Spain: Abuse Narrative Fueled, Bishop Steps Aside, Valley of the Fallen Before Eviction
Vatican investigation against Spanish bishop
One case centers on a Vatican investigation into Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy, 76, of Cádiz y Ceuta. He is accused of homosexually abusing a male minor in the 1990s while serving as rector of the Getafe seminary.
Bishop Zornoza denies the charge as "false".
He has stepped back from duties while the Vatican inquiry proceeds. A canonical tribunal in Madrid, under the supervision of the Archbishop of Seville, is handling the case.
Abuse-"coverage" as political control
Carlos Balén argues on InfoVaticana.com on November 12 that the wave of abuse coverage is about political control.
He sees it as a strategy to keep a weakened Church submissive by constantly reviving its scandals: “The Spanish bishops are hostages of their own guilt,” Balén writes.
“For fear that someone might pronounce their name next to the word cover-up, they accept everything: the closing of seminaries, the liquidation of religious orders, the imposition of immoral laws — and now the symbolic desecration of Spain’s greatest Christian monument.”
The Valley of the Fallen: Vatican Approves Basilica's Desecration
That monument is the Valley of the Fallen, a vast basilica and cross outside Madrid built after the Civil War. It has been cared for and administered by the Benedictine monks since 1958.
The Spanish government’s new €30-million “resignification” project aims to convert the site into a “space of memory and reflection.”
Balén calls it “a church without God,” a transformation of a sacred site into a tourist backdrop.
But even the bishops’ radio network COPE reported on the plan approvingly, emphasizing that “places of worship will be maintained.” To Balén, this is self-deception: “To keep a chapel in a desecrated basilica is treated as a victory.”
ElConfidencialDigital.com adds that the Spanish government is currently negotiating with the Vatican to replace the Benedictines at the Valley with another community. The eviction of the Benedictines is already well advanced and approved by Leo XIV.
Picture: Valle de Cuelgamuros © wikicommons CC BY-SA, #newsUeomavwasu