Roman Catholic Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón

Roman Catholic diocese in Spain

The Diocese of Barbastro Monzón (Dioecesis Barbastrensis Montisonensis) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located in north eastern Spain, in the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragón. The diocese forms part of the ecclesiastical province of Zaragoza (province), and is thus suffragan to the Archdiocese of Zaragoza. The city of Barbastro is at the junction of the rivers Cinca and Vero. The diocese is bounded on the north by the Pyrenees, on the east and south by the Diocese of Lerida (lang es), and on the west by those of Huesca and Jaca. The cathedral, the episcopal palace, the seminary, and the college of the Clerks Regular of the Pious Schools, or Piarists, are among the most noted buildings in Barbastro. Besides the seminary for the education of young ecclesiastics, there are various communities in the diocese devoted to a contemplative life and the education of the young, including: the Piarists, the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Poor Clares, and the Capuchin nuns have foundations in the capital, the Benedictines in the town of Pueyo, and the Discalced Carmelites in Graus and Salas Altas. There are schools in all the towns of the diocese.

With the Umayyad invasion of Spain in the 8th century the Moors' northward push led to the fall of Lerida, in 716, whereupon the Diocese of Lerida was removed to Roda de Isabena. By the 12th century, the Reconquest of Spain, pushed the borders back south again, such that Lerida was able to reassume control of its diocese, after 300 years, and Barbastro (Barbatius, , ) was strategically chosen to take over the episcopal see from Roda. In 1101, King Pedro I sent Barbastro's first bishop, Poncio, to Rome to obtain the Pope's permission for the transfer, which was approved.

In 1149, the Moors in Lerida were vanquished by Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and the city regained its episcopal seat and diocesan control of lands.

As of 1995, the Diocese of Barbastro was renamed 'Diocese of Barbastro Monzón', in accordance with the Vatican decree, Ilerdensis et Barbastrensis de finum mutatione. It expanded to include an additional 84 parishes in Eastern Aragon which had been under the temporary administration of the Diocese of Lerida, and transferred back to Aragon under the administration of Barbastro Monzón. In 1998, a further 27 parishes were returned to Aragonese administration. With the return of the Parishes to Aragon, property belonging to those places of Worship, including ancient parish registers, altar reliefs, statuary, vestments and other liturgical objects and works of art, which had been stored at the Episcopal See and Seminary of Lerida should have likewise been returned. However, this did not happen and Lerida appealed to Rome to keep the property. The Vatican tribunals declared the Aragonese parishes to be the rightful owners of their respective liturgical property and works of art and sentenced Lerida to return said property to its rightful owners and places of worship. Lerida publicly accepted the Vatican decision but then decided not to comply with it and at the behest of Catalan authorities instead pursued a civil litigation path in order to keep the artwork. Following the Vatican Tribunal's ruling, Lerida embarked on building a diocesan museum exhibiting only some of the Aragonese works which they refused to return. Local partisan Catalan politics desiring promotion, territorial expansionism, and secession from the State incited anti Catalan sentiment suggesting that the return of the Aragonese parishes to Aragonese administration was part of a strategy of cultural assimilation of the La Franja people into the Spanish speaking mainstream congregation by cutting them off from their cultural roots. The Catalan civil litigation process has been unsuccessful thus far, and as of 2019 is still ongoing, simply delaying the completion of the Vatican ruling, which has over the years seen the gradual and partial return of works of art to various Parishes, including the Royal Monastery of Sigena in 2017.