Rosario de Ferraz: Government of Spain imposes more fines and they now total 5,400 euros

José Andrés Calderón, organizer of Rosario de Ferraz, reported that the Delegation of the Government of Spain in Madrid has imposed two new fines of 600 euros each, bringing the total amount of these amounts now to 5,400 euros.

The Ferraz Rosary is a call to pray the Marian prayer for the conversion of Spain and the entire world that has been carried out since November 12, 2023 on the steps of the Sanctuary of the Immaculate Heart of Mary every afternoon from 7:30 p.m. 8:00 p.m. (local time).

In statements to ACI Prensa this July 2, Calderón explained that the Rosary of Ferraz has been prayed normally yesterday and today, despite the fact that there was a prohibition from the Government Delegation, later confirmed by the Tenth Section of the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid.

The organizer of Rosario de Ferraz questioned the court’s decision and highlighted that, according to Spanish laws, “a meeting can only be prevented if there is a threat of violating public order. A Rosary, with 150 people praying on the stairs of a sanctuary, does not do it.”

Indeed, article 21 of the Spanish Constitution recognizes “the right to peaceful assembly without weapons” without the need for prior authorization. These meetings can only be prohibited “when there are well-founded reasons for disturbing public order, with danger to people or property.”

Likewise, article 16.1 of the Constitution “guarantees ideological freedom with no limitations on its manifestations other than those necessary for the maintenance of public order.”

Furthermore, article 12 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, to which Spain belongs, establishes that “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association at all levels.”

“Double standards”

For Calderón, the Delegation of the Government of Spain in Madrid acts with a “double standard”, since when, “on April 24, when the socialists were demonstrating about 200 meters from here, they were not required to have a permit. As a Catholic, I ask permission and want to pray, they prohibit me. “There is a double standard.”

That day, about 100 people gathered in front of the headquarters of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) to express their support for President Pedro Sánchez, who had announced the possibility of resigning in the face of investigations into his wife, in a plot for influence peddling; something he ultimately didn’t do. The group had the street closed to normal traffic.

For the organizer of the Rosario de Ferraz, what happens with him and with those who pray the Marian prayer “is a case of discrimination, not only for freedom of assembly but for religious freedom.”

The decision of the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid

The Court confirmed the ban on Rosario de Ferraz on July 1 by dismissing the appeal presented by José Andrés Calderón, on June 25 against the Madrid Delegation.

Although the ruling states that “no appeal can be filed against this resolution and it is final,” Calderón told ACI Prensa that they will appeal it before the Constitutional Court and, if applicable, before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (France).