It had been some time since statements from the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference provoked such a broad and forceful response among Christian groups. Luis Argüello’s words on the State, social policies, and LGTBI+ people have generated indignation not only in the Government but also within the Church itself.
During the closing ceremony of the Episcopal Conference Summer School, held on July 9 under the title The Collapse of Democracy, Argüello stated that “when a State forgets ethics, it becomes a gang of thieves” and added: “I refer to the evidence.” In the same speech, he criticized assistance-based democracies, accusing them of offering aid to buy citizens’ will and make them dependent on the State.
The president of the bishops also dedicated part of his speech to laws related to gender identity and Pride celebrations. He spoke of a supposed project of “anthropological deconstruction,” criticized “affirmation therapies,” a position that effectively legitimizes so-called conversion therapies, which do not respect people’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and went so far as to identify pride with “the sin of Satan.” These are especially painful expressions when they come from someone who publicly represents the Spanish Catholic Church and are directed against a group that has suffered rejection, discrimination, and exclusion for too long, even within the Church.
Argüello later clarified that he was not expressly referring to the Government and that his call for ethical responsibility also included citizens who defraud, do not pay taxes, or request invoices without VAT. However, his postscript—”each one will see why they feel alluded to”—did not contribute to lowering the confrontation. Nor did it manage to erase the impression that his speech was part of a very determined political framework.
The Church has every right to intervene in public debate. It can and must denounce corruption, injustice, poverty, or any abuse of power. The problem is not that a bishop speaks about politics, but how he does it and from what standpoint. Democratic criticism requires pointing out concrete facts and specific responsibilities. Turning the State into a “gang of thieves,” discrediting social policies as tools to buy wills, and resorting to Satan when speaking about Pride goes beyond legitimate disagreement and enters the realm of disqualification.
The Government’s reaction was immediate. Minister Félix Bolaños responded by asking Argüello what he thought if someone labeled the entire Church “a gang of sexual aggressors,” a generalization that would also be profoundly unfair. Furthermore, he reproached him for his partisanship in favor of the right and far-right. Minister Margarita Robles called his words “absolutely unacceptable” and asked him to apologize.
But what is most significant is that the criticisms have not come solely from the Government or lay organizations. They have emerged with unusual intensity from within the Christian community itself. Redes Cristianas has denounced that insult cannot replace discernment and dialogue, recalling that the person presiding over the Episcopal Conference does not speak as an individual citizen but on behalf of a Church called to be a place of fraternity and reconciliation.
The Movement for Optional Celibacy, MOCEOP, has declared itself “indignant and scandalized” by manifestations it considers out of tone, disrespectful, and contrary to the Gospel. The State Coordinator of Popular Christian Communities has also pointed out the contradiction that the ecclesiastical hierarchy imparts ethics lessons to the State while enjoying important fiscal, economic, and educational privileges and continues without fully resolving issues such as property registrations.
For its part, CRISMHOM focused its response on the harm caused to LGTBI+ people. The association recalls that affective-sexual and gender diversity is part of humanity’s richness and that so-called conversion therapies have caused suffering and serious damage. In response to the condemnation, it invites Argüello to meet with LGTBI+ believers and their families, listen to their lives, and know their Christian commitment.
The contrast with Leo XIV is difficult to ignore. Just a month earlier, the Pope had visited Spain, met with the President of the Government, and delivered a historic speech before the Congress of Deputies. There, he defended the legitimate autonomy of democratic institutions and asked that political plurality not degenerate into the permanent disqualification of the adversary. His words seem today directed at the President of the Episcopal Conference himself: “Firmness does not require contempt; disagreement does not entail humiliation.”
The difference is not small. While the Pope, during his visit to Spain, chose institutional cooperation, concord, and respect for those who think differently, Argüello has adopted language that fuels polarization and ends up functioning, regardless of his intention, as a loudspeaker for some of the cultural battles of the far-right.
Every person can have their own political ideas. Bishops too. But whoever speaks from an institutional responsibility must exercise extreme care with their words. The line is crossed when criticism turns into indiscriminate moral condemnation, when the voice of the Church is confused with a partisan trench, and when religious authority is used to increase rejection towards a historically wounded group.
The extraordinary reaction of these days shows that many believers do not feel represented by that language. What is at stake is not only the relationship of the Episcopal Conference with a specific Government, but something much deeper: whether the Spanish Church wants to contribute to disarming polarization or become another piece of it.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Why is the Government afraid of the Church?
https://redescristianas.net/por-que-teme-el-gobierno-a-la-iglesia/
Statement from MOCEOP regarding the declarations of Monsignor Argüello
Disarming words, disarming privileges
https://redescristianas.net/desarmar-las-palabras-desarmar-los-privilegios/
Open letter to Monsignor Argüello
https://redescristianas.net/carta-abierta-a-monsenor-arguello/
Statement from CRISMHOM
Argüello clarifies his statements on the State
Speech of Leo XIV before the Spanish Parliament