Spanish court orders rebel nuns out of convent

In this file photo dated Sept. 1945, Pope Pius XII, wearing the ring of St. Peter, raises his right hand in a papal blessing at the Vatican. (AP Photo)

A Spanish court has ordered a group of nuns excommunicated from the Catholic Church to be expelled from their convent, according to a legal ruling viewed by AFP Friday.

The nuns, from the Order of Saint Clara, announced in May last year that they were breaking with the Vatican over doctrinal differences and claims their wish to buy another convent had been blocked.

They have since declared allegiance to an excommunicated ultra-conservative priest who has rejected the validity of all popes since the death of Pius XII in 1958.

The Archbishop of Burgos asked the nuns to leave the 15th century convent in the northern town of Belorado, saying they had no legal right to remain there after excommunication but they refused.

In a the ruling, dated Thursday, a court in the nearby town of Briviesca sided with the archbishop, instructing the nine remaining nuns to leave and return the convent to the Church.

“If they do not comply voluntarily, they will be forcibly evicted,” the court said, noting that the Church had presented valid documentation of ownership, while the nuns had offered no legal title justifying their continued use of the property.

The court did not set a specific date for the eviction.

During a hearing on Tuesday, the nuns’ lawyer, Florentino Alaez, said his clients would appeal if the court ruled they had to leave the convent.

One of the nuns, Sister Paloma, told reporters that the convent “is ours”.

“We are not isolated nuns, we are a legal entity, and they are our possessions,” she added.

The nuns issued a 70-page manifesto last year declaring their break from the Church.

They accused ecclesiastical authorities of sabotaging a planned purchase of another convent in Spain’s Basque Country and denounced what they called the Vatican’s “doctrinal chaos” and “contradictions.”

They also declared allegiance to Pablo de Rojas Sánchez-Franco, a priest excommunicated in 2019 who leads the fringe group “Pious Union of Saint Paul the Apostle.”

Rojas adheres to sedevacantism, a radical belief that all popes since Pius XII (1939–1958) are illegitimate.