The convocation of all the Spanish bishops in the Vatican to address the situation of the seminaries is unusual because it has few precedents. It is not usual for the Holy See, in this case through the Dicastery for the Clergy, to call an entire Episcopal Conference, which only usually visit the Vatican together in the traditional ad limina visits, which take place every five years.
The recent precedents for an extraordinary call have to do with well-known sexual abuse crises that caused media storms in the Church. This was the case of Chile, in 2018, when all 34 Chilean bishops ended up resigning en bloc as a result of the scandals over decades of cover-up of the crimes committed by the priest Fernando Karadima. Also that of Ireland, in 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI called all the Irish bishops after learning of the abuse committed by some 50 priests of the archdiocese of Dublin over three decades on some 400 children.
Decades ago, the special synod of the Dutch Church was held in 1980 in the Vatican due to the desire of Pope John Paul II to find a solution to the pastoral controversies that had surrounded the Church of the Netherlands.
However, the call to address the issue of the 45 Spanish seminaries is particular. Normally they would have summoned only the members of the Episcopal Commission of Seminaries and Universities of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, headed by the archbishop of Urgell, Joan-Enric Vives. According to theologian Massimo Faggioli, professor at Villanova University (Philadelphia), this case is “particular” because all the others “were well known to public opinion and what was happening was known.” “On the other hand, in the case of Spain regarding the seminars, one can speculate about the problem, but everything is quite secret. “It is an anomaly,” he points out.
