Santiago Cantera, relieved in his position as a prior of the Valley of the Fallen

The prior of the Abbey of the Santa Cruz del Valle de los Fallen, Santiago Cantera, has been relieved in his position For the Abbot of Solesmes, Geoffroy Kemlin, After exhausting the three trienniums as a prior administrator of the Basilica, according to Europa Press sources known to the decision.

Alfredo Maroto, belonging to the community, has been appointed to replace him, according to the processes established by the Benedictine rule.

As explained by the same sources, last November The Benedictine community entered a discernment process To address the present and future of the abbey headed by the presence of the abad president, the Abbot of Solesmes.

This process coincides over time with the resignification of the Valley of the Fallen, renamed as Co -Camers, following its postulates of the Democratic Memory Law.

In this context, according to the same sources, the Executive has held several meetings with the Church in which the president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Luis Argüello, participated, participated, Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, José Coboand the nuncio of the Pope, Bernardito Auza.

Since December, it was agreed that the interlocutor with the community and the Holy See was Cardinal José Cobo, archbishop of Madrid.

In addition, the same sources add that the Secretary of State of The Holy See has been informed of all these meetings, with the corresponding support for ecclesial interlocutors.

Meetings with the Vatican State Secretariat

On the other hand, they point out that the Executive has held, in the same way, meetings with the Vatican State Secretariat in order to know positions and negotiate the presence of the Church in the project they present to resignification of how much there is in the valley.

The Abbot of Solesmes, Geoffroy Kemlin, has been a participant in these conversations and has met several times with the Nuncio, the Cardinal and the President of the EEC.

Cardinal José Cobo has already explained in an interview with Europa Press last December that the Church has defended the presence of the community, the non -desacralization of the basilica and the survival of the Christian presence.

Previously, last July sources from the Executive advanced to Europa Press that They negotiated with the Vatican the departure of the Benedictines of the Co -gamuros Valley by the end of 2025, although they recognized the difficulty of carrying out this operation if the monks opposed.

The Government has included the resignification of the Valley in the 50th anniversary of Franco’s death that take place throughout this 2025. The hitherto prior of the abbey maintained a confrontation with the Executive for the exhumation of the dictator Francisco Franco, which was opposed in 2019.