Schism of Poor Clare nuns of Belorado: Catholic Church decrees their excommunication

The Catholic Church in Spain has decreed the excommunication and expulsion from consecrated life of the Poor Clare nuns of Belorado, after they had committed the crime of schism.

Canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law specifies that the schism is “the rejection of subjection to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him”. The penalty for this crime is excommunication.

In a press release dated June 22, the Archbishopric of Burgos “has communicated the Decree of declaration of excommunication and the Declaration of resignation (expulsion) by the very fact (immediate ndr) of consecrated life to each and every one of the ten sisters who have incurred schism.”

This decision has been communicated by the Archbishop of Burgos, Pontifical Commissioner and Legal Representative of the Monasteries of Belorado, Orduña and Derio, Mons. Mario Iceta.

The statement also points out that “they are the same sisters who have shown their free and personal decision to leave the Catholic Church. Given this decision, it is necessary to remember that the Declaration of excommunication is a legal action considered by the Church as a medicinal measure, which leads to reflection and personal conversion.

“The Church always shows its depths of mercy and, as a Mother, is willing to welcome her children who, like the prodigal son, trust in God’s mercy and begin the journey back to the Father’s house,” he adds.

The statement also specifies that “there continues to be a monastic community made up of the sisters who have not incurred excommunication, as they have not supported the schism: they are the five older sisters and three other sisters who, although at this time they are not in the monastery, “They belong to the community by being embedded in it.”

Finally, the text specifies that “the older sisters continue to be a priority in our concerns. The Federation of Poor Clares of Our Lady of Aránzazu has planned a way to immediately care for these sisters in the Belorado Monastery itself, moving some sisters from other monasteries of the Federation to live in the monastery.

What happened to the Poor Clare nuns of Belorado?

On May 13, 2024, the community of Poor Clare sisters of the Monasteries of Belorado and Orduña, located respectively in the Archdiocese of Burgos and the Diocese of Vitoria (Spain), made public a manifesto and a letter in which they announced that they were abandoning the Catholic Church and placed themselves under the tutelage of the excommunicated false bishop Pablo de Rojas.

At the end of May, the Vatican appointed the Archbishop of Burgos, Mons. Mario Iceta, Pontifical Commissioner with full powers. When he began to take action, the nuns decided to take the conflict to civil justice.

At the beginning of June, the Archbishopric of Burgos formally informed the nuns that they had to appear before the Ecclesiastical Court of Burgos to answer for the crime of schism typified in canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law, punishable by the penalty of excommunication. The deadline expired on Friday, June 21, 2024.

Briefly, excommunication can be defined as the most serious penalty for a baptized person, which consists of separating him from the communion of the faithful of the Catholic Church and from access to the sacraments.

Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, Major Penitentiary Emeritus of the Church, once explained that the objective of excommunication is to bring “the guilty to repentance and conversion.”

“With the penalty of excommunication the Church is not trying in some way to restrict the field of mercy, but simply to highlight the seriousness of the crime,” he noted.

Why is he excommunicated?

Excommunication is not only a punishment and goes beyond the restriction of access to Holy Communion.

With excommunication, those who “cause scandal or serious disturbance of order with their conduct” are publicly reprimanded, as canon 1339 points out.