Pope Francis has called the entire Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE) to a meeting on November 28th in the Vatican. The decision actually communicated by the Dicastery for the Clergy is completely exceptional and concerns, in principle, the inspection carried out by two bishops sent from Rome to visit the seminaries in Spain, an investigation also unusual, carried out a year ago was initiated on behalf of the Pope. However, the call comes days after the Ombudsman published the conclusions of his investigation into the abuse of minors in the Spanish Catholic Church. It is estimated that 1.13% of the population suffered abuse in a religious environment during their childhood, a percentage equivalent to approximately 440,000 people.
In addition, in the plenary assembly the week before (from the 20th to the 24th), the Spanish bishops will have to decide on the future of the report on abuse that they themselves commissioned from the law firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo. No one in the Vatican is officially commenting on the issue and sources familiar with the investigation into the abuses suggest that events in Spain have been followed with some distance in recent days as the Holy See begins to close the synod was busy .
The reality, however, is that it is surprising that the entire Episcopal Conference, with almost 80 active bishops, is called to Rome. Especially considering that the leadership of the prelates was already called in January 2022 for an ad limina visit, the trip that the episcopate of each country makes every five years to meet with the Pope. The next one should not have taken place until 2027. The election of the new President of the Bishops’ Conference next year is now on the table.
Something similar last happened in 2018, when Francis summoned the Chilean bishops and ultimately caused the resignation of his entire leadership. The Pope appointed her to the Vatican after the scandal of abuses and cover-ups caused a major shockwave that ultimately upended the Holy See’s policy on the matter. At the time, the Pope was planning a major purge of the Chilean episcopate, which took shape with this visit. The announcement came after the pontiff’s private meetings with the South American country’s bishops at the Vatican over the past three days to clarify responsibilities. As an immediate measure, all the bishops of the Chilean episcopate jointly submitted their resignations and made their offices available to Francis “so that he may decide freely regarding each one of them.”
The Pope’s presence at the meeting is not confirmed, although given the size of the event it is quite likely that the Pope will attend the meeting. The main reason should be to clarify the status of the 45 seminaries in which future priests of Spain are trained. The EEC itself explained this in the last point of the statement on the issues discussed in the extraordinary plenary meeting last Monday to discuss the Ombudsman’s conclusions on abuses.
Today there are 45 seminaries in Spain, where 974 seminarians will study in 2023: 725 fewer than a decade ago. The Uruguayans Milton Luis Tróccoli, Bishop of Maldonado-Punta del Este-Minas, and Arturo Eduardo Fajardo, Bishop of Salto, visited them between February and March 2023 with the request of Pope Francis to analyze their condition. After the long examination, they prepared a comprehensive document with suggestions for improvements and recommendations, which they submitted to the prefect for the clergy, South Korea’s Lazzaro You Heung-Sik. According to the magazine Vida Nueva, the results were determined by sources from the Dicastery as “problematic”, something that would already foreshadow the climate that the prelates might find in Rome.