Valley of the Fallen: President of the bishops rejects government interference

The president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Mons. Luis Argüello, has rejected the interference of the Government of Spain in the basilica of the Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos and defends that it is the Catholic Church that must decide who attends it .

“To us, that seems valuable, that under the cross there is a basilica where the sacrament of communion, of reconciliation, is celebrated. If this is accepted, we think that it is the Church that should say who takes care of the basilica and from there be able to establish a dialogue,” the Archbishop of Valladolid expressed to the agency. Europa Press.

The prelate has thus referred to the place of prayer that is the center of the monumental complex that is part of State Heritage and that includes the largest cross in the world that rises more than 150 meters.

Since President Pedro Sánchez came to power, the Executive has carried out numerous actions that have the ultimate objective of desacralizing the place that was built after the civil war as a symbol of reconciliation between the Spanish people.

As detailed by the agency, the Spanish prelates, through the mouth of the president of the EEC, consider it “valuable” that the “place of prayer” be maintained and that “then, the rest, the whole place” is organized “as society wants to organize it.” ”.

“If there is a presence of a basilica, a place of prayer where people pray for peace and reconciliation, something that we see as valuable, we believe that it must be the Church itself that decides who is there,” he stressed. the Archbishop of Valladolid.

Bishop Argüello has also invited us to ask ourselves what is “what can most favor an exercise of reconciliation” in the Valley of the Fallen, where there is “care for the remains of people who were victims in the Civil War.”