The Vatican would have turned its back on the Benedictines of the Valley of the Fallen in their particular crusade against the Government to try to stop the resignation of Cuelgamuros. As confirmed by LA RAZÓN, the Holy See does not look favorably on the order that they launched a few months ago as an administrative resource to paralyze any reform. As this newspaper already announced, one of the nine appeals requesting the precautionary suspension of the entire resignation process had an ecclesiastical seal. Well, it is the contemplative community who is behind it, as Religion Confidencial explained yesterday. Already last May, the Ministry of Housing denounced, without expressly citing the monks, that these appeals before the Administrative Court had been carried out “in a coordinated manner” in order to “disturb the proper course of the contracting procedure, all of which coincide in form, content and date of presentation.”
The truth is that the community’s decision was made behind the backs of the negotiations that took place between the Church and the Government. Or what is the same, neither the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Pietro Parolin, nor the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo, who served as interlocutor to address the framework agreement for resignification, knew of the turn taken by the monks. It was the Government itself that revealed the measure adopted by the Benedictine monks, with the corresponding anger of Moncloa, who came to think that the Church was adopting a “double game” that could dynamit the open dialogue.
In fact, as LA RAZÓN has learned, this mess was one of the main reasons why the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, made an express trip to Rome on October 24 to meet with Pietro Parolin. In the meeting held between the two, Bolaños expressed to the Vatican ‘premier’ his determination to expel the Benedictines from the Valley of the Fallen. Of course, he would have been open to the presence of another religious community in the enclave.
The truth is that, after the departure of the former prior Santiago Cantera and the negotiation with the Church closed in March, everything seemed to have been on track. However, the appeal of the Benedictines and, above all, the refusal in these months to take a step back, would not only have bothered Moncloa, but also Rome.
Thus, in the meeting that the Executive Commission of the Episcopal Conference held a week ago with the Cardinal Secretary of State, Parolin would have expressed once again his support for the path of agreement with the Government, regarding the monks’ plan. Especially after the explanations given by the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo, who detailed to the Vatican ‘prime minister’ the general lines of the winning project of the competition called by the Government.
The proposal is the least invasive of all the 34 presented. In fact, it will not affect any of the religious elements of the enclave. The intervention will be minimal and will be practically reduced to some explanatory signs in the basilica and its surroundings. Thus, the independent entrance to the temple, the sculptures of the Pietà, the theological virtues and the four evangelists who are at the foot of the 150-meter cross that crowns Cuelgamuros will be respected. As has been reported, the winning project was approved unanimously, which implies the implicit support of the priest Daniel Escobar Portillo, present as liturgical advisor and who is the liturgy delegate of the Archdiocese of Madrid.
In any case, in Rome they trust that the monks will back down and withdraw the appeal, while the winning project does not represent any change for the life of the community, the abbey, the inn or the basilica.
“It is fair to place this whole issue in a context where the main actor is the Government, which is the one that launches the project, sets the times and the forms,” said the Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid yesterday morning on this issue, during the presentation of the report on the activities of the Church in the Community of Madrid.
Cobo explained that his mission as interlocutor has been to “enter into dialogue and assert the different religious assets that are in the monument and in the project so that the Church is heard and considered.” Beyond this task entrusted and validated by the Vatican, he stressed that his only jurisdiction over the enclave of the Valley of the Fallen is “pastoral.” “Each of the parties, both the Holy See and the monks, are sovereign to act in their power,” he clarified. “The role of the Church of Madrid and the Archbishopric of Madrid is a pastoral role, we have no more jurisdiction,” he stated.
Regarding the agreement with Moncloa that was forged at the beginning of the year, he was satisfied that it was possible to close with the Government “a minimum framework”, which included “recognizing the basilica, guaranteeing the presence of the monks and the safeguarding of all religious signs.” From there, and once the Executive convenes the contest of ideas, the cardinal assures that his role is “minimal”, beyond the fact that Daniel Escobar Portillo advised the jury of this call to specify what it means to recognize “the sacredness of the basilica and the surroundings, a concept that civilly can be confusing.” “We have not been in the contest or participated in the voting,” the cardinal noted.
Furthermore, he pointed out that both the monks and the Holy See are now the “direct interlocutors” with the Government and they will be the ones who “will have to specify” how it is resolved. In any case, the cardinal of Madrid emphasized that “we have always tried to have dialogue and assert the religious presence.”