The schism opened by the Poor Clares of Belorado reaches the civil courts

The Poor Clare nuns of the Monastery of Belorado (Burgos, Spain), who declared their separation from the Catholic Church in mid-May, have taken another step by beginning a legal offensive against the Archbishop of Burgos, Mons. Mario Iceta.

In the early hours of Thursday, hours after Bishop Iceta was named Pontifical Commissioner, the abbess, Sister Isabel de la Trinidad, filed a complaint with the National Police for “abuse of power.”

The nuns allege that the authority claimed by the archbishop represents a “violation of the fundamental right of association and the principle of separation, free voluntary separation, as well as abuse of power and usurpation of legal representation by Mr. Iceta,” as collected Digital Star.

The next day, Friday, the abbess, accompanied by two sisters and the false priest Francisco José Ceacero, known for having been a renowned bartender in the past, appeared before the Burgos guard court.

Bishop Argüello: The pastoral solution through dialogue is at risk

Mons. Luis Argüello, Archbishop of Valladolid and president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, expressed last Friday in Rome after his meeting with Pope Francis, that the decision of the nuns puts at risk the dialogue and pastoral solution that Mons. Iceta:

“It is a shame, because the intention of the pastor of that Burgos community is a pastoral solution, through dialogue, in which it is possible to rethink things on the part of at least some of the nuns.”

21 days since the schismatic declaration of the Poor Clares of Belorado

On May 13, the day of the Virgin of Fátima, the abbess of the Poor Clares of Belorado-Orduña, Sister Isabel de la Trinidad, published a letter and a manifesto of schismatic content in which she announced that the community of Poor Clares was under the authority of an excommunicated false bishop, Pablo de Rojas.

Days before, the abbess had requested guardianship of the false prelate excommunicated in 2019. Two days after hearing the news, the community gave an interview to the television network Telecincoin which the abbess reaffirmed her sedevacantist theses.

The following day, May 16, the Episcopal Commission for Consecrated Life of the Spanish Episcopal Conference issued a note in which the unanimity of the decision made was doubted.

For its part, the rebel community launched an Instagram account in which it published a video of some of the nuns with family members, ensuring that they were not “kidnapped.”

However, just 24 hours later, one of the sisters that made up that community left the Belorado Monastery, confirming the lack of unanimity. On Saturday, May 18, Sister María Amparo assured in The Burgos Diary that he had made the decision after confronting the false bishop and “not to belong to that sect.”

The Federation of Poor Clares and the Franciscan province of Aránzazu They also expressed their “surprise and pain” because of the schismatic attitude and extended their hand to the sisters.

Given the turn that the situation was taking, the Vatican appointed the Archbishop of Burgos as Pontifical Commissioner “granting him all the rights and duties that the universal Law of the Church and the Law of the Institute attribute to the Major Superior and his Council, including legal representation.” in the civil sphere.”

The archbishopric then expressed that, after a “prudential time, on a personal basis, each of them will be required to express their willingness to continue or not belong to the Catholic Church.”

Meanwhile, the nuns of Belorado also have an open judicial front with the Bishopric of Vitoria, for the property of the Monastery of Orduña, where half of the community lived since 2020, as the nuns have failed to comply with the payments committed in the purchase and sale agreement.