Bishop Joan-Enric Vives Sicilia of the Catalan diocese of Urgell, co-prince of Andorra, has asked Catalonia’s rulers to “apply the Catalan Statute with wisdom”. The Statute was approved on Sunday 18 June with 74% votes in its favour. But the bishop also declared that the fact that half the citizens of this “nation of Spain” abstained from voting must prompt “reflection” and asked the political authorities to seek “the participation of all views and sensibilities”. The bishop pointed out that this law, which replaces that of 1979, does not provide “an endorsement of euthanasia and abortion on demand”, as had been denounced by Catholic groups during the referendum. But he underlined that “some aspects of the law are worrying. “Catalan nation” is a concept that the Catalan bishops had already expressed in the document “Christian roots of Catalonia” in 1985. Bishop Vives asked for serenity and also an “effort” to overcome “mistrustful” interpretations of this text to the point of considering it the sign of “a breaking up of Spain or a move disrespectful of the Constitution”. In a statement issued prior to the vote on the Autonomous Statute of Catalonia, the Catalan bishops had evaluated it “positively” insofar as it could lead, in their view, “to the progress of the self-government of Catalonia, to the support of Catalan language and culture, and to improvements in its economy and finance”. Nonetheless, they had underlined their deep “concern” about some issues such as “life, marriage and family, dignity of the human person, freedom of education, and respect for the most vulnerable, especially the unborn and the terminally ill”. In this sense they had claimed that this Statue, which will now come into force, evinced criteria that contradict the spirit of Christian humanism”.
