During his 10-year pontificate, Francis has only once summoned an entire bishops' conference. It was the one in Chile—to deal with abuses within the Church. Now, he has done it again with about 80 Spanish bishops. But for a different reason.
CARD. JUAN JOSÉ OMELLA
President, Spanish Bishops' Conference
It is for something that is important, such as the seminaries, that affects a nation. In this case in Spain, he wanted to dialogue and listen to us and we listened to him. To me, it seemed to be a continuation of the synodal path that we have begun. It was not to criticize or condemn anyone, but simply to talk.
Spain is in the midst of a complicated political environment due to the government's investigation into abuses in the Church. Cardinal Omella pointed out that this topic did not come up in the two-hour dialogue with Pope Francis.
The meeting was officially called by the Dicastery for the Clergy after two Uruguayan bishops were sent to Spain at the beginning of 2023 to visit and observe every seminary formation center. The different conclusions drawn from their study will be put into practice.
CARD. JUAN JOSÉ OMELLA
President, Spanish Bishops Conference
We will be working on this through the ecclesiastical provinces and in permanent dialogue with the Dicastery, which is something new, because Praedicate Evangelium already speaks of the dicasteries being of service—and not the other way around.
As the bishops explained in the press conference following their meeting with the Pope, the guidelines given to them by the Dicastery are based on the national formation plan already in place.
BP. JESÚS VIDAL CHAMORRO
Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid
In this sense, they are the mark of integral formation—that is to say that all the dimensions of formation are important for the maturity of the candidates. We expect priests to be truly mature men.
One of the challenges facing the Church in Spain is the lack of vocations. There is talk of reorganizing seminaries into centers with a greater focus on community life.
The last time Pope Francis met with the Spanish bishops' conference was during the traditional ad limina visit, which is made every five years.
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