Archbishop denounces moral demolition of society. Why don't other Bishops speak like this?

Sanz Montes warns of a “moral demolition” that silences the Christian faith in public life

The Archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, has firmly denounced what he considers a “moral demolition” of society, in which Christian beliefs are systematically marginalized, and public spaces are stripped of their religious presence and significance. In an article titled “Moral Demolition,” published this Monday in the La Tercera section of the ABC newspaper, the prelate criticizes the advance of an “unfinished hostility” against Christianity and points out the ideological mechanisms that, in his opinion, seek to neutralize its influence in social life.

Sanz Montes begins the text by noting that "we are given guidelines by those who do not participate in Christian life, or who contradict it with their actions and words," and criticizes these actors for trying to dictate to bishops "how we should deliver homilies, what valid arguments are, and where to stand within an increasingly restrictive protocol." In his opinion, this is a strange form of "revenge that breathes resentment, with resentful impulses in an unfinished hostility." In this context, the Archbishop warns that a redefinition of the public narrative has taken place, in which adversaries of the Christian faith have "been shaping a scenario that expropriates spaces and censors words." Thus, freedom of expression is replaced by an "exclusionary version of what can be thought, said, and lived," where "words become suspect, gestures are considered offensive, Christian presences are disavowed." Sanz Montes denounces that this exclusion is not limited to the symbolic or cultural level, but is also manifest in the legal sphere. “Laws are enacted that curtail rights, ideologically restrict freedoms, and impose a secularist uniformity,” he affirms. This new “soft totalitarianism,” according to the prelate, disguises its authoritarian nature with an apparent defense of rights, when in reality it seeks to “immobilize our presence” and “eradicate what we are and what we represent.”

Faced with this panorama, the Archbishop of Oviedo proposes a Christian response that does not involve resentment or victimhood, but rather fidelity to the truth of the Gospel. “There has been no wound on which we have not placed the balm of consolation and healing love,” he writes, rejecting the idea that the Church has been a source of division or exclusion. On the contrary, he maintains that “every tear has been tenderly wiped away, every smile offered, every question loved and answered, every darkness kindled and embraced.”

In a pastoral tone, Sanz Montes recalls that the mission of Christians is not to impose their faith, but rather “to propose with conviction and beauty, in the name of God himself, our friend who journeys alongside human suffering.” He adds: “We are the only ones who do not remain in the diagnosis, nor do we sit on the bench of complaint. We have been the only people who have offered consolation where there was none.”

In the final part of his reflection, the Archbishop emphasizes the need to listen again to the Word of God to learn from its wisdom, since “what God tells us is not theoretical knowledge, but a way of living and loving.” He thus invites Christians to firmly resist those who, "from their ideological pulpits or their new altars without crosses," promote "forms of neo-barbarism, tribalism, subjugation, and dictatorships disguised as freedom."

"This is the battle we are in today," the Archbishop concludes. "The losers may be paper ones, denigrating us with slander and fallacies, or laws that curtail rights; but the victory will always belong to the truth that sets us free."

Jesús Sanz Montes has been Archbishop of Oviedo since 2010 and a prominent member of the Spanish episcopate. In recent years, he has been one of the most critical voices against the processes of secularization, defending religious freedom and the visibility of the Christian message in the public, cultural, and educational spheres.

Full text of the article published in ABC

Moral Demolition

By Jesús Sanz Montes

"We are given guidelines by those who do not participate in Christian life, or who contradict it with their actions and words, on how bishops should deliver homilies, what valid arguments are, and where to stand in an increasingly restrictive and exclusionary protocol. Behind this lies a strange vengeance that breathes resentment, with pulpits resentful of unending hostility. This is the cultural battle where spaces are expropriated and words are censored, slander and fallacies are passed, or laws are passed that curtail rights and ideologically corner freedoms. This is how our presence is concealed or discredited, attempts are made to nullify and make invisible, and alternative narratives are created to eclipse our message in so many ways."

Our wise saying, "Shoemaker, stick to your last," indicates that no one should be distracted from their duties, not even under the pretext of doing good that may seem unrelated to their own. And this is intended to remind us, the pastors of the Church, how some adversaries wish to tarnish the office we hold in virtue of our mission. A centuries-old history will be felt in flames, or an attempt will be made to dust off the ashes of an ideologized past that resurrects ghosts in an attempt to repeat their hatreds. All of this is part of an unfinished hostility. It is a strange revenge that breathes old resentments and hatreds, where some presences, such as that of the Christian message, are uncomfortable on the public stage.

Therefore, our Christian "shoes" must also tread with respect and determination on this diverse stage, without complexes or half measures, despite the cultural and legal difficulties, aggravated by fallacies, disrespect, and laws that make everything difficult. They want us to remain silent, hidden, or disappear. We are not denied a space through hostility, but rather through an attempt to silence or erase who we are. It's not that they can't stand us, it's that they don't want to hear us.

They steal Jesus' words from us and empty them of meaning, or pervert them beyond recognition. They are outraged when we don't repeat their mantras and slogans, or when we don't wholeheartedly embrace their ideological dogmas. They are scandalized by our beauty, the love that God himself is, our friend traveling alongside the wounded.

That is why we must follow the map of our Lord, where the feet of missionaries have not arrived in their Christian shoes, neither naively nor blindly, but shod with the Good News of hope. There has been no wound into which we have not placed the balm of consolation and the love that heals it, just as there has been no conflict, trench, or barricade where we have not tried to raise the banner that reconciles peoples and embraces their souls. Every tear has been tenderly wiped away, every smile offered, every question loved and answered, every darkness kindled and embraced.

To express this, we have had to learn the wisdom of what God tells us in His Word and exercise discernment that not only nourishes us with the grace of what God provides, but we have also had to find reasons for our positions amidst the great anthropological, cultural, economic, political, and social issues, where it is not about imposing faith, but about being a light that enables us to see and a salt that gives joy to life. And our Christian shoes have walked so many times on noble and just causes that we cannot renounce them now, even if they try to silence us from institutional or administrative bodies that subordinate themselves to the strangest and most obscure powers, to the most anachronistic, obsolete, and subjugating ideologies. This is the battle we are in. Today, the losers may be paper thin, denigrating us with insults and defamation, but we have not ceased to make history with our truth and our hope.

Having arrived on the national stage, there are attempts to silence the Christian voice in the fields of culture, education, family, morality, and political action, shamelessly and without measure. A uniform imposition that wants us all cut according to the profile applauded by the lobbies and that nullifies all differences that arise from faith and reason. They have stolen our words, as the great Italian thinker Augusto Del Noce said, and now they are trying to steal our spaces. But even more: they intend to steal our hope, amputating all transcendence, replacing mystery with technique, meaning with calculation.

Our war is not waged out of resentment or revenge, nor out of violent imposition. But it is our struggle, based on reason and faith, on freedom and love. We need to know how to give reasons for our hope, and also arguments so as not to renounce goodness, truth, and beauty. This is what we are doing, knowing that times are tough and the night is dark. But we have learned to walk at night, under the protection of the stars. Our Christian shoes bear the dust of so many journeys. And we will not leave them at the door. Because without them, there is no Christianity.

Jesús Sanz Montes, OFM

Archbishop of Oviedo

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