In a political moment in which the Popular Party, hand in hand with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has openly declared itself in favor of abortion, thus aligning with the stance of Pedro Sánchez and Felipe VI, from InfoVaticana we asked the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) if it planned to issue a guiding statement to recall the Church’s doctrine on the right to life.
The CEE’s response was sober and bureaucratic: they limited themselves to responding with a link from their website on the Church’s stance on abortion. That is, without a new word, without a public declaration in defense of the unborn, without pronouncing on the political drift of the country’s main leaders.
The words of the president of the Episcopal Conference in the press conference after the Permanent Commission allude to abortion very superficially: «the position of the Episcopal Conference and of all the bishops is against abortion and in favor of life,» but beyond this, no further pronouncements have been made.
Contrast with the speed on other issues
What is striking is that when it comes to social issues or interreligious coexistence, the same CEE speaks out immediately. This happened in August, when several Spanish bishops rushed to publicly defend the Muslim Feast of the Lamb, even criticizing those who questioned its place in the public sphere.
In that case, there was no silence, nor referrals to ancient documents, but clear and urgent statements in favor of an Islamic celebration.
Doctrine archived, activism present
The contrast is evident. On the matter of abortion—a crime that the Catechism qualifies as «gravely contrary to the moral law» (n. 2271)—the CEE takes refuge in documents already archived on its website. In contrast, when it comes to social or public image issues, the bishops do not hesitate to speak out quickly.
The Church in Spain seems comfortable in the terrain of social activism, while avoiding pronouncing energetically on the defense of life. Precisely where it should raise its voice with prophetic force, it contents itself with pointing to links.
An omission that weighs
The current silence of the CEE on abortion is not neutral: it is omission. And omission, in matters of life and death, is complicity. While the country’s main political leaders—including the head of state—normalize abortion as a right, the shepherds of the Spanish Church seem to prefer the comfortable silence of diplomacy.
The shepherds must be that living voice that permanently guides the flock’s path. It is good to have a section on the website dedicated to abortion, but just as the catechism—and even the Bible—accumulates dust in the libraries of many, it is necessary to remind the faithful of the Church’s magisterium:
«God […], Lord of life, has entrusted to men the sublime mission of preserving life, a mission that they must carry out in a way worthy of man. Consequently, life must be protected with the utmost care from conception; both abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes» (Gaudium et Spes 51, 3).
The true mission of the Church is not to get along well with power or public opinion, but to proclaim the truth of the Gospel «in season and out of season» (2 Tim 4:2) and to be that voice crying out in the desert of a nation walking toward its death.