A Bilbao court has prohibited eight ex-nuns from Belorado from approaching their former sisters as a protective measure due to their advanced age. Two of the oldest nuns have been discharged from hospital and will spend Christmas in monasteries of the Federación de Clarisas Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu. Additionally, a lawsuit by the ex-nuns against the Archdiocese of Burgos has been dismissed.
The Juzgado de Instrucción Número 5 of Bilbao issued a ruling on Tuesday prohibiting the eight schismatic ex-nuns from the Poor Clares monastery in Belorado, Burgos, from approaching their former sisters in the convent. This precautionary measure, driven by the advanced age of the nuns, also applies to the lawyers and procurators of the dissenters. The details come from a statement by the Office of the Pontifical Commissioner, led by the Archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta.
Meanwhile, two of the three oldest nuns, who were not expelled and continue to follow the rule, were discharged on Tuesday afternoon from the Hospital Universitario de Basurto in Bilbao. They had been transferred on December 18 from the Orduña convent in Vizcaya by court order for health assessments, as their condition had deteriorated due to unsanitary living conditions. A third remains hospitalized awaiting discharge in the coming days, while two did not require admission.
The four non-hospitalized sisters will spend Christmas in one of the fourteen monasteries of the Federación de Clarisas Nuestra Señora de Aránzazu in Spain, under the care of those communities. Family members had complained about the inability to visit them, prompting the judicial transfer. Afterward, they will not return to Orduña but to federation monasteries.
On another front, the Tribunal de Instancia of Briviesca in Burgos dismissed on December 19 a lawsuit for violation of fundamental rights filed by the ex-nuns against the Archdiocese of Burgos following their expulsion. That same day, the Juzgado de Primera Instancia Número 11 of Bilbao ruled that the self-proclaimed associations Monasterio de Santa Clara de Belorado and de Derio lack legal personality. This prevents them from granting representation powers, confirming the incapacity of Laura García de Viedma to act on their behalf, as previously determined by higher courts.
As a result, the dissenters cannot intervene in the eviction of the Derio monastery nor in the resolution of the Orduña purchase contract, which is subject to a possible agreement between the Pontifical Commissioner and the Monastery of the Immaculate in Vitoria.
