CV NEWS FEED // Catholic lay activists who have been praying the Rosary near the headquarters of the Socialist Party in Madrid have called for a nation-wide public prayer of the Rosary on December 8 in response to the Socialist Party’s threat to declare public prayer in the autonomous region of Madrid illegal.
For 25 consecutive days, lay Catholics have been gathering peacefully to pray the rosary at the steps of the Parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Madrid, just half a block away from the national headquarters of Spain’s Socialist Party, known as PSOE.
The public Rosary has been taking place in protest to the recently formed Socialist government, which negotiated with separatist, anti-Catholic, small political groups in the Spanish parliament to form a majority.
Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez obtained the support of the small regional parties in parliament by agreeing to an amnesty for violent separatist criminals jailed for past acts of terrorism.
On Monday, November 28, Socialist authorities in Madrid demanded the police to arrest the leaders and participants of the praying group in the steps of the parish, accusing them of “creating a disturbance.”
The police were deployed to contain the crowd gathered to pray on Tuesday, but the arrival of a large crowd of lay people chanting “prayer is not a crime!” made any arrests impossible, despite the moments of tension.
In response to the confrontation and the infringement against their religious freedom rights, the leader of the prayer group set to gather at the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, José Andrés Calderón announced a partnership with the National Association of Rosary for Men in Spain, and called for a nation-wide public prayer of the Rosary at 7:30 PM (local time) on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. The date is a holy day of obligation and an official national holiday in Spain.
Speaking to the Catholic site Infocatolica, Calderón said that “we are calling for the maximum dissemination of this convocation and we believe that volunteers will step up in each town and city to direct and organize their rosaries. We also ask that photos and videos be uploaded to all social networks under the hashtags #RosarioNacional, #RosarioInmaculada and #RosarioporEspaña.”
“On December 8, we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the patroness of our nation, so it is the ideal day for us Spaniards to unite across the national territory in communion with Christ and his Most Pure Mother. It is therefore crucial that the Catholic community floods its cities with prayer,” he said.
“It is vital to show that there is a Catholic Spain that is not resigned to die and is not afraid to pray in the streets… Christians have the right and, above all, the duty to participate in public life,” Calderón added.
Meanwhile, Polonia Castellanos, president of the Christian Lawyers Association criticized the Socialist government that “takes peaceful people to prison for the simple act of praying, at the same time that it eliminates legally-issued sentences against criminals that have now become partners (of the Socialists in power).”
Castellanos, whose organization has successfully challenged the Socialist government in previous religious-freedom issues, announced that the group is willing to legally defend anyone arrested for praying publicly and to take both the Socialist government and the police to court.
