This week the map of Spanish news has highlighted a very particular point of the Iberian Peninsula. The towns of Belorado and Orduña, in the provinces of Burgos and Bizkaia respectively, have given one of the most striking news of the year after the announcement by the Poor Clare nuns of their convents to abandon them. All of this would be linked to a failed real estate transaction, a sale of the Basque convent that has sparked controversy.
“They are going to call us heretics and schismatics, crazy people and many other things, very slanderous and unpleasant. “Do not believe them, at least this time, so that they do not deceive you,” they expressed in a statement sent by Abbess Sister Isabel de la Trinidad. The Poor Sisters of Santa Clara blame the Roman Holy See for abandonment by not allowing them to acquire the convent of Derio and breaking the contract of that of Orduña.
Within this complicated situation, several names have emerged whose movements have been decisive in recent days. Firstly there is Pablo de Rojas, a bishop excommunicated by the Catholic Church who is now considered by the Poor Clares to be his greatest reference. He is the leader of the self-proclaimed sedevacantists (originally from ‘vacant see’), who reject the hierarchy of the current church and consider Pius XII as the last valid pope.
Next to Rojas is Fran Ceacero, his right-hand man and who in recent weeks has positioned himself as spokesperson for the Poor Clare nuns. Despite referring to himself as a priest, there is no evidence of his proven training in that position. His last steps before joining the Sedevacantists place him as a mixologist in several places in Euskadi. Another key figure in this case is the already mentioned Sister Isabel de la Trinidad.
Despite being the abbess of the Belorado convent, absolutely nothing is known about her. Not her physical appearance, not her age, not her relationship with the Catholic Church. However, she has been the main figure of this schism and the one who has had the most contact with the press. Sister Sion is another of the prominent names in this plot, as she is the nun responsible for sharing the day-to-day life of her colleagues in the convent through social networks.
Finally, there is Sister Myriam of Nazareth, responsible for the convent and the element that made it originally famous: its sweets. The author of a book with 57 recipes for typical monastery desserts, she even placed her popular chocolate truffles in haute cuisine restaurants. On the other side of the convents is the archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta. He is the one in charge of investigating the alleged crime in the Code of Canon Law that the nuns would have committed.
