“It is true that we are currently witnessing excessive polarization.” This is pointed out by Jesús Díaz Sariego, president of the CONFER, who in an interview with *Religión Digital* on the eve of World Day for Consecrated Life, which is celebrated on Monday, February 2, believes that religious men and women **”are called to foster the opposite: reconciliation between differences; respectful encounter without denigrating** others; the ability to listen and to dialogue, not as a lowering of what is important, but as a common impetus to find each other.”
Listen, dialogue, and also accompaniment, like what they do in everyday life, because, as he recalls, “the consecrated are also in the mud,” helping to lift up those who are there, as they have done with their support for extraordinary regularization, which he defends, because “it is not a simple goodness.” On this, but also on the prophetic nature in times of noise or the approach of young people to the vocation, manifested both in films that come from outside the religious sphere, such as ‘Los domingos’, or in musical phenomena that are brewing within, like Hakuna, this member of the order of preachers has words of reflection.
Question. In line with the Pope’s, the COMEUP (Commission of Episcopal Conferences of Europe) wonders in its message for World Day “Consecrated Life, who are you for?”. And the text emerges that religious men and women are for everyone. But how can one be for everyone in a society, as they recognize, “marked by fragmentation, confrontation, polarization and self-referentiality”? Whom or for whom to choose?
**Answer.** When we prepare each annual Journey, focused on consecrated life, we reflect on the direction we want to give that Journey, the message we intend to convey, and its corresponding motto. The reflection starts from the social and ecclesial reality in which we find ourselves, without ceasing to take into account the reality that we are living personally and communally as consecrated people, as well as the historical moment in which the institutions are located for the apostolic mission and for contemplative prayer.
R. For this Day, as its motto indicates, we have wanted to enhance the value that consecrated life has in itself and what it can offer to society as a whole. Consecrated life is the bearer of many centuries of history. Within its historical journey lies prophetic wisdom useful and necessary for today’s world. A more secularized world, but not for that less mature and incapable of transformation towards something better, beyond the limitations of the moment. In our world, there are also very legitimate searches for greater humanity for all.
R. It is true that we are currently witnessing excessive polarization. It is perhaps the fruit of the increasingly acquired dynamics of self-referentiality. This produces confrontation, fragmentation, and contempt for those who do not think the same way. Life consecrated is called to foster the opposite: reconciliation between differences; respectful encounter without denigrating others; the ability to listen and to dialogue, not as a lowering of what is important, but as a common impulse to find each other. This always requires greater effort and commitment; the interest in the common good and the search for Truth, wherever it may be found, as one of the most passionate tasks of human intelligence and heart.
The constant pursuit of confrontation has no future, because it is the promotion of the least human aspects in people and in the social groups that identify with those ways of proceeding. We opt to be the alternative to the ways of proceeding, among others, that I have pointed out previously.
R. Who to choose? We opt for the dignity of people, for the care and attention of the weakest, of human faces with fewer resources of all kinds; the most wounded and disregarded part must be especially considered in its dignity. Our preferential option is therefore for the dignity of the wounded people. This dignity is degraded in material poverty; but it is also degraded in the abuse of people, in their manipulation and domination. In short, in all those who suffer the consequences of those who believe themselves ‘gods’ to others. Reconciliation, as its very term indicates, requires the harmony of repair and change. This must continue to be our preferential option.
P. From this position of having to choose, will the prophetic question be decisive in tipping the balance?
**R.** The prophetic dimension of consecrated life is one of the traits that form part of its identity and lifestyle. But we must not forget that the most evangelical and effective prophetism in itself carries intelligence, knowledge, depth, analysis, a sense of life and things, commitment. There is a wise dimension of the prophet that we must not forget. The prophet manages to develop the wisdom of one who analyzes the present in depth. The prophet not only denounces what is wrong to the detriment of many and their consequent injustices; the prophet also announces and proposes alternatives, proposes changes, proposes hope. He returns hope to people not as a mere feeling, but in practical and concrete achievements.
