pureza de María near Barcelona, said there had once been “a fear of investing”, but that attitude had changed significantly. She recalled rejecting a fund after discovering that it included investments linked to the arms industry despite assurances that it complied with Catholic social teaching. The demand for ethically screened investments has contributed to the growth of explicitly Catholic funds in Spain. According to financial advisers, around a dozen such funds now operate in the country with combined assets worth approximately €650 million. Many are linked to major banking groups including Santander, Sabadell and Ibercaja, although independent firms also operate within the sector. Earlier this year the Vatican Bank, working alongside Morningstar, launched two equity indices designed to comply with Catholic ethical principles. Companies listed within the indices include Deutsche Telekom, ASML, Apple, Nvidia and Tesla.

Bishop José Mazuelos Pérez of the Canary Islands has urged Spain’s political leaders to stop “playing politics” with immigration ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s expected visit to the country. The bishop warned against ideological polarisation, criticised the handling of migrant policy and said the Pope would call for unity and “the most humane solutions possible” The Bishop of the Canary Islands has appealed for Spain’s political class to stop using immigration as a weapon of ideological warfare ahead of the forthcoming visit of Pope Leo XIV. In an interview with the Spanish outlet The Objective , given as preparations continue for the Pope’s visit to Spain, Bishop José Mazuelos Pérez insisted that the migration crisis affecting the Canary Islands could not be reduced to electoral calculations or partisan rhetoric. “Immigration cannot be used for political polarisation,” the bishop said. “It’s not a matter of polarising the issue and using it for an ideology to win votes, but rather of finding the most humane solutions possible.” The Canary Islands have become one of the principal entry points into Europe for migrants crossing from West Africa, with local authorities struggling to cope with growing numbers of arrivals, especially unaccompanied minors. At the same time, debate over immigration has intensified sharply within Spanish politics, where both Left and Right accuse one another of exploiting the issue for political advantage. Bishop Mazuelos criticised what he described as attempts by all sides to instrumentalise migration for electoral purposes. “Politicians have to stop playing politics with immigration and find a solution together,” the bishop said. “Enough is enough; it seems the common good has been lost.” Over recent years, bishops, Catholic charities and ecclesiastical organisations have repeatedly backed measures designed to regularise migrants already living in Spain, while pressing for greater humanitarian protections and expanded reception policies. That stance has generated criticism that the Spanish hierarchy has aligned itself too closely with the assumptions of progressive migration policy while failing to address concerns surrounding integration, crime, pressure on housing and public services, and the wider social consequences of large-scale irregular migration. Bishop Mazuelos acknowledged that the Church had supported the regularisation of migrants for more than a year. “The Church has been asking for it for over a year and a half,” he said, arguing that Spain depended heavily upon migrant labour, particularly in caring professions and among workers supporting the country’s ageing population. At the same time, however, he openly criticised the political handling of the issue by the government of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, suggesting that recent moves towards regularisation had been driven less by humanitarian concerns than by domestic political calculations. Referring to the timing of the proposals, the bishop said: “It was more because of the elections in Aragon than the Pope’s visit, because it suited their purposes.” Bishop Mazuelos repeatedly invoked the need for a return to “the spirit of the Transition”, referring to the broad political consensus that accompanied Spain’s move from Francoist dictatorship to parliamentary democracy in the late 1970s. “A large majority of Spaniards miss that spirit of the Transition,” the bishop said, expressing hope that Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the Spanish parliament might encourage politicians to rediscover a sense of national unity. Pope Leo XIV is expected to visit Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands during what will be his first visit to Spain as Pope and the first papal visit since Benedict XVI attended World Youth Day in 2011. The Canary Islands, now synonymous across Europe with the migration crisis in the Atlantic, make any papal appearance there impossible to separate entirely from politics. Bishop Mazuelos insisted that the visit should not be interpreted as a political intervention. “The Pope’s visit to the Canary Islands is not political; he’s not coming to scold anyone or tell anyone what to do,” he said. Instead, he argued, the Pope wished to highlight “charity” and the wider mission of evangelisation. Still, the bishop also made clear that Leo XIV would likely speak forcefully about the need for unity and human dignity in the face of political division. “Pope Leo XIV is going to make that call for unity,” he said. “Let’s not use immigration for votes.” Bishop Mazuelos also addressed growing concerns over the treatment of unaccompanied migrant minors arriving in the Canary Islands, many of whom face uncertain futures upon reaching adulthood. “When they turn 18, they’re sent out onto the street,” he said, warning that many subsequently become vulnerable to criminal exploitation, prostitution and homelessness. He praised the work of Caritas and Catholic organisations operating in the islands, arguing that Church agencies were frequently stepping in where the state had failed. “Ultimately, it’s Caritas that’s feeding them,” he said. “Helping them so often where the State falls short.” The bishop nevertheless rejected accusations that the Church supported uncontrolled or irregular migration. “The Church is not in favour of irregular immigration,” he said. “But rather the most humane immigration possible.”

