The president of the Xunta, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, tries to convince the Church to postpone the start of the next Holy Year. He has advanced this Wednesday during a telematic meeting with businessmen in which he has defended his government’s response to the health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus.
Feijóo has sought a precedent in the Spanish Civil War, in the years 1937 and 1938, the only time in history in which a Holy Year has undergone a temporary modification. The president of the Xunta believes that today his proposal is justified, and has initiated contacts with the Church to try to convince the curia to postpone the Xacobeo.
Feijoo proposes that instead of opening the holy door on December 31st, do it as late as possible in 2021, which will allow the celebration of the Holy Year to be prolonged into 2022, when the pandemic is expected to no longer have such serious consequences. Feijoo recognizes that it is a decision that belongs to the Church, the Vatican will have to decide, but he is betting on this postponement.
“Dangerous” historical precedent
In his speech, Feijoo referred to the only occasion in history, that he remembers, in which the Holy Year underwent a temporary modification, the Spanish Civil War. In the SER we have spoken with him professor of contemporary history at USC, Lourenzo Fernández Prieto, which warns that the past is loaded with meaning and that you have to be careful with the references you choose.
In his opinion this is not the most appropriate. “In 1937 it was extended at the request of the caudillo at a time when the rebel political power commanded more and military than the Church, because 37 was the first triumphal year, and 38 the second, I think that this reference by Feijoo to the Civil War is not going to please the Compostela church at all “.
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