From a bishop’s conflict with Opus Dei to a conflict within the diocese
Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón renews request for return of the original statue of Our Lady of the Angels of Torreciudad. The Romanesque image has been venerated for over a millennium at a small shrine and the diocese claims it belongs to them. The dispute is framed as an issue of ecclesial stewardship and historical continuity, not merely a clash with Opus Dei. The diocese issued a statement on September 11 emphasizing the rights of the local Church over the image.
19 days ago
The Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón has renewed its demand that the original Romanesque statue of Our Lady of the Angels of Torreciudad be returned to its historic hermitage, intensifying a dispute with Opus Dei over ownership, authorization, and ecclesial custodianship. The diocese says restitution could eventually be followed by temporary loans of the statue to the larger sanctuary. 1
The statue was venerated in the original Torreciudad hermitage for more than a thousand years, according to the diocese. It has instead stood in the present sanctuary for approximately five decades, although the original hermitage is only a short distance away. 1
The diocese says the issue is not a demand that the statue leave Torreciudad, but a request that it be returned to the historic site where it was traditionally venerated. It frames the matter as one involving historical continuity, diocesan authority, and responsibility for a sacred image belonging to the local Church. 1
The controversy is linked to the construction of the new sanctuary. A public deed dated September 24, 1962, concerning an emphyteutic lease granted by the Diocese of Barbastro to Inmobiliaria General Castellana—an entity associated with Opus Dei—reportedly required that the image not be removed from the hermitage. 1
According to the diocese, the statue was removed in 1975 for restoration in Madrid, after which it was installed in the new sanctuary rather than returned to the hermitage. 1
Bishop Ambrosio Echebarría Arroita, who led the diocese at the time, challenged the placement. He wrote to Florencio Sánchez Bella, then Opus Dei’s vicar in Spain, arguing that the statue had been installed in the new church without documented diocesan authorization and requesting its return. 1
Opus Dei responded by citing a notarial record referring to a private document attributed to Jaime Flores Martín, a former Bishop of Barbastro. According to that testimony, Flores had authorized the statue’s placement in the new sanctuary. 1
The diocese disputes the evidentiary basis of that position. It says the original document has never been supplied despite repeated requests, and that neither the cathedral chapter’s records nor diocesan archives contain authorization for the statue’s permanent removal or an agreement transferring permanent use. 1
The diocese also distinguishes between physical possession and ownership. In its position, the fact that the statue has remained in the new sanctuary for 50 years does not by itself establish a permanent right to dispose of an image whose title it says belongs to the diocese. 1
The current bishop has continued the dispute inherited from his predecessor. Among the formal steps was a registered legal notice sent on September 7, 2022, to Desarrollo Social, the company linked to Opus Dei that succeeded Inmobiliaria General Castellana. 1
In its latest statement, the diocese rejected the argument that the new sanctuary’s size or pastoral importance should determine the statue’s permanent location. It cited Lourdes and Fatima as examples of historic images remaining in their original settings after larger churches were built nearby. 1
The bishopric also referred to sanctuaries within the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón, including Pueyo and Guayente, where religious communities have traditionally understood their role as caring for Marian images rather than acquiring permanent control over them. 1
The diocese’s position leaves open the possibility of an agreement after restitution. It says the bishop could authorize temporary transfers of the statue to the Torreciudad sanctuary or elsewhere for pastoral reasons, provided the arrangements were coordinated and supported by appropriate guarantees. 1
Such an arrangement would allow the image to return formally to the diocese and its original hermitage while continuing to appear periodically at the larger sanctuary. Any such use would require a new agreement recognized by both sides. 1
The dispute extends beyond the location of a religious artwork. The diocese presents its position as an effort to preserve historical continuity and to ensure that a statue associated with the original shrine was not permanently transferred without clear authorization. 1
The immediate conflict therefore concerns competing interpretations of an old lease, the authority of diocesan officials, the evidentiary value of a reported private authorization, and the distinction between custodianship and ownership. Although the two churches are only a short distance apart, the disagreement has persisted for decades. 1
Investigate the Church’s doctrine on ecclesial stewardship of sacred images
The Church’s doctrine treats sacred images as more than decoration or cultural property: they are sacred signs entrusted to ecclesial care. Their purpose is to make the mysteries of Christ visible, assist prayer and catechesis, and lead the faithful toward God. Therefore, stewardship requires theological fidelity, artistic dignity, proper placement, conservation, and responsible ecclesial oversight.
