The Archbishopric of Burgos established a period of 10 calendar days from receipt of the decree to appear before the court. If the cited sister is not accompanied by a lawyer, one will be assigned to her ex officio so she “can exercise her right of defense by expressing her position” on what has taken place.
If she does not appear within that period, “the corresponding decree will be issued, in accordance with the law,” that will establish the penalty associated with the crime of schism, which is excommunication “latae sentenciae.”
The group of Poor Clares responded through their social media account on Instagram, stating that “our Catholic manifesto and our subsequent statements are clear and should have had the automatic consequence of our exclusion from the scope of application of canon law.” In addition, they accuse the archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta, of having “usurped” their legal representation “by accessing the administration of the properties and the control of the bank accounts, to which we stopped having access on June 4.”
Presence of the archbishop’s envoys in Belorado
On May 29, the Holy See appointed Iceta as pontifical commissioner.
According to the Archbishopric of Burgos, on June 6, three people sent by the pontifical commissioner visited the Monastery of Santa Clara de Belorado “in order to establish some line of dialogue and dialogue with the nuns, particularly with the older ones.”