“Are you really scandalized by the Poor Clares of Belorado? Are we better?” These and other questions are what he raises on X (formerly Twitter) Priest Francisco “Patxi” Bronchalo, from the Diocese of Getafe (Spain), about the situation of the Poor Clare community of the Monastery of Belorado.
Last Monday, the abbess of the community published a letter and a manifesto of a schismatic and sedevacantist nature, and announced that they were placing themselves under the authority of a false “bishop” excommunicated in 2019.
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In an extensive comment through his account on
The priest adds that “if there is something to be scandalized about, it is our own sins” and does not recommend “getting into matters that are red meat”, an expression used in Spain to refer to frivolous commentary in the media about what is classically called “echoes of society”.
Bronchalo warns that “the person you see who seems the most mystical and who has the most faith is capable of any madness,” adding that “you and I are too. That is why it is better to ask the Lord every day not to allow us to separate from Him, to not let us go from His hand.”
The priest accumulates other questions for reflection on the case: “Are you scandalized by some nuns who err but then you are not scandalized by taking out your tongue? Do you throw your hands up over a cult issue but then you don’t mind telling lies? Does an ecclesial soap opera unnerve you but then you don’t give importance to your own self-righteousness?
He also points out that there are people who spend “the day looking at crap on Instagram writing: “What a scandal that the nuns have made an Instagram!” or that she posits herself as a “defender of heterodox positions, being scandalized by X because these others are sedevacantist.”
Another consequence of this attitude, in the priest’s opinion, is that “we love to give our opinion and always look for a scapegoat,” to which he adds: “If the fault lies with the Pope, then with the Bishop, then with the Council.” What if the one who changed the lamps, what if the cat… Troubled river profit for fishermen, right?
Father Bronchalo encourages people to pray and educate themselves on these issues and “let the Bishop and whoever is responsible in the Church act, as they will already be suffering enough. Another prayer for them will not be out of place.”
To conclude the reflection, the priest shares a quote from Saint Vincent de Paul: “Good does not make noise and noise does not do good.”
Nicholas de Cardenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish husband and father and journalist with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specializing in sociopolitical and religious information. I have worked for more than 10 years in defense of human rights and have accreditations in Journalism and Comprehensive Communication. Since July 2022, I have been a correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.