Here is their display of wisdom.
Q. And how is religious life in Spain doing with prophecy?
A. For some time now, reflection on the meaning of consecrated life for our century has been incorporating the two dimensions I have mentioned: the prophetic and the wise. There is a deepening of the relationship and interaction between both. We prefer to speak of a prophetic wisdom. Two terms that, when united, reinforce more and better the very reason for being that consecrated people must embody.
R. How is the prophecy of religious life in Spain doing? If we look at it, to understand it, from the ground up, I can say that we have been pleasantly surprised when, from the Conference of Religious, we set out to observe and analyze all the social projects underway promoted by the consecrated. The promotion of humanity that is being carried out is incredible. Thousands and thousands of people participate in their programs, benefit from their offerings, and help society as a whole with a human and religious quality that is nothing short of remarkable. What better prophetic denunciation than this? The consecrated men and women are also in the mud, accompanying the precarious situation of many people in our country. We do not offer it as someone selling a product.
“The ‘poor’ are not for sale,’ nor are they a brand to be used for other interests. Our social work does not aim to make noise. It simply sits in the daily life, with humility and simplicity, as the Gospel teaches and proposes. The wounded dignity are concrete people, with faces, names, a personal history. There is the faithful and constant dedication.
Regularization has reasons. It is not a simple act of kindness. We must continue to value its consequences to ensure good management due to the implications it has.”
R. If we look at the prophecy of religious life, following with the simile, from above, in the CONFERENCE we also detect the commitment of the consecrated with culture, with thought, with the legitimate social influence that allows the promotion of the common good, the cultivation of reason for greater harmony and social coexistence, the inspiration of faith to not forget the strength of God in the lives of people. Consecrated life is very present in the formation of people, with a healthy critical sense and at the service of the entire social body; we also realize the service we offer to society from this dimension.
It is very important to be where ideas are conceived, actions are programmed, and the main orientations of the world are shaped in their various fields (economic, political, religious, etc.). Why not make the evangelical principles present in those forums and spaces as well?
**R.** In these years, the effort to integrate both perspectives on the world, from below and from above, is allowing us to open new paths to the future. Secular society and the Church need to integrate these two perspectives. Perhaps there we will find points of reconciliation and encounter. The life experience of the most marginalized and suffering must guide the thought and planning of the common good. But thought must generate awareness, awaken it, to protect the dignity of people or to accompany those whose dignity has been violated and wounded. The poorest and most vulnerable offer us a necessary light, here too is our preferential option, to drive this social path of integration as consecrated men and women.
P. Recognize that we are in a moment of polarization, also in Spain. Just like in the US, a political party has pointed out that, in the event of governing, it would expel 600,000 immigrants each year. Would the CONFER know, at that time, for whom it is? The Pope, in his message, has called for not accompanying people “from a distance”…
R. The CONFER, from the very first moment, has been alongside others in the initiative of the necessary signatures to secure said regularization. Together with the EC (European Community) we have done a very coordinated work. Here we have not only shown the prophetic part in terms of denunciation, also necessary, we have equally shown a path of joint reflection. Regularization has reasons. It is not a simple act of kindness. It is necessary to continue valuing its consequences to ensure good management due to the implications it has. Other relevant aspects are considered, such as human trafficking, the roots that cause massive emigration and their causes, etc. The people most involved in this prophetic sign are not foolish or naive.
These are very conscious and sensible people in their purposes.
**R.** In what has been expressed above, we have worked with other groups and non-ecclesiastical institutions, all seeking the common good of thousands of people. This shared success in seeking, claiming, and awareness, is an expression of prophetic wisdom for our time. The Church as a whole has been with other civil institutions from which we have learned. But, at the same time, some people belonging to non-ecclesiastical institutions have learned from our experience and from the support of our options, based on the Gospel.
R. As I have stated previously, religious life institutions in Spain personally accompany many migrants and those who are marginalized and suffering. This human experience has value and authority. Let us listen attentively to the people, believers or not, who have daily contact with this human reality.
