The executive Committee of the Spanish Episcopal Conference met in Madrid in recent days and issued a communiqué on 6 June to respond to the controversy that erupted following the pastoral letter disseminated by the Basque bishops (cf. SirEurope 22/2002). In its press release the Episcopal Conference notes that the Basque bishops “have expressed a clear and categorical condemnation of terrorism” and emphasizes “the Church’s commitment to the defence, assistance and protection of threatened persons and victims”. The Spanish Episcopal Conference therefore judges “unjust and disproportionate the criticism levelled against the pastoral letter “. “Freedom of information and opinion it adds does not authorize anyone to falsify the sense of the document, by omitting essential parts of it or by altering its meaning. It’s clear the communiqué continues that this unjustified criticism gravely damages the Church, diminishing its moral credibility and curbing freedom of expression”. The communiqué ends by declaring that “terrorism is a grave perversion of the moral conscience, but a solution to it cannot be achieved by discrediting institutions like the Church”.
