The Archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, defended the reception of immigrants “within our possibilities” and linked to integration, in an interview published on November 1 in La Nueva España. In it, he reviews his nearly seventeen years leading the Asturian Church and addresses, in addition to immigration, the public role of the Church, the vote of Catholics in the upcoming elections, his relationship with Asturian political leaders, vocations, and the pontificate of Leo XIV.
Regarding reception, the Franciscan prelate maintains that it does not consist solely of opening doors, but of offering work, housing, and schooling, and conditions it on the existence of “an integration into our society.” Summarizing the Pope’s message, he presents it as a reception that requires reciprocity: doors must be opened within the limits of possibilities, and migrants must also know how to integrate.
Ceuta: “bursting at the seams” of a city of 80,000 inhabitants
Regarding Ceuta, Sanz Montes recalls that the city has about 80,000 inhabitants and states that the sudden arrival of an equivalent number of people “would burst the seams” of the city. He defines invasion as the forcing of a reality and, from that perspective, understands that those who entered the autonomous city improperly should return to their places of origin.
The archbishop had already spoken in those terms in previous weeks. In his weekly letter in September, he rejected the idea that what happened in Ceuta could be interpreted as a simple migratory phenomenon, although he recalled that the young people who arrived “are equally victims”. Days earlier, from Covadonga, he had supported the mobilizations in support of Ceuta and Melilla and appealed to the “reconquest” against the “Moroccan claim”.
Politics, elections, and Leo XIV in the same interview
In the same conversation, Sanz Montes refers to his recent intervention in the Senate, where he said that he engages in politics whenever he can, and addresses the role of the Church in public life. The interview, which serves as a review of his ministry in Oviedo, also includes his assessments of vocations and the pontificate of Leo XIV, whose message on reception he draws upon to support his stance on migrants.
The archbishop had already defended in February, in statements reported by InfoVaticana, that welcoming is a blessing, but that the Church must discern with prudence. With the La Nueva España interview, he maintains that line: openness to Christian hospitality, but subject to the real capacity for reception and the commitment to integration of those who arrive.