THE Basilica of Covadonga will host the traditional mass on September 8 to commemorate the Asturias Festival and, once again, it is marked by the tension between the Bishop Jesus Sanz and the socialist government of the Principality. Concretely, the presence or absence of the highest political authorities, of the president Adrien Barbon and the recently arrived government delegate, Adriana Lastra.
The prelate was very critical in his statements against Barbón’s policy, to the point that the president assured that he would not be present if his presence “is going to generate discord.”
This is not new: the previous government delegate, Delia Losastopped attending the celebration in front of the Santina in 2022 after the homilies in which Sanz criticized the president. His successor, Adriana Lastrahas already announced that he is considering his presence in the face of the “disparaging, confrontational and deeply political and far-right speeches” of Monsignor Sanz.
The archbishop, the highest ecclesiastical authority of a diocese as important as that of Oviedo, responded with a message in Setting the tone from their ideology. A bold ignorance that imposes themes, censorship, threats and an agenda. Lessons for those who can, not for those who want to. I love freedom too much, that which derives from Truth, to shrink from synchronized labels.
The lady comes with slogans. Setting the tone from their ideology. A bold ignorance that imposes themes, censorship, threats and an agenda. Lessons that can, not who wants. I love freedom too much, the one that derives from Truth, to back down from synchronized labels.
– Jesus Sanz Montes (@jsmofm) July 22, 2024
With just over a week to go until the celebration of the Asturias Festival, Lastra has still not revealed whether he will participate or not. “We’ll see,” he said into the air, after answering journalists who asked him about it.
“I will tell the Archbishop of Oviedo that I hope this day will be remembered in the future because it is a celebration and no one is excluded,” Lastra said at an event with the president of the Oviedo Chamber of Commerce, Carlos Paniceres, and added that “this is the objective that I have as a government delegate and also as a Catholic“.
The vice-secretary for Political and Institutional Action of the Asturian Socialist Federation (FSA), however, stressed that “the archbishop, in his personal treatment, He is a friendly person“I would like September 8 to remain in the memory of an open community, which excludes no one, a community in which we all feel representative. In any case, what I can tell you is that what I am going to tell the archbishop is that what I hope is that Asturias Day will be remembered in the future, at least this year,” he said in this regard.
