After Spain’s train crash, a bishop warns against political use of grief

In the aftermath of Spain’s devastating train accident in Adamuz, which claimed 45 lives on January 18, one voice has urged restraint, truth, and human closeness over slogans. “The victims do not want politicians to use them against anyone,” said Jesús Fernández, bishop of Córdoba, after presiding over the funeral Mass for the dead.

Bishop Fernández spoke in an interview with journalist Azahara Villacorta of El Comercio, granting his first conversation since what he called the most painful homily of his life. The bishop explained to Villacorta that the days following the accident were marked by exhaustion and sorrow, spent largely in hospitals accompanying families who were still waiting for news.

“There are moments when words are unnecessary,” the bishop told Villacorta. “What people needed was someone to stay, to listen, to let them speak — or cry — in their own way.”

Among the many stories Bishop Fernández heard, one stayed with him deeply. In the ICU, he spoke with a survivor who recalled seeing his mother praying shortly before the crash. She died in the accident; he and his siblings survived.

“He was convinced her prayer saved them,” Bishop Fernández told Villacorta. He also described learning of a six-year-old girl wandering the tracks alone after losing her entire family.

Not everyone welcomed a priest’s presence. Some family members turned away, unable or unwilling to engage. Bishop Fernández said he understood.

“There was anger, disbelief, silence. All of that is part of grief,” he explained, adding that the clergy made no attempt to impose words or answers.

In his funeral homily, Bishop Fernández said “God was in the train cars,” present in the townspeople who rushed onto the tracks to help the wounded. Speaking later to Villacorta, he emphasized that Christianity does not deny pain but points to God’s presence through concrete acts of compassion.

The bishop was equally clear about the responsibility of public authorities. He urged them, Villacorta reported, to pursue the full truth about the accident. “Families need to know that nothing is being hidden,” Bishop Fernández said. Only transparency, he added, can ease suffering and help prevent future tragedies.

That concern shaped his response to political controversy surrounding a postponed state memorial. Bishop Fernández cautioned against ideological battles over the form of public remembrance. “What families want least is polarization,” he told Villacorta. “They do not want to be used as an argument against anyone.”

Asked what the catastrophe teaches, he did not offer easy comfort. Human life, he said, is fragile; security is never complete. For believers, that reality invites trust — not in guarantees, but in a God who accompanies human suffering and promises that death does not have the final word.

As Spain hurts amid noise and accusations, the bishop’s message stands out for its simplicity: stay close to the grieving, seek the truth, and let sorrow remain free of political ambition.