The tower of a Catholic church collapses in Villaturiel, diocese of León, Spain

On Sunday, July 7, the tower of the church in the town of Villaturiel, in the Spanish diocese of León, collapsed, one day before restoration work began. There were no personal injuries to report.

According to reports elDiario.esthe collapse had already been foreseen for a few months, so the temple had been fenced and the Masses had been moved to the town hermitage.

Valentín Martínez, mayor of the municipality, explained that local and diocese technicians had already reviewed the state of the tower, whose restoration was going to begin this Monday, July 8.

“Fortunately, there has been no misfortune,” said Martínez, adding that more attention should be paid to the “heritage that the Diocese has, which is very large.”

Victoria Orduña, another of the local civil authorities, regretted what happened and said: “We are quite sad. They didn’t pay attention to us. We have felt abandoned; “It’s all paperwork and I couldn’t do anything.”

Interviewed by Antenna 3several faithful in the area expressed their pain for what happened.

“Both the church and the tower are the symbol of the town,” said one of the residents. “The beautiful tower we had has collapsed, it’s gone,” lamented one of the neighbors and added: “we could see it coming, we were already saying that it was falling but they didn’t pay much attention and it was allowed to fall.”

The offer of the Bishopric of León

Father Luis García Gutiérrez, vicar general and president of the heritage commission of the Diocese of León, reported that the Bishopric will immediately begin the removal of the rubble.

“Especially the damage is moral for a town that values ​​its heritage as much as Villaturiel does,” said the priest, recalling that the tower was very “loved” and that “it has fallen towards the southernmost part, as if it had slipped away, with which seems that the church, at first glance, has not suffered any damage.”