After more than a year of censorship and prohibitions, the channel La Sacristía de La Vendée has returned to YouTube this November 6, a date chosen not by chance: it coincided with the liturgical memory of the martyrs of the religious persecution in Spain. In a brief interview with InfoVaticana, its founder, Father Francisco José Delgado, explains the reasons for this return, the meaning of the motto “Canes debent latrare” —“the dogs must bark”— and the spirit with which the team returns to the cameras: without fear, with fidelity to the truth and with the desire to serve the Church from the cross.
What led you to decide on the channel’s return at this moment and why did you choose November 6 for its reappearance?
I am going to divide my response into two parts. The first would be the reason for deciding on the channel’s return. That already raises a first question, because many people might think that after what we have been through, and particularly I in terms of my canonical trial, perhaps it is not a good idea to return to the same thing that has been the cause of our problems. But that is precisely the spirit that animates La Sacristía de La Vendée, refusing to fear anything other than offending or straying from God. It is very possible that returning as if nothing had happened (and that is why I wanted to begin with the legendary “as we were saying yesterday” of Fray Luis de León) will bring us negative consequences again for our lives or our reputation. But if we renounced that out of fear, then the deepest fear is that what Saint Paul warns his disciple Timothy would come true: If we deny Christ, “he will also deny us.”
As for the date, it is very simple: on May 5 I received an extension of the prohibition to which my Archbishop subjected me (I believe abusively), keeping me away from the media for six more months after a previous year silenced for the same reason. When the acquittal sentence of my canonical process was published on July 28, he refused to lift the prohibition, as would have been expected. Therefore, I had to comply until the last day with what was now evidently an unjust penalty. Since the 6th was the Thursday following the end of the deadline, and as our gatherings were usually on Thursdays, we decided that would be the day of return. Additionally, that day commemorates the liturgical memory of the martyrs of the religious persecution carried out by the reds in Spain, so it was a very appropriate date.
The motto “Canes debent latrare”, published on X, has caught attention. What does it mean in this context?
As is known, that phrase has behind it an anecdote narrated by the great historian Ricardo de la Cierva, who recounts that Pope Saint John Paul II sent him a note with those words through Cardinal Augusto Vargas Alzamora. The phrase translates to “the dogs must bark” in the sense that if one has dogs guarding a property, they must bark to signal and drive away the evildoers. With that, it alluded to the duty of the historian to tell the truth by warning of the attacks by evildoers on the Church of Christ. We want to maintain that intention, with a spirit of denunciation toward those who want to harm the Church, both from outside and from within.
We see in the video announcing your return a priest coming out of the Vatican sewers, how would you define the spirit with which you return to YouTube?
That image is an allegory in a humorous key that wants to represent the year and a half of hiding that I have had to suffer and, with me, the YouTube channel. In Spain we remember a sympathetic advertisement from Atlético de Madrid when they were promoted to the First Division after a year in the Second, although outside of Spain it is very possible that the reference is not understood. The idea I wanted to show is that, despite having endured this long time of persecution, we emerge again with firmness and determination to continue inspiring hope, fidelity, and love for the Church of Christ in our followers. That is our spirit.
Can you tell us a little about the censorship, how have you faced it? And what learnings or reflections arose within the team during this time of silence?
Well, as happens with crises, this has been a time of purification and rethinking. The thing is that, despite the fact that those who organized the persecution intended for us to “moderate” ourselves, what it has caused me, at least, is to be much more determined to continue on what is clearly the right path. If we had done any wrong during this time, they would not have had to invent accusations that have been proven false in a trial with all guarantees. Additionally, I think that this suffering is part of the same pastoral task that our channel entails, because all the works of a Christian must be marked by the sign of the Cross, and from the Cross they obtain their fruitfulness and strength. If our work were a merely worldly work, we would not have been offered the possibility of participating, even if it is this little bit, in the sufferings of Christ. At the same time, this shows that the fruits of conversion and faith that have been achieved, which are many, have not depended on our human capacities, but on the action of the Holy Spirit.
What can followers expect in this new stage of the program?
They can expect more of the same, because faith does not change and that is what we can offer. The formats will vary depending on who participates in the programs, because that is the most specific thing about what we do, that being mainly gatherings each episode is different.
Apart from this, we will try to offer more spaces that complement the main thing, which is the counter-revolutionary priestly gathering: interviews, opinion comments, training, etc.
What final message do you want to direct to your listeners in this return?
The fundamental message is one of gratitude. They have not abandoned us even when it seemed that the whole world was turning against us. I personally have felt the strength of prayer and the closeness of everyone. I ask them to continue praying for us, for the fidelity of all priests and for the spiritual fruits of this and other initiatives of evangelization and Catholic witness.