Barcelona, Spain, Oct 2, 2017 / 14:46 pm
Catholic leaders voiced pleas for peace after a Catalonian regional referendum vote on secession from Spain drew a strong police reaction.
"The situation of violence we have experienced today in Catalonia is deplorable," Cardinal Juan Omella of Barcelona said Oct. 2. "We need to find a peaceful and democratic solution to our situation. Let us entrust this situation to the God of peace."
Archbishop Jaume Pujol of Tarragona, who is president of the Tarragona bishops' conference, also deplored the situation. "We must stop the violence and confrontations," he said.
Spain's Constitutional Court has ruled the referendum illegal. The European Commission's chief spokesman said the vote was not legal, but said the rival sides should talk and avoid violence, the Washington Post reports.