Feminist protest desecrates altar
A Pablo Iglesias collaborator shouts desecration of a church altar in southern France
Basque activist Ane Miren Hernández Unda, a regular contributor to subsidized media outlets such as ETB and Pablo Iglesias's personal project Canal Red, was involved in a serious desecration last weekend at the Catholic church of Saint-Laurent d'Arbérats, in the French region of Soule, during the Euskal Herria Zuzenean (EHZ) festival.
An act of desecration
Indignation has grown upon realizing that the church where this scene took place has not been consecrated. In the video, you can clearly see what appears to be a tabernacle covered by a white cloth and a lit candle, indicating the presence of the reserved Blessed Sacrament. If this is confirmed, we would not be dealing with a simple provocation in bad taste, but rather a full-blown liturgical desecration, with very serious spiritual, canonical, and moral implications.
The Code of Canon Law establishes that when a sacred place has been desecrated by seriously offensive acts, it must be purified through a solemn penitential rite before it can be used again for worship. Furthermore, these types of acts require a clear act of public reparation to restore the respect due to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Use of the church during the EHZ festival
The Euskal Herria Zuzenean festival, held annually with the support of local institutions, used the Arbérats church as a space for various activities during this edition, as confirmed by local media outlet Mediabask. A group called "Queer Falafel" also performed on the same stage where Hernández Unda performed, as part of a clearly ideological and anti-Catholic program.
This raises the urgent need to clarify who authorized the use of this consecrated church for purposes other than worship. The Arbérats-Sillègue town council could have granted the building's use as civil property, but it is essential to know whether the local parish priest or the Diocese of Bayonne, the diocese responsible for worship, was informed or consulted.
The Diocese, under the pastoral care of Bishop Marc Aillet, is characterized by its fidelity to liturgy, tradition, and respect for worship. It seems inconsistent with its history that it could have approved such a use of the church, which points to possible negligence or abuse by other bodies that urgently need to be clarified.
Who is Ane Miren Hernández Unda?
Born in Barakaldo in 1988, Ane Miren Hernández Unda is a feminist and Basque nationalist activist whose career revolves around participating in festivals, alternative media, and cultural spaces linked to regional institutions. She is a regular contributor to Basque public television (ETB) and thrives on the publicly funded cultural ecosystem, participating as a guest or speaker in workshops, debates, and ideological monologues.
In recent months, she has also been a contributor to Pablo Iglesias's channel, Canal Red, where she hosts supposedly humorous programs with very little audience and difficult-to-digest content. Her histrionic and aggressive style and strange gestures suggest that her character needs to be analyzed with some compassion, as her behavior may be rooted in some kind of pathology.
Silence or reparation
Given what has happened, a clear response is urgently needed. The diocese should hold a public act of liturgical redress and open an investigation to determine civil and pastoral responsibilities. Local authorities, for their part, should answer whether they granted permission for the use of the church and whether they were aware of the content of the activities that would take place there. It would also be appropriate to consider criminal prosecution against those responsible for inciting religious hatred or desecration under French law. The dissemination, already from Spain, through its social networks, is in itself an event that could also have implications
Cathcon: The conflict between the forces of the Light and darkness is getting more and more acute.
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