{"id":25605,"date":"2025-10-03T20:23:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/nieuws\/freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T11:41:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T10:41:31","slug":"freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom of speech, religion in play as Spanish priest prosecuted for denouncing radical Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Father Custodio Ballester. \/ Credit: Photo courtesy of Hazteoir.org<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oct 3, 2025 \/ 14:23 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n

Freedom of speech and religion in Spain is in play as Father Custodio Ballester faces a possible three-year prison sentence and fines after a trial this week found him guilty of making allegedly \u201cIslamophobic\u201d statements in print and in an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Questioned by CNA about his upcoming sentencing, Ballester said: \u201cThe survival of freedom of expression in today\u2019s Spain depends on the ruling in this case. Otherwise, we\u2019ll be headed toward a new Cuban dictatorship. One where you were arrested for what you said as well as for what you thought, if it differed from what [Cuban communist dictator] Fidel Castro decided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballester and two others, fellow priest Father Jes\u00fas Calvo and journalist Armando Robles, were accused of making allegedly Islamophobic statements in complaints filed before Spain\u2019s socialist government by the\u00a0Association of Spanish Muslims Against Islamophobia. On Oct. 1, those complaints were examined for several hours at the Provincial Court of M\u00e1laga.<\/p>\n

Ballester told CNA that his \u201cstatements have never been discriminatory or hateful,\u201d in reference to an interview he gave in 2017 to online talk show \u201cLa Ratonera\u201d and previous writings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media after exiting the court, the priest said he is calm, adding: \u201cThis is the final hearing, and now we are awaiting the result.\u201d <\/p>\n

He told CNA: \u201cIn the Spanish army\u2019s special forces,\u00a0we used to say: \u2018Prepare for the worst. The easy stuff has already been planned for.\u2019 That\u2019s why I\u2019m calm. If everything goes well, I\u2019ll be even happier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case against Ballester and his co-defendants has sparked considerable debate in Spain and Europe over its perceived threat to free speech and claims that hate-crime laws are selectively applied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2016, Ballester responded to a pastoral letter from Cardinal Juan Jos\u00e9 Omella Omella of Barcelona. In his answer to Omella, Ballester wrote<\/a> that dialogue with Islam is \u201cimpossible,\u201d despite the prelate\u2019s claim that such dialogue is \u201cnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The priest wrote: \u201cThis renewed revival of Christian-Muslim dialogue, paralyzed by the alleged \u2018imprudence\u2019 of the beloved Benedict XVI, is far from a reality. Islam does not allow for dialogue. You either believe or you are an infidel who must be subdued one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, Ballester appeared in an online interview with Robles and Calvo in which the three discussed the threat of radical Islam to Europe. Robles owns the YouTube channel where \u201cLa Ratonera\u201d broadcast the interview in question.<\/p>\n

A \u2018one-way crime\u2019: They only charge Christians, never Muslims<\/h2>\n

Ballester told CNA: \u201cThe prosecution demonstrates with its actions that so-called hate crimes exist to restrict freedom of thought and expression. The Hate Law is legally a \u2018blank law,\u2019 or a blank check. Not even the prosecutors themselves know how to define \u2018hate.\u2019 They fabricate the crime in each case based on who allegedly committed it, and it\u2019s a one-way crime. They only charge Christians, never Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballester has been criticized also for his advocacy of Catholic doctrine regarding, for example, homosexuality and procured abortion. Leftist LGBTQ activists<\/a> have accused him of \u201chomophobia.\u201d He has said that Spanish justice appears to prosecute supposed Islamophobia and homophobia with rigor but looks the other way when Christians are involved. He has also denounced the persecution of Christians in places like Nigeria, Syria, and Bangladesh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A public advocacy law firm, Abogados Cristianos, has gathered more than 28,000 signatures demanding Ballester\u2019s acquittal. Outside the courtroom in M\u00e1laga on Oct. 1, dozens of the priest\u2019s supporters could be seen holding placards demanding his acquittal. Supporters outside the courthouse collected signatures on petitions, which are circulating online. Groups such as HazteOir, the Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience, and the Spanish Institute for Social Policy have added their voices to the protests.<\/p>\n

Ballester said the threat to free speech is very real. If the court does sentence him to prison, he said he will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ruling from the M\u00e1laga Provincial Court could be delayed somewhat. People are very angry about the excessive sentences being sought for \u2018hate crimes,\u2019 which are comparable to those sought for sexual assault or leaving someone paralyzed in a fight. Political pressure may delay the ruling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The priest was philosophical with regard to a possible prison sentence, reflecting on his military training in special forces. While he never saw combat, he wrote that he experienced everything else, including \u201ctraining, weapons, hand-to-hand combat, topographical surveys day and night, and obstacle courses,\u201d which forged in him \u201cobedience and resignation in the face of adversity, much more than in the seminary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spanish Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience quoted its president, Mar\u00eda Garc\u00eda, expressing her alarm that Ballester is facing prison \u201csimply for warning, in the exercise of his freedom of expression and conscience, about the threat of radical jihadism. Defending religious freedom also means protecting the freedom of those, like Father Custodio, who warn of realities that have already caused deaths in our country and in Europe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda recalled that in January 2023, a Muslim jihadist murdered sacristan Diego Valencia and wounded a priest at a church in southern Spain, asking: \u201cIs the crime committed by those who denounce violence or by those who carry it out?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Custodio Ballester. \/ Credit: Photo courtesy of Hazteoir.org Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oct 3, 2025 \/ 14:23 pm (CNA). Freedom of speech and religion in Spain is in play as Father Custodio Ballester faces a possible three-year prison sentence and fines after a trial this week found him guilty of making allegedly \u201cIslamophobic\u201d statements in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[859],"tags":[],"bron":[41],"class_list":["post-25605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","bron-cna"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25605-freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam-300x169.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25605-freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam-150x150.jpeg","medium_large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25605-freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam-768x431.jpeg","Inhoud breed":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25605-freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam-860x483.jpeg","echo_preview_image":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25605-freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam-260x146.jpeg"},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"\nFreedom of speech, religion in play as Spanish priest prosecuted for denouncing radical Islam - ExploreCatholic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/news\/freedom-of-speech-religion-in-play-as-spanish-priest-prosecuted-for-denouncing-radical-islam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freedom of speech, religion in play as Spanish priest prosecuted for denouncing radical Islam - ExploreCatholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Father Custodio Ballester. \/ Credit: Photo courtesy of Hazteoir.org Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oct 3, 2025 \/ 14:23 pm (CNA). 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