The Church’s defense of sacred images rests especially on the Incarnation. Because the Son of God truly became man, the invisible God has been manifested in visible human form. The Second Council of Nicaea therefore defended the veneration of images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the angels, and the saints.
The honor shown to an image is directed to the person represented, not to the material object considered by itself. Sacred images thus do not replace God or the saints; they mediate remembrance of them and direct devotion beyond themselves.
Their primary purpose is not aesthetic pleasure. They belong both to sacred signification and to art, but their essential function is to dispose the viewer toward the mystery of faith.
The Church identifies several interrelated functions:
Accordingly, an image should be judged not only by beauty or historical value, but also by whether it communicates the faith truthfully and supports genuine Christian prayer.
Sacred images must not contradict Catholic doctrine, distort the Gospel, or present confused or erroneous religious ideas. The Church has repeatedly prohibited images that are contrary to the faith, indecorous, misleading, dehumanizing, or merely abstracted from authentic Christian spirituality.
This does not require every image to follow one artistic style. The Church permits culturally distinctive forms, including realistic representations of the saints and scenes connected with human life. But cultural adaptation must not become theological distortion or mere sentimentality.
The current Latin Code of Canon Law requires that sacred images remain displayed in churches, but “in moderate number and in suitable order,” so that the faithful are not confused or led into inappropriate devotion.
This principle rejects two opposite errors:
No statue or image is to be placed on the altar table, and the local Ordinary must ensure that inappropriate or superstitious images are not exposed for public veneration.
The iconographic program of a church is not to be determined by private preference alone. Those responsible for churches and oratories must safeguard the dignity, beauty, and quality of publicly exposed images and should not impose an individual’s private devotional images upon the whole community.
This means that pastors, rectors, bishops, commissions, and qualified artists share responsibility according to their roles. Personal devotion is legitimate, but public ecclesial space requires discernment on behalf of the entire Church.
Stewardship includes the physical preservation of images. Ecclesial administrators have a duty to conserve ecclesiastical heritage, including movable furnishings, under the supervision of the Ordinary. The administrator must prevent goods from being destroyed or damaged, while the Ordinary may issue instructions and intervene in cases of negligence.
Thus conservation is not simply museum management. It protects objects that serve the Church’s worship, memory, evangelization, and popular piety. Where restoration is needed, decisions should respect the object’s sacred function, artistic integrity, and doctrinal meaning.
The Eastern Catholic discipline makes this especially explicit for ancient or artistically precious icons: they cannot be transferred or alienated without written consent from the competent hierarch, and they cannot be restored without that consent and consultation with experts.
The Church distinguishes the proper veneration of sacred images from treating images as magical objects. Images should lead the faithful to Christ, to the saints’ example, and to prayer. The Church therefore requires vigilance against images that encourage error, superstition, banalization, or inappropriate devotion.
This does not mean that popular devotion is suspect. The Church recognizes that sacred images belong to the nature of Catholic piety and have historically been enriched by the devotion of the faithful. But popular devotion must be harmonized with the faith and guided by ecclesial judgment.
The underlying doctrine is shared throughout the Catholic Church, but its artistic and liturgical expression differs. The Latin tradition has developed diverse artistic forms rather than one universally binding iconographic system. The Eastern Catholic Churches generally preserve more defined iconographic traditions, in which icons represent heavenly realities through established forms and participate closely in the structure of the liturgy.
For Eastern Churches, liturgical space, images, vestments, and furnishings should form an integrated whole and must not be left merely to the taste of individuals or groups.
Ecclesial stewardship of sacred images means preserving a visible inheritance of faith while ensuring that images remain genuinely sacred signs. The Church therefore asks that they be:
In short, the Church does not steward sacred images as dead artifacts. She safeguards them as instruments of evangelization, prayer, memory, and participation in the Church’s confession of the Incarnate Word.