When the problem of Catalan, its use and its status, is discussed, it is often true that we also need to look for these same issues in the interior of Catalonia itself. We are not sufficiently aware that the problem begins at home. It is the Catalans themselves who abandon Catalan, and fail to grant the country's own language the status it deserves. There is an old saying that the devil is in the detail, which means that it is the little things that at first seem anecdotal that end up being important. And I very much agree that on many occasions it is like this and because of a gesture, because of a detail, you end up getting to know people very well.
This has arisen, in part, from the news that we learned this Monday and that, although it dates from Saturday, October 7th, it is fully valid. That day, Pope Francis was to bless the image of the Moreneta that is venerated in the cathedral of Girona during the audience for those taking part in the pilgrimage to Rome of the confraternity of the Virgin of Montserrat, on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of its foundation. Well, when the pontiff already had the text in his hands, he noticed that it was not in Catalan but in Spanish. And he asked: "Shouldn't it be in Catalan?". Cardinal Joan Josep Omella's answer was a clear "no" and the Pope proceeded to read "God of tenderness" in Spanish. How can it be that it is Pope Francis who is surprised that the blessing is not in Catalan and it is the archbishop of Barcelona who thinks it is perfectly fine for it to be in Spanish?
In this, as in many other things, we have not moved forward, but backwards. Some of his predecessors in the archdiocese, not only Narcís Jubany, who was archbishop of Barcelona for 18 years in the 1970s, would have behaved differently. He stood out for his simplicity and austerity, but also for his idea of a more democratic church. In a period that was not easy, on January 1st, 1977, in the homily for the World Day for Peace, he added his support to the request for an amnesty at that time, declaring that it was a desire he shared. Later, although he didn't have the profile of Jubany, Ricard Maria Carles would also have responded correctly and such a detail would not have gone unnoticed. And Omella's predecessor, cardinal Lluís Martínez i Sistarch, a moderate Catalanist, would not have missed the opportunity to give Catalan the importance that it deserves.
It is very good that Catalan is now spoken in Spain's Congress of Deputies and it is an historic leap forward for it to have been requested that the language have official status in the European institutions and that finally this is happening. But the representatives of the country, in whatever field, must give Catalan the importance and significance it has. It is not a school language, nor is it subsidiary to Spanish. That is so true that Pope Francis himself is surprised that the blessing is not in Catalan. A situation like this rarely happens to him. When people make calls for bishops to be Catalan - from Catalonia - Omella is a native of Crete, in the province of Teruel - it is because they have a greater sensitivity towards everything linked to Catalan identity, language and culture. Omella put his position at the disposition of the Pope in April 2021, when he turned 75. His relief is open and Barcelona is always a complex place to whom Madrid seeks to give supervision. And more so, surely, at the current political juncture.