The prelate has also alerted to a secularization that no longer affects only laws and institutions, but has penetrated the very conscience of individuals.
These reflections are part of the second videopodcast published by the Spanish Episcopal Conference, on Thursday, October 29, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its creation. Blázquez reviews his two terms as president of the Spanish episcopate, between 2005 and 2008 and between 2014 and 2020, as well as the main religious, social, and political challenges that marked those years.
The interview continues the first installment of the series, featuring Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela, who also reflected on the loss of faith, the defense of life and the family, and the Church’s mission in Spanish society.
Blázquez admits that the Church was late in addressing abuse
One of the most significant moments of the conversation comes when the cardinal recalls the meeting convened by Francis in February 2019 with the presidents of the episcopal conferences from around the world to address sexual abuse committed within the Church.
Blázquez acknowledges that the meeting made it possible to recognize the seriousness of the problem and the inadequacy of the responses offered over the years.
“Probably we had all arrived late to this issue,” he states, extending that reflection also to families and other areas of society.
The prelate also recalls the words spoken by Joseph Ratzinger, the future Benedict XVI, during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday 2005, when he denounced the “filth” present in the Church.
According to him, that intervention constituted a wake-up call about a reality whose gravity was progressively understood.
Blázquez insists that abuse is not limited to the sexual sphere, but can also manifest itself through the improper exercise of authority, power, and conscience.
“Sometimes some abuses lead to others,” he warns, explaining how a position of authority can be used to take advantage of people who are in a situation of vulnerability.
The former president of the CEE recalls the meetings he held with victims and relatives of people who had suffered abuse. Listening to their testimonies, he explains, allowed him to understand the suffering caused and the gravity of the facts.
Although he believes that the Spanish Church has taken important steps to address this reality, he insists on the need to maintain that commitment.
Asked about the possibility of reversing the measures adopted, he responds categorically: “There is no going back.”
Secularization has reached the conscience of individuals
Another central issue of the interview is the loss of the presence of the Catholic faith in Spanish society.
Blázquez maintains that the Church has had to face a profound cultural transformation, in which it can no longer take for granted the Catholic character of society.
“The Church could no longer count on society being Catholic,” he notes when explaining the changes experienced during his years of episcopal responsibility.
The cardinal warns that secularization does not affect only laws or institutions, but also personal convictions.
It is, in his words, a process that reaches “the very conscience” and “the very interiority of the person.”
In this situation, he considers it necessary to maintain the missionary character of the Church and to proclaim the Gospel in a society where many citizens have distanced themselves from the faith.
Blázquez recalls that Pope Francis’s insistence on a “Church going forth” reinforced a concern already present in the Spanish episcopate: the need to bring the Christian message to a society increasingly removed from its religious roots.
Marriage and the family suffer a “deinstitutionalization”
The defense of marriage and the family occupies a prominent place in the cardinal’s reflections, who identifies their weakening as one of the major problems of Spanish society.
Blázquez recalls that, during his second term at the head of the CEE, these issues were among the bishops’ main concerns, along with the response to the abuse of minors.
The prelate warns that the institution of marriage has undergone a process of deterioration affecting various European countries and that has also spread to Spain.
“Since the family is a foundation of every person and of society as a whole, if the family is not well oriented and well grounded, we all run many risks,” he maintains.
The cardinal recalls that in some European countries there was already talk of a “deinstitutionalization” of marriage, a situation he considers present in Spain as well.
“It matters a great deal to all of us that marriage and the family enjoy good health,” he insists.
His words place the family crisis beyond the private sphere, recalling that marital and family stability constitutes a foundation of social life and the transmission of values between generations.
Two wishes for the future: more priests and strengthened families
Reflecting on the future of the Church in Spain, Blázquez expresses two wishes he considers especially important.
The first is an increase in vocations to the priesthood, a decisive issue to guarantee pastoral care and the continuity of sacramental life in the dioceses.
The second is the strengthening of the family, whose situation particularly concerns him in light of the cultural and social changes of recent decades.
