A community of nuns in a 15th-century convent in northern Spain broke away from the Roman Catholic Church over a property dispute and doctrinal disputes that led them to join a renegade priest.
The Church has threatened to excommunicate the 16 nuns who live in Belorado, a town of 1,800 on the popular Camino de Santiago, or Camino de Santiago, pilgrimage route, near Burgos.
The rebel nuns of the Order of Santa Clara announced their separation from the Church in a letter published on social media on May 13, together with a 70-page “manifesto”.
In the letter, signed by the convent’s Mother Superior, Sister Isabel de la Trinidad, the nuns stated that they separated because they were being “persecuted” by the Church hierarchy due to the property dispute.
In 2020, the nuns reached an agreement to buy a convent in Orduna, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Belorado, but said they were unable to pay because the Vatican blocked the planned sale of another abandoned property to finance the purchase.
The transaction was “blocked by Rome,” they wrote in the letter, accusing the Vatican of “doctrinal chaos” and “contradictions” in its positions on matters of faith.
The nuns announced that they were now under the jurisdiction of excommunicated priest Pablo de Rojas Sanchez-Franco, known for his ultra-conservative views.
– ‘Very painful’ –
He heads the União Devota do Apostle São Paulo, a religious group considered a sect by the Catholic Church and presents himself as a bishop, appearing in public in episcopal robes.
Sánchez-Franco supports sedevacantism, a movement that maintains that all popes since Pius XII, who died in 1958, are heretics and that there is currently no valid pontiff.
The Archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta, who in 2019 excommunicated Sánchez-Franco, expressed “perplexity” at the nuns’ split.
“It is very painful to hear the Mother Superior say that the Pope is a usurper,” he said.
He called for dialogue to resolve the dispute. But this month the archbishop sent representatives accompanied by a bailiff to the convent to demand that the nuns hand over the convent keys. They were rejected.
The nuns took legal action against the Church for “abuse of power”. On their recently created Instagram account, they accused the archdiocese of having blocked their bank accounts, preventing them from purchasing “basic goods”.
– ‘Broken’ –
The Church had initially given the nuns until June 16 to appear before an ecclesiastical court to confirm their decision to separate, which could lead to excommunication – a measure that would deprive them of certain sacraments such as confession.
But the deadline was postponed to Friday, according to the Church, which promised not to excommunicate older nuns considered more vulnerable.
You want to hear from the nuns individually to assess your position on a case-by-case basis.
The nuns have reiterated their hostility to the Vatican on social media in recent days, making a last-minute agreement unlikely.
The Church “explored all possible paths to avoid excommunication”, but “the dialogue was interrupted”, theologian Luis Santamaria, founder of the Ibero-American Network for the Study of Sects, told AFP. He said the nuns appear to have been “manipulated” by Sanchez-Franco’s group.
“Everything suggests that the sisters did not make their decision with complete freedom,” he said.
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