P. Thousands of Spanish religious men and women have participated in the Jubilee of Religious Life, one of the most outstanding of last year 2025 in Rome. What has crossing the Holy Door brought them? How does that pilgrimage influence religious life in Spain?
R. Every Jubilee Year is an opportunity to take a new step on the path. It is a time of reflection and conversion. A time to analyze what has been lived, evaluate, and see how to move forward stronger, with greater inner strength and with greater openness to others when facing the future together.
**R.** During the preparation for the Holy Year, the deceased Pope Francis, in addition to asking consecrated persons what was requested of all baptized people, demanded something special and that cannot go unnoticed. We were asked to identify in each country or geographical area those situations or groups in conflict. We were encouraged to be bridges, to seek the necessary reconciliation, and to promote encounters between the most opposed parties, wherever possible, seeking to reconcile differences. It is not about everyone thinking the same or having the same ways of seeing things. It is about achieving living among different in a reconciled way, safeguarding the fundamental, the common good.
We must seek among the differences the best consensuses that integrate and do not disrupt, that add and do not compete. The Jubilee Year leaves us with this commitment.
**P.** In Spain, we have been living for nearly two years through a particularly sad chapter of a religious community, with the case of the schismatic exclarisas of Belorado. How can this happen? Do you foresee some kind of flaw, perhaps in the accompaniment, also of the pastors? Does it have to do with that self-referentiality that Pope Leo XIV warns about?
R. Certainly. As you rightly point out, the situation of the ex-Clarissa discalced nuns of Belorado is a very sad chapter, not only for an order with a long history and that has done so much good to society in general and to the Church in particular, but also for the suffering that the situation has brought to many people, as well as to the nuns themselves, whom we have great affection and fondness for. We must not ignore, on the other hand, the ecclesial and social bewilderment that the situation has generated in our environment, given its constant public exposure in the media.
R. For quite a few years now, there has been increasing emphasis on the formation of consecrated persons, on proper human preparation (affective and intellectual) to take on a life of commitment and which entails the profession of evangelical counsels; on the demand for spiritual maturity that maintains the necessary psycho-affective balances to assume the commitment that a life of consecration to God and service to the world entails. This process of spiritual accompaniment and human formation is undertaken and developed in the various Orders and Congregations.
R. Nothing in human processes is perfect. But it would be very unfair to state without further ado that what happened in Belorado is the result of inadequate accompaniment from the shepherds or priests and religious who have been close to that Monastery for pastoral, formative, etc. reasons. The trigger of the situation probably has deeper reasons. Some will have to do with the internal dynamism of the community itself and with the specific people who interact within it.
P. Speaking of the Pope, this is the second pontiff to come from a religious congregation, when for years there has been a certain look of suspicion towards them. What does it say that the cardinals are now turning their gaze towards religious profiles?
R. Religious Life, beyond its limitations and imperfections, is also the repository of a century-old experience in the way of organizing itself, conceiving life, and positioning itself in the world. Its century-old experience of God, in each of the charisms that shape it, provides a very rich tradition for the present.
R. Religious profiles also have a great deal to say to the whole Church and to the world in general. We often fall into the error of valuing consecrated life only by numbers and by its external strength. But we forget the most important thing. This is not only sustained by numbers, nor by external strength. Its engine comes from afar and its strength and dynamism also. The important thing is to preserve that the Gospel continues to be preached. Consecrated life provides the whole Church with important support for this purpose, as it is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve the end: the Gospel itself made real in the lives of people and communities.
R. When we offer this other look, everything becomes a little calmer. This does not mean that we should not care, as much as possible, about the means. In this case, the value of our people, communities, and institutions. If we do it solely from the outside, we fail. If we rather seek the internal dynamism that runs through consecrated life, we acquire new strength, new impetus, a new dynamism.