Both issues are closely linked to the challenges the cardinal identifies throughout the interview: the transmission of the faith, secularization, and the need to sustain Christian communities.
The years of ETA and the murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco
Blázquez also devotes a significant part of the conversation to his time as bishop of Bilbao, marked by the terrorist activity of ETA.
The cardinal recalls that he accepted his appointment out of obedience to the Pope, despite the difficulties involved in taking on that diocese in a context of strong political and social tension.
He explains that, upon arriving in the Basque Country, he sought to listen to and understand a situation in which he considered it necessary to distinguish three realities: nationalism, separatism, and terrorism.
One of the episodes that most deeply marked his ministry was the murder of Miguel Ángel Blanco in July 1997, whose funeral he presided over in Ermua.
“Those days were terrible,” he recalls, referring to the kidnapping of the Popular Party councilor, ETA’s ultimatum, and the citizen mobilizations that demanded his release.
The cardinal highlights the reaction of a society that took to the streets en masse to condemn terrorism and recalls the everyday fear that many people experienced during those years.
He also expresses his satisfaction at ETA’s abandonment of violence and states that the Church condemned terrorist acts.
Relations with governments and religious education
Recalling his first presidency of the CEE, which began in 2005, Blázquez refers to the tensions with the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, especially regarding educational reforms and the place of religious education in schools.
The cardinal explains that those years were marked by a profound cultural change, as well as by legislative controversies.
However, he defends the importance of institutional dialogue, even when there are fundamental disagreements.
“It is very important never to stop engaging in honest dialogue,” he maintains.
As an example of the agreements reached, he recalls the modification of the percentage of tax allocation destined for the Catholic Church, which went from 0.52% to 0.7%.
Blázquez explains that this allocation does not constitute an additional tax, but rather an option for taxpayers to decide the destination of part of their taxes.
A call to recover concord in Spain
The interview also addresses the institutional and political crisis Spain experienced during the Catalan independence process of 2017.
Blázquez recalls that, in one of his opening speeches at the Plenary Assembly of the CEE, he used Adolfo Suárez’s epitaph, “Concord was possible,” to reflect on the need to preserve coexistence.
The cardinal believes that crisis dealt a severe blow to the concord built during the Transition.
“No closed blocs, no building walls, for we are the same society, we are the same people, we must work together,” he states.
And he concludes with a reflection that remains valid for present-day Spain: “Concord was possible. Concord is possible. And concord will be possible.”
The role of the laity and the evangelizing mission
The cardinal also recalls the Congress of the Laity held in February 2020 under the motto “People of God going forth,” which he considers an important moment to strengthen the participation and responsibility of the lay faithful in the Church’s mission.
Blázquez highlights that the proclamation of the Gospel does not belong solely to priests and bishops, but also requires the commitment of the baptized in the various spheres of society.
In this sense, he links that experience to Pope Francis’s insistence on co-responsibility and synodality.
The evangelizing mission, he maintains, requires the collaboration of all members of the Church, especially in a society where the Catholic faith no longer occupies the place it once held for generations.
Sixty years of the Spanish Episcopal Conference
The interview is part of the four videopodcasts prepared by the Spanish Episcopal Conference on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its creation, in 1966, after the Second Vatican Council.
The series was produced by Ábside Media Producciones and brings together the testimonies of the institution’s most recent presidents.
After the interviews with Rouco Varela and Blázquez, the next episode will be dedicated to Cardinal Juan José Omella on November 4. The series will conclude on November 10 with the current president of the CEE, Monsignor Luis Argüello.
The four prelates will also participate in the documentary 60 years of the CEE: a shared history, whose premiere is scheduled around the next Plenary Assembly of the Spanish bishops, to be held from November 16 to 23.
Throughout his two presidencies, Blázquez had to face very different situations, from the political and educational tensions of the mid-2000s to the challenges of Pope Francis’s pontificate.
His testimony reflects the changes experienced by the Church in Spain in recent decades and places among his main concerns the transmission of the faith in a secularized society, the defense of marriage and the family, the increase in priestly vocations, and the need to responsibly address the abuses committed within the Church.