Criticism of the Archbishop of Valencia for using a "catalinaized" version of the Gospels

The World Valencia

Valencia

Updated Thursday, April 4, 2024-14:13

Leaders of the

Royal Academy of Valencian Culture

(RACV) demand that the Valencian Church "rectify its new

linguistic policy

." They do so after, in their opinion, the archbishop of Valencia, Monsignor

Enrique Benavent

, has "skipped his commitment to obtain the consensus of the bishops of the Archdiocese by having sent a

Catalanized version of the Gospels

to be read at masses, as well as a pastoral letter of the same sign, contrary to what was considered and despite recognizing the sensitivity that exists in the Community on the linguistic issue.

The entity points out, in a statement, that last March a representation of the RACV, with the dean,

José Luis Manglano

, at the head, attended the audience of the new archbishop of the city in order to "offer their respects and be made available to the new person in charge of the Valencian Archdiocese".

At the audience -- "which took place in a climate of kindness and respect," they emphasize -- the representative of the Royal Academy presented the archbishop with a copy of the catechism and another of the Holy Mass written in what this entity calls

"authentic Valencian "

and that "they had received the

nihil obstat

from both the

Episcopal Conference

and the Vatican." In addition, he was informed that "it had been used on certain occasions by his predecessor, Cardinal Cañizares."

In said meeting, always according to the RACV, the archbishop conveyed to them "his knowledge of the sensitivity in Valencian society on this issue", but stated that "the decision did not correspond to him but to the majority of the Bishops of the Archdiocese and that, if there was no consensus decision,

he would maintain the liturgy in Spanish

."

The RACV believes that Benavent "not only did not respect" his catechism, but also sent to all his dioceses "a Catalanized version of the Gospels and even the Pastoral Letter in that language." Along these lines, the RACV expresses "its

deepest rejection of this type of linguistic policies carried out from the Archbishop's Palace

" and recalls that, until now, with Cardinal Cañizares, "the Valencian Church has lived in peace and tranquility and has been able to express himself in the two languages ​​recognized by our Statute of Autonomy: Spanish and Valencian, which is why they encourage the new archbishop to redirect this situation.

In statements last November, the Archbishop of Valencia,

Enrique Benavent

, highlighted in an interview on the SER channel reported by Europa Press that the Catholic Church has "no problem" with the use of Valencian and, where appropriate, He usually uses it at mass.

"CURRENT LEGALITY"

"We would like it to be normalized and, if the conditions are met for the situation to be normalized, we have to abide by current legislation," he pointed out when asked if he would be willing to use a non-normative Valencian - the institution in charge of The language regulations are the

Valencian Academy of Language

(AVL)-- in a liturgical celebration.

The cardinal noted that the difficulty arises when "a problem that is not political acquires a political dimension and becomes a political issue." "Because then, the institutions that want to stay out of politics end up being the first victims," ​​he maintained.