Church cannot sack teachers who don’t obey its rules, rules Spain’s highest court

In a blow to the Catholic Church’s desire to control all aspects of education in Spain, the Constitutional Court has ruled that the Church unlawfully sacked a religion teacher, Resurrección Galera, for marrying a divorcee.

This brings an end to the bishops’ power to sack teachers who will not live by the Vatican’s ridiculous marriage precepts. It is thought hundreds of teachers have been fired over the years.

The ruling found that Galera’s marriage bore “no relation to the plaintiff’s work as a teacher” and overturned the decisions of lower courts which had backed the Church.

“The truly important thing is that these men cannot get away with this and treat people as if they were in the age of the inquisition,” Galera, a practising Catholic who was referring to the country’s bishops, told the newspaper El País.

The constitutional court’s decision establishes a precedent for the lower courts in similar cases.

Spain’s bishops enjoy control over the hiring of religion teachers, whose classes are optional, after an agreement signed with the Vatican in 1979. About 70% of Spanish families opt for their children to study what the Church defines as “religion and Catholic morals”, though numbers are declining.