Overview

• The oral eviction hearing at the Briviesca court ended on July 29 and the judge must now determine if the eight excommunicated nuns must vacate the Monastery of Santa Clara de Belorado.
• The Archdiocese of Burgos maintains the nuns lost their religious status on May 8 and are occupying the monastery “en precario” under Archbishop Mario Iceta’s authority as pontifical commissioner.
• Defense lawyers argue that the community’s conversion into a civil association preserves its juridical identity and property rights, giving it freedom of religion to remain at the convent.
• At their court appearance the nuns publicly denounced Archbishop Iceta as “a coward” and accused him of acting out of personal ambition to seize the convent.
• After the trial the nuns signed an antimodernist oath rejecting post–Vatican II reforms and renewed vows of chastity, obedience and poverty as their legal teams ready appeals.