The Vatican has released the full itinerary for Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to Spain from June 6 to June 12. The visit will include stops in Madrid, Barcelona, Gran Canaria and Tenerife The Holy See Press Office has released the itinerary for the anticipated apostolic journey of Pope Leo XIV to Spain, scheduled to take place from June 6 to June 12. According to the programme, the Pope will depart Rome on the morning of June 6 and arrive in Madrid at 10.30 local time, where he will be received at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport before attending a welcome ceremony at the Royal Palace. He will then make a “courtesy visit to Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain” and take part in a “meeting with authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps”, during which he is due to deliver an address. In the evening, he is scheduled to visit the operators and those assisted by the social project “CEDIA 24 hours” before presiding at a “prayer vigil with young people in Plaza de Lima”. On June 7, the Pope will celebrate Mass in Plaza de Cibeles, followed by a Corpus Christi procession. Later that afternoon, he will meet privately with members of the Order of Saint Augustine at the Apostolic Nunciature. The day will continue with a gathering titled “Building Networks with the World of Culture, Art, Economy and Sport” at the Movistar Arena, where he is expected to speak, before concluding with a private dinner at the residence of the cardinal archbishop of Madrid. The programme for June 8 centres on meetings with political and ecclesial authorities. The Pope will meet the Prime Minister at the Apostolic Nunciature before travelling to the Congress of Deputies for a “meeting with members of the Spanish Parliament”, at which he will give an address. He will then meet the bishops of Spain at the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference. In the evening, he will take part in a “prayer and homage to the Virgin of Almudena in the Cathedral of Santa María de la Almudena”, before attending a “meeting with the diocesan community at Real Madrid FC’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium”. On June 9, the Pope will meet the volunteers who have made the trip possible at IFEMA Madrid before departing for Barcelona. Upon arrival, he will pray the midday office at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia and later preside at a prayer vigil at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium. The following day includes a visit to the “Brians 1” penitentiary centre, which, when combined with “Brians 2” on the same site, is the largest prison in Catalonia, where he will greet inmates and staff. He will then travel to Montserrat for the “prayer of the Holy Rosary at the Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat”, an abbey which saw many of its monks murdered in the Spanish Civil War and subsequently became a symbol of Catalan nationalism. The Holy Father will have a meal with the 70 or so Benedictine monks of the abbey, who have recently celebrated 1,000 years of the monastery. Returning to Barcelona, he will meet representatives of diocesan charity and assistance organisations before celebrating Mass at the Basilica of the Holy Family, which will include the inauguration of the Tower of Jesus Christ. On June 11, the Pope will travel to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he will meet organisations involved in receiving migrants at the port of Arguineguín. The Canary Islands are one of the main entry points for migrants trying to enter the EU, as the Spanish archipelago sits just off the coast of northwestern Africa and is considerably easier to access for African migrants than other parts of Europe. Later on the 11th day, the Pope will address bishops, priests, deacons, Religious and pastoral workers at the Cathedral of Saint Anne before celebrating Mass at the Gran Canaria Stadium. The final day of the visit, June 12, will see the Pope travel to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He is scheduled to meet migrants at the “Las Raíces” centre and take part in a gathering focused on “the realities of migrant integration in the Plaza del Cristo de La Laguna”. The visit will conclude with Mass in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, followed by a farewell ceremony and departure for Rome in the afternoon, with arrival at Fiumicino expected at 20.10 local time. The six-day visit is the first papal trip to the country in almost a decade and a half. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI visited in 2011 as part of the country’s World Youth Day celebrations. However, Pope Francis did not travel to Spain during his 13-year pontificate, creating a general sense that the Catholic country is overdue a papal presence. The Spanish Episcopal Conference is organising the visit, with financing partially sourced from private donations and a 10,000-person volunteer team coordinated by the Archdiocese of Madrid.