I hope this does not get as nasty as the business with Mons. Wagner in Austria earlier this year, though it has the potential to be worse. The regionalist-separatist political sentiment among the Basques apparently extends even to their clergy.
Basque priests reject bishop
appointed by the Pope
The Basques call their region Euskal-Herria, in Spain's northeastern corner. The third map shows the dioceses of Spain, with the Dioceses of St. Sebastian and Bilbao encircled.
Madrid, Dec. 16 (dpa) - Catholic priests in Spain's Basque region have taken the unusual step of criticizing Pope Benedict XVI's choice of bishop for San Sebastian, media reports said Wednesday.
Nearly 80 per cent of the priests in the diocese of the port city said Jose Ignacio Munilla, who is due to become bishop in January, was not 'suitable' for the post.
The news item announcing Mons. Munilla's appointment last November from the webpage of the Basque dioceses, but I do not see the protest manifesto against him posted anywhere for now.
The priests issued a manifesto describing the choice of Munilla as 'discrediting the ecclesiastical life of our diocese.'
[In what way? Unless Munilla has had a bad record as a priest, or has been appointed over a much more qualified Basque priest.]
The protest, which was described as unprecedented in the recent history of Spain's Catholic Church, was believed to have a political background.
The Basque church is known as being relatively progressive and sympathetic to the Basque nationalist movement, which contains separatist currents.
Munilla, on the other hand, is known as being close to the conservative line of Madrid Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco, head of the Spanish bishops' conference, who was believed to have recommended him to the Pope.
[Of course, the recommendations of local bishops carry weight, because the candidates' list for a bishop's post comes from them to begin with. But is it not part of the job of the Congregation for Bishops, through the Nuncio in Spain and perhaps their own 'scouts', to investigate not just the candidate's background but also how his appointment might be taken by the diocese to which he is assigned? Particularly in a place with the tinderbox potential of the Basque country? If the Congregation and the Secretariat of State fail to do their prepping right (as in the case of Mons. Wielgus in Poland), it reflects badly and, ultimately, only on the Pope, and that's not fair to him.]
'A part of the Basque church has shown more sympathy for the killers (of the violent separatist group ETA) than for their victims,' the daily
El Mundo charged.
[But they would not be 'victims' if they had not performed terrorist acts to begin with!]