Two former Spanish nuns who were expelled from the Catholic Church and later aligned themselves with a fringe sect have been detained on suspicion of illegally selling ecclesiastical cultural property from the convent they continue to occupy, a court announced on Friday.
The pair are part of a breakaway group of nine nuns from the Order of Saint Clare who severed ties with the Vatican in May 2024, amid a dispute over property rights and doctrinal issues — a saga that has gripped public attention throughout Spain.
Following their excommunication, the Archbishopric of Burgos instructed them to vacate the 15th-century convent in Belorado, a village in the Burgos province (Castilla y León), arguing they no longer had any legal claim to stay.
Despite a court ruling earlier this year ordering their eviction, the women have remained inside, insisting the convent is rightfully theirs and launching an appeal to challenge the order.
A court in nearby Briviesca confirmed it had ‘ordered the provisional release of the two former nuns’ who were taken into custody on Thursday and are now being investigated ‘for misappropriation of cultural heritage assets’.
According to the court, the Guardia Civil police also freed an antiques dealer suspected of receiving the disputed objects.
The newspaper El País reported that officers had searched the convent ‘to clarify if the former nuns had irregularly sold pieces of sacred art’.
In a statement delivered via social media on Thursday, the women said: ‘We have committed no crime and we have nothing to hide.’
Both nuns have pledged loyalty to an excommunicated ultra-traditionalist priest who rejects the legitimacy of every pope after Pius XII, who died in 1958 — a movement the Catholic Church classifies as a sect.
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Detenida la exabadesa de Belorado, Laura García de Viedma, por un presunto delito de estafa impropiahttps://t.co/hW3j3z2hRq pic.twitter.com/THb60oW8Gl
— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) November 27, 2025
La Guardia Civil detiene a una segunda exmonja de Belorado por vender obras de arte del monasteriohttps://t.co/ObkeMBaNVR pic.twitter.com/9aZocSLlfb
— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) November 28, 2025
#OperacionesGC I Detenidas 3 personas por apropiación indebida y receptación de piezas de patrimonio histórico. ⛪️
— Guardia Civil (@guardiacivil) November 28, 2025
Se han detenido a dos exreligiosas y a un anticuario. Se han hallado en el mercado especializado de antigüedades piezas que pudieran pertenecer al monasterio Santa… pic.twitter.com/DFOr1Bvxau
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