Overview
- The Hermandad de los Estudiantes issued a statement offering total, unconditional support for Archbishop Jesús Sanz Montes, praising him as a good pastor and stressing obedience to his episcopal authority.
- Roughly 100 Catholics and church-linked social groups, organized under Cristianos de Asturias por una Iglesia Sinodal and led by sociologist José Manuel Parrilla, publicly condemned the archbishop’s rhetoric as a source of shame for the Church.
- Critics pointed to his remarks on regularisation, including the phrases “todos no caben” and suggestions that some people “se nos cuelan,” arguing that such language departs from biblical mandates to welcome migrants.
- The diocesan Secretariat for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Human Mobility urged moderation in the debate and prioritized improving migrants’ living conditions.
- The clash unfolds as Spain undertakes an extraordinary regularisation expected to affect hundreds of thousands of vulnerable foreign residents already living and working in the country.