Barcelona, Spain, Jan 26, 2011 / 11:50 am
Administrators from the University of Barcelona, Spain have announced that its weekly Wednesday Mass will be suspended due to protests by a group of self-proclaimed “secular progressive” students.
The university stated that no more Masses will be celebrated “until the university can guarantee the security of students who wish to attend the liturgy.”
At the beginning of November, shortly before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Barcelona, a group of “secular progressive” students tried to boycott one of the university Masses, reported the Spanish newspaper ABC. Police then began providing security at the chapel.
On Dec. 15, some 40 students interrupted Mass at the chapel. Fr. Mosen Lluis Ramos, one of the university chaplains said, “It is sad that these kinds of boycotts” are taking place because they “prevent people from freely expressing their beliefs, and this must not be allowed.”