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Spain: Priest Facing Prison for Criticizing Radical Islam

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Father Custodio Ballester
 Adelante España

A Spanish priest is on trial for an alleged hate crime: The alleged crime? He is charged with criticizing Islam.

Father Custodio Ballester of Málaga went on trial on October 1 for statements he made denouncing radical Islam’s efforts to “destroy Christian civilization and obliterate Western culture,” a statement undeniably true. If convicted, the prosecution is asking for a 3-year prison term. In addition, Father Ballester has argued against engaging in interfaith dialogues with Muslims at a time when Christians in Muslim majority countries are being persecuted.

We will follow this case with great interest.

The article below in Adelante España is translated by Fousesquawk.

Christian phobia in the courts: They are trying to incarcerate Father Custodio for his faith

Staff September 22, 2025

Father Custodio Ballester was charged by the prosecutor of the Malaga Court with a hate crime.

His crime was an article entitled: “Radical Islam wants to destroy Christian civilization and obliterate the West”.

The prosecutor is asking for 3 years in jail for Custodio Ballester for hatred against Islam after an article in which he denounced radical Islam and its threat to the West.

The case against Custodio Ballester

The Barcelona priest, Custodio Ballester, is facing a court in Malaga on October 1. The prosecutor of the Malaga court, Maria Teresa Verdugo, accuses him of an alleged hate crime. All because of an article entitled, “Radical Islam wants to destroy Christian civilization and obliterate the West”.

The charge is clear: For writing and warning about the danger of radical Islamic jihadism, he is facing prison. Not in Saudi Arabia, nor in Pakistan, but in Spain, a Christian country that boasts of democracy and freedom of expression. 

The judicial ordeal began in 2020. After publishing another text entitled “The impossible dialogue with Islam,” Custodio Ballester emphasized that, although not all Muslims committed attacks, radical Islamists admired those who attacked “infidels”.

The statements of the priest

The priest himself explained it in a documentary about his case: “My intention was to set a criterion for people to judge. I know Muslims who have not been offended because they understood perfectly that I was not referring to them, rather to those who live Islam in a violent and radical manner.

In spite of his clarity, prosecutor Verdugo separated sentences, took them out of context, and twisted them in order to incriminate him 

“She grabbed what could incriminate me. Because of my priestly status, I am more culpable because when I speak, the people follow me. I consider myself a respectful person. I respect the Muslims and ask that they also respect me.”

In another statement, the priest reaffirms his evangelical mission.” I would like to be remembered as a priest who always wants to announce the truth and denounce what is wrong.”

Religious liberty in danger

The case of Father Custodio Ballester is not an isolated case. It represents an ideological and judicial shift in which Spain is living under the flag of the call “to fight against hate”. Those who defend the Christian faith and denounce the dangers of radical Islam are criminalized. It is not hate against Islam. It is hate against Catholicism.

What is serious is that this process is taking place in a country with a Catholic tradition, while the ideological violence of Islamism in Europe is tolerated and even whitewashed. The same people who downplay the Islamist attacks are now accusing a priest for saying the truth.

As La Razon recalled, the prosecutor is asking for prison time because Custodio Ballester denounced something obvious: That radical Islam seeks to obliterate our Christian and Western civilization.

We are all Father Custodio

The trial, which will commence on October 1, will be a test for freedom of expression and religious freedom in Spain. The Barcelona priest is not alone: Associations, faithful, and free citizens have initiated campaigns in his defense. They present him as he really is: a victim of Christian phobia and the judicial persecution against those who defend the truth.

Because it is not just a priest who is being judged. All those who raise their voices against radical Islam are being judged.  The freedom to be able to state without fear that radical Islam attacks our faith, our culture, and our values is being judged.

The case of Custodio Ballester cannot remain in silence. His judicial trial is a direct attack on religious freedom, freedom of expression, and the right of Christians to defend their faith.

In a moment when Europe is threatened by radical Islamism, persecuting a priest for saying the truth is an insult to one’s intelligence and an affront to justice.

More than ever, we must repeat loud and clear: We are all Father Custodio.

 


Source: http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2025/10/spain-priest-facing-prison-for.html


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