Two excommunicated Poor Clares return to the Church

‘Let us recall the words of the Lord about there being more joy in heaven for one sinner who converts than for the 99 who have no need of repentance,’ said Archbishop Mario Iceta.

Two former Poor Clares excommunicated along with eight fellow members of their community in north-west Spain have returned to the Catholic Church as laywomen.

The Archbishop of Burgos Mario Iceta said that on Ash Wednesday he had lifted the excommunication imposed in the summer of 2024 on the ex-nuns formerly known as Sr Paz and Sr Adriana.

In a letter to the Poor Clares of the Federation of Our Lady of Aránzazu, Archbishop Iceta said the former nuns had returned to the Church after a process of personal conversion. As a result, he had lifted the excommunication in both cases on Ash Wednesday.

“Welcome them with fraternal affection,” he urged the federation in the letter. “Let us recall the words of the Lord about their being more joy in heaven for one sinner who converts than for the 99 who are righteous and have no need of repentance,” continued Iceta, who was appointed by the Holy See to supervise the administration of Belorado monastery after the 10 left the Church.

He added that should the two former Poor Clares wish to resume their vocation as nuns “they would have to start from scratch in another monastery”.

Iceta said both had retracted their signatures from a statement voluntarily withdrawing from the “conciliar” Church signed in May 2024 by 10 schismatic Poor Clares of the monastery of Belorado.

Led by their former abbess Sr Isabel of the Trinity, the ex-sisters declared they recognised no pope as legitimate since Pius XII in 1958 and chose to follow the spiritual leadership of a series of sedevacantist bishops.

In December, five elderly Poor Clares ranging in age from 87 to 101, who had refused to join the schism, were rescued by police from the community amid reports of neglect.

The nun formerly known as Sr Paz left the community in the summer of 2024, while Sr Adriana followed suit that October. A third ex-nun, Sr Myriam, who worked as the cook in the “world’s first cloistered restaurant” opened by the ex-Poor Clares in Asturias, took “temporary leave from the community” in January.

A spokesman for the the community said the remaining seven “remain united and strong in the face of adversity”.

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