The Standing Committee of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) is holding today and tomorrow, February 24 and 25, its 272nd meeting at the CEE headquarters in Madrid, with an agenda focused on pastoral planning for the next four-year period and several strategic projects.
According to the Spanish Episcopal Conference itself, the bishops who are members of the Standing Committee will review for approval the new “Pastoral Lines” for the period 2026-2030, a document that will mark the direction of ecclesial action in Spain during the next four years.
New pastoral lines and a “Summer School”
The main item on the agenda is the study and possible approval of the pastoral lines for the next four-year period. This text, which usually serves as a programmatic framework for dioceses and ecclesial organizations, will define priorities and emphases in a context marked by secularization, the decline in religious practice, and current cultural challenges.
Education, evangelization and sustenance
The study of documents and projects from the various Commissions of the CEE will also be addressed.
The Episcopal Commission for Education and Culture will address, among other matters, the coordination of Sports Pastoral, the work plan of the General Council of the Church in Education for the next two years, aid to the Church in the educational field, the situation of diocesan schools, and guidelines for online teaching of the DECA (Ecclesiastical Declaration of Academic Competence).
For its part, the Episcopal Commission for Evangelization, Catechesis, and Catechumenate will present a reflection on instituted lay ministries, at a time when the universal Church continues to develop the stable participation of the laity in certain officially recognized functions.
The Secretariat for the Sustenance of the Church will announce the new Income Tax campaign under the slogan “Línea 105 Xtantos. Próxima parada”, an initiative with which the Church encourages taxpayers to check the corresponding box on the IRPF declaration.
Liturgy and next Plenary Assembly
Likewise, the Episcopal Commission for Liturgy will report on the process of revising the Spanish translation—for Spain—of the third typical edition of the Roman Missal, a work of special relevance for the ordinary liturgical life of the dioceses.
At the end, the Standing Committee will approve the agenda for the next Plenary Assembly, scheduled from April 20 to 24, in addition to addressing economic matters, follow-up issues, and the usual chapter of appointments.