Argüello vindicates his speech after the controversy over the "band of thieves": "Everyone will see why they feel alluded to"

The Archbishop of Valladolid and president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Luis Argüello, denied this Friday having directly accused the Government of being made up of a "band of thieves," as he explained in statements to the media from Valladolid. In his opinion, his words referred to the State in a broad sense, "including citizens," and not to the Executive in particular, clarifying that "everyone will see why they feel alluded to."

"I was not referring to the Government, I was referring to the State, including citizens," explained Argüello, who specified that he quoted Saint Augustine and Benedict XVI in reference to those who do not pay taxes, make undeclared invoices, or defraud in different areas of economic and social life. Asked if he retracts what he said, Argüello insisted that he was not alluding to the Executive, but rather was calling for "democratic regeneration" and "the responsibility of all citizens in all areas."

The archbishop also responded to the controversy generated by his statements about pride and the LGTBI collective, assuring that they were taken out of context. He defended that his approach was limited to an anthropological reflection and reiterated his rejection of both conversion therapies and any model that, in his opinion, turns the State into a promoter of a certain ideological conception.

The controversy unleashed by his statements

The controversy originated on Thursday during a public intervention in which the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Luis Argüello, resorted to a well-known quote from Saint Augustine, later recovered by Benedict XVI, to warn that "when a State forgets ethics, it becomes a band of thieves." The archbishop linked this reflection with the need to recover ethical principles in public life, although he specified that his message was not directed solely at the political class, but also at citizens who engage in practices such as tax fraud or undeclared payments.

The statements provoked an immediate reaction from the Government. The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, considered the content of these statements "unacceptable" and maintained that they strayed from the message of dialogue defended by Pope Leo XIV during his recent visit to Spain. Furthermore, she asked Argüello for a rectification and defended the ethical conduct of both members of the Executive and public employees.

The institutional response also came from the Ministry of the Presidency. Félix Bolaños sent a letter to the president of the Episcopal Conference in which he described his words as "unjust" and "deeply counterproductive." In the letter, the minister gave as an example that it would be equally false to attribute to the entire Church the crimes committed by some of its members and appealed for relations between both institutions to develop from respect and moderation.