One of Europe’s strangest Church-state relationships may soon come to an end if a Catholic bishop is forced to abdicate as co-prince of Andorra in a dispute over abortion.
The Diari d’Andorra daily said the warning had been issued by the Pope in a telephone conversation with the principality’s chief executive, Antoni Martí, as his centre-right government came under pressure to legalise abortion. The newspaper added that Catalan Bishop Joan Enric Vives of Urgell, whose title makes him co-prince alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, would be unable to sign pro-abortion legislation and would trigger a constitutional crisis by being forced to resign.
