Bishop of Huelva: We love our country by transmitting the faith

The Bishop of Huelva (Spain), Bishop Santiago Gómez Sierra, has affirmed that love for one’s country is a virtue that “without falling into localism or exclusive nationalism,” is expressed “if we transmit to new generations the Christian faith that fills of meaning and hope to human life.”

It is also evident, the bald man explained, “if we love and respect our family; if we join with our neighbors to seek the common good; if we collaborate to make our neighborhood, town and nation more dignified; if we know our history; if we are proud of our culture and we try to preserve it and make it known; if we responsibly fulfill what we have to do for the good of others.”

This is how he explained it during his homily delivered this Monday on the occasion of the celebration of the traditional act of thanksgiving before the Virgen del Rocío that has been held every year since 1813 in the town of Almonte.

It remembers the vote made by the Spanish after the village of El Rocío was freed from the violence of the Napoleonic French troops that had occupied the country since 1808.

“The page of history that we remember today is full of heroism of the men and women of Almont, who risked their lives for their people and their country,” explained the prelate, who has highlighted how the fourth commandment referring to honoring the parents, the Catholic Church also applies it “to other broader human relationships,” which involves other people in society, the institutions of a nation, and the homeland.

In the specific case of the Spanish homeland, Bishop Gómez Sierra has pointed out that “an effort for unity is necessary today, particularly in Spain, when we are suffering serious tensions against national unity, constitutional order and interterritorial solidarity, in an alarming phenomenon that some called a ‘disaggregation process.'”

The prelate thus refers to the political tensions that, especially in recent years, have been experienced since the attempted secessionist coup d’état in Catalonia in 2018 and the political pacts derived from that situation that have worried the Spanish bishops.