Excommunication looms for renegade group of Poor Clares in Spain

The Ecclesiastical Court of the Archbishopric of Burgos in Spain has formally accused the Poor Clare nuns of the Monastery of Belorado with schism, launching proceedings that could soon result in the excommunication of the renegade nuns.

The accused nuns themselves posted on social media the letter received from the court to this effect. The letter, addressed to Sister María Sión de la Trinidad, cites the referenced mother superior to appear before the court to testify about the schismatic positions the nuns made public last month. The letter warns the Catholic religious that, if they maintain these positions, they are subject to being convicted of the crime of schism, punishable by excommunication in accordance with the Code of Canon Law.

The court’s letter specifies that both the nuns’ so-called Catholic Manifesto and alleged letter of schism, signed by Sister Isabel de la Trinidad, as well as their letters requesting guardianship and acceptance by the excommunicated false bishop Pablo de Rojas “constitute the crime of schism, typified in the Code of Canon Law in accordance with Canon 751, the penalty for which is provided for in Canon 1364 § 1 and which entails expulsion from consecrated life.”

Canon 751 defines schism as “the rejection of subjection to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”

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