Rebel Spanish nuns vow to fight convent eviction

The year-long dispute saw the nuns from the Order of Saint Clare split from the Vatican in May 2024 over a property dispute and doctrinal wrangling, claiming their wish to buy another convent had been blocked.

They have since declared allegiance to an excommunicated ultra-conservative priest, viewed as a sect by the Church, who has rejected the validity of all popes since the death of Pius XII in 1958.

The Archbishop of Burgos has demanded the nuns leave the convent of Santa Clara in the northern town of Belorado, saying they had no legal right to remain there after the excommunication.

A court in the nearby town of Briviesca responsible for ruling on the dispute heard the arguments of the Burgos archbishopric and the eight nuns on Tuesday.

One of them, Sister Paloma, told journalists outside the court that the nuns arrived "with a very clear conscience" and insisted the convent "is ours".

"We are not isolated nuns, we are a legal entity, and they are our possessions," she said.

The nuns' lawyer, Florentino Aláez, told a press conference after the hearing that they would appeal if the court ordered their eviction.

Natxo de Gamón, a lawyer representing the archbishopric of Burgos, told reporters the nuns currently living in the convent "have no legal right for that, therefore we ask they be removed".