• Justice.The Supreme insists that the refusal of the prior for the exhumation of Franco "decays" with his sentence
  • Interview Francisco Franco: "The attitude of the Church has caused us great disappointment"

The congregation of Benedictine monks, on which the abbey of the Fallen Valley depends , asks that Franco not be exhumed before reaching an agreement with the dictator's family. After the nth controversy on Wednesday, generated after the letter from the prior to the Vice President of the Government Carmen Calvo, where he said he did not authorize exhumation, the monks of his abbey believe that "it would be better to leave things as they are."

This newspaper tried to speak with the prior, Santiago Cantera. However, as it was not, another member of the community explained that "this ruling is based on a Royal Decree of August 24 of last year that is typical of a banana republic, all for a Pedro Sánchez warmer." The Benedictines added that " Felipe González himself said the other day that feelings cannot be the basis of law."

The Benedictine community of the Valley of the Fallen is autonomous, but organically it has over the Solesmes abbey , in the northwest of France. This newspaper called Solesmes to ask for the letter that the prior sent to the Vice President of the Government. Father Abbot Philippe Dupont was absent, but a spokesman for the monks agreed to make an assessment, even without knowing the exact content of the letter.

"The position of the father abbot is always that of the Holy See," he said, "which is always that of reaching an agreement between the Government and the family." "Without this agreement, it seems a bit violent to proceed to exhumation," he said, and acknowledged that from France they are a little "surprised" by the evolution of events. "It's funny," qualifies the monk in Spanish.

The jurisdiction of the abbot versa father explains, about the monastic community, and not about the buildings, so the last decision on access to the basilica corresponds to the prior: "It is a Spanish question." "The position of the Church is always to recover peace and avoid reviving ancient wars," he says.

The prior denies that there is contempt

For his part, the prior sent a letter to this newspaper yesterday stating: "This abbey has not disregarded, in any way, any Supreme Court ruling; first, because it has not yet been issued in the procedure in the that this Abbey is a part and, secondly, because the appeal before the Supreme Court is an agreement of the Council of Ministers that expressly recognizes the need for ecclesiastical authorization to proceed with the execution of said Agreement and, of course, the Court Supremo cannot modify the content of the act under appeal. "

In addition, it is ratified that "this abbey does not authorize access to a 'sacred place' (Basilica) to, in turn, access a 'sacred thing' (burial) and all this in defense of the principle of inviolability of places of worship and in defense of the correct interpretation of the agreements between the Spanish State and the Holy See ", and continues saying that apart there are" other fundamental rights and moral and religious values ​​"that understand" violated ".

The prior defends himself against those who say that he is disregarding the sentence because "using possible remedies against judicial decisions is not contempt, but legitimate exercise of fundamental rights", and therefore ensures that "the Benedictine abbey will defend its rights and, in particular, the concept of inviolability of places of worship in all national and international instances. "

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  • Supreme Court
  • Valley of the Fallen
  • France
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Francisco Franco Bahamonde

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