Primate of Spain questions pardoning of Catalan separatists

The liberation of the Catalan independence fighters is causing dissension within the Catholic Church in Spain. 

The country’s primate, Archbishop Francisco Cerro Chaves of Toledo, broke with his fellow bishops last week against the Spanish government decision on June 22 to pardon Catalan nationalists.

The 63-year-old archbishop, who was installed in Toledo just a little over a year ago, issued press statements the very next day to voice skepticism about releasing the pro-independence activists.

"Normally, in situations of pardon, it is assumed that there is a request, a repentance, a goal to change," he insisted, questioning whether the Catalan nationalists had actually taken those steps.

Breaking with the regional and national bishops’ conferences

Archbishop Cerro’s public stance on the issue put him at odds with most of the other bishops of Spain who had supported the government’s decision and called it "an act of generosity".

The bishops of Catalonia, gathered in their regional episcopal conference, had already spoken out in favor of forgiveness as a way "to resolve all situations of conflict" through dialogue.

"We believe that achieving a correct social order that allows for the harmonious development of the entire society requires a little more than the application of the law,” they said. 

“For this reason, dialogue must always be proposed as an effective means of responding to the hope of resolving divisions," the Catalan Catholic leaders said.

A "political reading"

Spain’s national conference of Catholic bishops (CEE) also "blessed" the gesture by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his Socialist government.

"We are, like the Catalan bishops, for dialogue, for application of the law, for respect of justice and the distribution of powers, so that... a climate of civil friendship and fraternity may be generated, permitting us to address a deep-rooted issue which has grown and become a problem," said Bishop Luis Argüello, the CEE secretary general, at a June 24 press conference.

Archbishop Cerro said that the differing positions should be interpreted merely as a "political reading", not an "episcopal" or "ecclesial" division.

Politicians imprisoned for three years

Prime Minister Sanchez justified his decision to grant the pardons as a matter of "public utility" to "re-establish living together and harmony" between the Catalans and the rest of Spain.

The right-wing opposition, however, called it a "betrayal".

Spain's Supreme Court had expressed serious reservations in mid-June about pardoning the separatists. 

It argued that the politicians, who had been incarcerated for more than three years for "sedition" and "malfeasance" following the unconstitutional 2017 referendum on Catalonia's secession, had not repented.

A recent Ipsos poll indicated that a majority of Spaniards (53%) were opposed to this measure.