The case Clares of Orduña and Belorado could be a Dan Brown, best seller on ecclesiastical intrigues, but it's not; the Pía Unión de San Pablo Apostol was declared a sect.
Self-styled Bishop, Pablo de Rojas joined the nuns in Burgos who have broken with the Vatican and are now in limbo after their real-estate operation to purchase/sell their convent and buy an abandoned monastery failed. They have since locked themselves in refusing to budge despite promises of hell and damnation from the Archbishop of Burgos, Mario Iceta. He has, however, said that the Church would not take drastic action.
The Abbess Sister, Isabel de la Trinidad ignores the ringing phone and had ordered all holy Mass service to be suspended. More importantly, they will not be flogging their famed cakes – online yes; at the door, no.
Bishop Pablo Rojas, asking to be called Don José, appeared before TV cameras in front of the convent doors to defend the nuns. However, Bishop Pablos Rojas who was previously the Chairman of the Asociación de Barmans de Vizcaya before deciding that he was a bishop.
So what was this failed real-estate operation? The nuns in question vacated a Monastery in Derio as they were going to purchase the convent in Orduña, which had been empty for over 20 years; both buildings belonged to the same order. The going price was was 1.2m (that’s a lot of cakes & buns!) and they put down a deposit of 100,000 euros. The rest would be paid from the sale of the monastery and until then they would pay 75,000 euros per quarter until the full amount was settled.
The contract was formalised and the nuns began to live between the two religious building with a group of three nuns holding the fort in Orduña. However by April they were falling behind with their payments. Furthermore, they had never obtained permission from Rome for putting Derio up for sale. Let’s be clear, the new location had been empty for a score years and the Church showed no interest in it. Furthermore, it was going to a religious body; not a holding company. Expressed permission from Rome is necessary for operation for over one-million euros.
The Abbess said that they had an anonymous patron who would supply the funds, but when it looked like it could be Bishop Pablo Rojas… the transaction was dropped. Consequently, the nuns are asking for compensation to the tune of 1.6 million for the restoration that they had carried out on the abandoned monastery.
(News/Noticas: Burgos, Castilla-Leon)