Never before has a pontiff given a speech in the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Pope Leo XIV will do so for the first time on Monday, June 8, during his official visit to Spain, a country he will arrive in on the 6th. The visit, which will conclude in Tenerife on the 12th, will cost at least 15 million euros, according to the Spanish Episcopal Conference. The CEE plans to cover part of the budget with private benefactors who will pay up to one million euros to meet with the pontiff. Meanwhile, the Government declared this Tuesday the visit of Leo XIV as a “special public interest event,” a designation intended to commemorate anniversaries or promote large-scale cultural, sports, and social projects. This implies the possibility of tax deductions for the sponsors of the trip.
Something that, along with Leo XIV’s visit to Congress, has outraged more than 60 groups led by Europa Laica, who have signed a manifesto for the repeal of the agreements with the Holy See and have also sent a letter to all parliamentary groups asking them to “assess and reconsider the attendance of their deputies at that special session.” This was explained this Wednesday in the Clara Campoamor room of Congress by José Antonio Naz, president of the Europa Laica Association. “We wanted the press conference to be held in Congress because it is the place of the crime against the secular nature of the State. It is unacceptable that the parliament, for the first time in its history, invites and receives a religious leader as if he were just another legislator, especially when he is from a church, the Catholic one, that led the ideology of the Franco dictatorship and continues to align ideologically with the most right-wing parties.” For Naz, the subordination of the State is “almost humiliating” and is a “vassalage that cannot be allowed.” He also criticized Pedro Sánchez for attending the mass that Pope Leo XIV will celebrate at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. “With his behavior, as president, he is going to break the secular nature of the State.”
Naz revealed that, so far, only one deputy has responded to the letter sent to all parliamentary groups. “He is from the Galician Nationalist Bloc. He told us he will not attend the Pope’s speech and will hold a press conference explaining his reasons.” According to the latest CIS, the Catholic population in Spain is 53%. According to Francisco Delgado, one of the first signatories of the manifesto and for many years president of Europa Laica, also present at the press conference, practicing Catholics in Spain number 5 million.
That is why he emphasizes: “It is time to eliminate the fiscal and economic privileges of the Catholic Church. According to our data, we believe the State spends 13 billion euros a year, between tax deductions, education, etc., to finance the Church. It is unacceptable that the tourist and institutional visit of a Pope ends with a pulpit in Congress.”
Sergio López, spokesperson for the Religion out of school campaign, for his part, emphasized this Wednesday an indirect economic fact of Pope Leo XIV’s visit. “The Community of Madrid and several town halls are providing 80 centers to house pilgrims. As far as I know, if you take a trip, you pay for it yourself… But here, no, there are public resources to house pilgrims, but not for leaks or damages in the centers.”
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That pulpit Europa Laica talks about, according to Miguel Hurtado, the first whistleblower of the Montserrat case and an activist to achieve the imprescriptibility of pedophilia crimes, is not limited to the speech scheduled for the 8th in Congress but has influenced other aspects. “The visit of Pope Leo XIV to parliament is the highest degree of submission and privileges to the church in the history of democracy… “What has been the price of that appearance?” he asked during the press conference. “Spain is the country with the most cases of clerical pedophilia in the world and, despite this, according to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, it is one of the countries with the fewest convictions. That is why it also asked Spain that pedophilia crimes not be subject to statutes of limitations. It seemed that the law was finally going to be reformed, that there was an agreement among parties to extend the limitation periods by at least 10 years. Minister Bolaños, in a meeting with victims, committed to unblocking the law and the Government told us that by this June this would already be in the BOE. But the Pope arrives and this is paralyzed,” he denounced.
Hurtado also said he asked the Ministry of Justice about the reasons for the delay. “They do not clarify anything, they tell us they still agree with the law, but that for reasons unrelated to the law, there will be no committee. We do not know if this is what the church demanded to sign the reparation agreement or if it is to avoid upsetting the Pope during his visit.”
So, he continued: “Leo XIV will give a speech in Congress talking about peace, human rights, ending hunger, and the dangers of AI, while the law that could end the impunity of pedophilia in the clergy gathers dust in a drawer… We have reached the absurdity that the laws protecting children are decided by the Vatican and the bishops, and this happens with a government that defines itself as the most progressive since the extinction of the dinosaurs.”
