The cardinal archbishop of Barcelona, Juan José Omella, assured this Thursday that Pope Leo XIV will say “some words” in Catalan during the blessing of the Tower of Jesus of the Sagrada Família during his visit to Barcelona from June 9 to 11, after it was announced last Monday that the Pontiff would only use Castilian in what is considered the culminating moment of the central act of the trip.
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This revelation sparked a linguistic controversy fueled by Catalanist parties and organizations, which Omella regretted and criticized: “Some people like to start fires where there are none,” the archbishop said in statements to journalists after the presentation of the Caritas Barcelona report.
Without mentioning him, Omella was thus alluding to the president of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, who in recent days has called for protests and harshly criticized the cardinal.
Asked if the Archbishopric had made arrangements with the Vatican for the Pope to speak in Catalan during the blessing of the Tower of Jesus, Omella explained that the blessing would be written in Castilian but that “he will say some words in Catalan.”
“The Pope knows he has to speak something in Catalan. But there are people who like to create controversy, and this must be avoided. We are too confronted in this society. There are some who like to start fires where there is no fire. Let’s not start fires, let’s help things go well. From the very beginning, it was reasonable for the Pope to say something in Catalan. He will do what he can,” he added.
He assures that the Pope has taken Catalan into account “from the very beginning,” that he knows he is coming to Catalonia, where Catalan is spoken, and that he has prepared his speeches and homily taking that language into account.
“We live in a very polarized and tense society, and a bonfire is made anywhere. It’s nothing, we are all aware of our reality. What has been set up, I don’t know who set it up or what the intention was,” he assured.
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Yesterday, Wednesday, Puigdemont went so far as to accuse Omella of “preferring to heed Aznar (whoever can do it, let them do it) rather than being faithful to the encyclical just published by Leo XIV” in reference to a paragraph from Magnifica Humanitas: “The promotion of the common good can never be separated from respect for the right of peoples to exist, to safeguard their own identity, and to contribute with their own originality to the family of nations. nation is gravely immoral and, therefore, unacceptable.”
Puigdemont also called for people to carry “estelades” (Catalan independence flags) and to whistle in protest “against the rebirth of Francoist Catholicism, oppressor of minorities and accomplice to crimes against humanity.” “Catalan is the native language of Catalonia, without which neither Gaudí nor the Sagrada Família can be explained,” he maintained.
Letter from former presidents, parties, and entities to the Pope regarding Catalan
This Thursday, former presidents of the Generalitat and the Parliament, other political leaders, and various entities are demanding the presence of Catalan during the Pope’s visit next week, in a letter that will be published tomorrow in Italian newspapers, La Vanguardia and ABC, according to RAC1.
Among the signatories of the letter addressed to Leo XIV are former presidents Jordi Pujol, Quim Torra, Pere Aragonès, and Carles Puigdemont; the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull; some of his predecessors, such as Ernest Benach, Núria de Gispert, Roger Torrent, Laura Borràs, and Anna Erra; the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, and the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras. Among the signatory entities are the ANC, Òmnium Cultural, and FC Barcelona.
The letter will be published in several newspapers, such as the Italian Corriere della Sera and Avvenire, in La Vanguardia and ABC. In the letter, this group of authorities welcome the Pontiff before he visits Catalonia and assert Catalan identity and language. In this regard, they hope that the Pope can pray in the language in which Catalans address God. They also emphasize the country’s tradition of hospitality and recall that Catalonia’s culture has survived periods of persecution.
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