A Catholic priest in Spain has been found guilty of “Islamophobic” remarks and faces up to a few years in jail.
Father Custodio Ballester was charged after questioning Cardinal Juan José Omella’s 2016 assertion that inter-faith dialogue with Islam was “needed”.
In a letter, Fr Ballester wrote: “This renewed revival of Christian-Muslim dialogue, paralyzed by the alleged ‘imprudence’ of the beloved Benedict XVI, is removed from a reality. Islam doesn’t allow for dialogue. You either imagine or you’re an infidel who have to be subdued a method or one other.”
In 2017 Fr Ballester also suggested on YouTube that Islam poses a threat to Europe.
In response, the Association of Spanish Muslims Against Islamophobia brought a case against the priest.
Speaking to the Catholic News Agency, Fr Ballester said, “The survival of freedom of expression in today’s Spain depends upon the ruling on this case.
“Otherwise, we’ll be headed toward a latest Cuban dictatorship. One where you were arrested for what you said in addition to for what you thought, if it differed from what [Cuban communist dictator] Fidel Castro decided.”
Fr Ballester’s sentence has yet to be announced but may include fines and even a custodial sentence of up to a few years.
Ballester said he would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if he is shipped to prison.
As well as a petition with over 28,000 signatories, Ballester appears to have received some support from Spanish president, María García.
The Spanish Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience quoted the president as expressing concern that Ballaster was prosecuted “simply for warning, within the exercise of his freedom of expression and conscience, in regards to the threat of radical jihadism”.
“Defending religious freedom also means protecting the liberty of those, like Father Custodio, who warn of realities which have already caused deaths in our country and in Europe,” she was quoted as saying.
She also cited the case of a Jihadist who murdered a sacristan and wounded a priest at a Spanish church in January 2023: “Is the crime committed by those that denounce violence or by those that carry it out?”
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