R. The fact of having counted for these years on two religious Popes makes it clear that consecrated life maintains important and necessary elements for the entire social body. We say this not only from a healthy pride, but rather from the responsibility we have for what we are or aspire to be. We must not forget that the papacy of Benedict XVI represented a reinforcement of trust in consecrated life as an engine of the Church. Pope Benedict explicitly realized its need in the vital and apostolic dynamism of the Church. We will not forget, among other actions, his beautiful catecheses on the founders and foundresses of the various forms of consecrated life that exist.
Benedict XVI wanted to return to those sources of spirituality to promote the necessary renewal of oxygen with which the Church must breathe, that of the whole of it, as a whole.
Q. This February, the Goya awards ceremony is being held, where there is a film, *Los domingos*, which has garnered the most nominations. What do you say to this interest in looking at the origin of a religious vocation? Curiosity or exoticism?
R. The motivations of viewers when visualizing the film *Los Domingos* is a question that should be asked of them. It is possible that there is a plurality of answers. The motivations will be many in relation to each viewer.
R. It’s true that the film has sparked some interest. Regarding religious vocation, there’s not much talk about it in society as a whole. Well, about vocation in general. It’s a word that has ceased to nourish and feed the professional orientation of people and has remained in its more restricted use for consecrated life options or for the priesthood. But we shouldn’t forget that every person is called to develop a vocation in their life. The word itself encompasses certain content and gives us orientations that no one should disregard because it has to do with their life and their person.
R. Every vocation has to do with introspection (something that is increasingly in demand these days. Perhaps this is part of the film’s success in connecting with this demand). On the other hand, vocation entails passion, the way of life one chooses or must choose, and this is no minor matter. From what one personally is passionate about to the personal satisfaction of having become in life what one truly wants to be. One’s own vocation frames us in the path of life that one freely wants to take. It is not only about seeking that path that offers you what is necessary to live and materialize in work.
It implies a deeper connection with one’s own convictions and principles, which translates into virtue or values. This motivates life, gives it flavor and meaning. Young people begin to remind us that they yearn to center their lives more from these considerations than from the simple materialism of living.
R. Curiosity or exoticism? I would say more curiosity than exoticism.
P. At the same time, musical and youth phenomena flourish that, like Hakuna, some say do more for the transmission of faith than religious schools, many of them with a centuries-old educational tradition behind them. A fleeting bloom or a decline and shift in trend? How does the CONFER see it?
R. To analyze in greater depth musical and youth phenomena, or others that may arise, we need, above all, perspective. What happens to us, and if it is socially shared, all the more so needs its time. I don’t believe these musical movements transmit more faith than schools do. They are different areas and are not comparable without further consideration. There is probably more connection between the two than it seems. Phenomena, especially musical ones, although they have a lot of spontaneity, and this also has its value, are not the result of chance. They will endure over time to the extent that they manage to give continuity to what has been previously received. Let me explain.
Young people don’t spontaneously come to live their faith collectively; there’s always a prior trajectory that allows for that blossoming. In that prior trajectory, family and education are fundamental. For most (though there are always exceptions), this is the case. There is continuity and evolution.
R. I don’t believe it’s a fleeting phenomenon. The young people I know in that movement deserve all my respect and admiration. They are brave. Their songs and music help many people to pray, to focus for a moment on their own interiority, to think and to commit to their life and their faith life for those who are believers; we must not forget, however, that their music also reaches young people who are not believers or who are searching.
**R.** In what they have of value, which they have, these youth groups – especially the Hakuna movement – is not a fleeting thing. What they have already achieved in transmitting their message has remained with many people. Music, like education, has a multiplier effect. If an experience lived, even if it was just a moment, has affected you, it marks your life and, if not for a lifetime, at least for a long period of time. Many people open themselves to faith thanks to the mediation of their music and their singing. But above all, thanks to the way these young people convey what they seek, what they live, and what they feel. Time will tell, but there is a sign in the emergence of these youth groups linked to musical mediation that something is telling us.
Probably their own message will not exhaust itself in themselves, but will instead have its own dynamism and evolution. But their contribution has been key in this process. We truly thank them.
José Lorenzo
Religión Digital
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