Celebrity Catholic nun rebuked by church after suggesting Virgin Mary might have had sex A Catholic nun has provoked a media storm and earned herself a public rebuke from her local church in Catalonia […]

A Catholic nun has provoked a media storm and earned herself a public rebuke from her local church in Catalonia after asserting that the Virgin Mary might have had sexual relations.

Sister Lucía Caram, a 51-year-old Argentinian and longstanding Catalan resident who is one of six Dominican nuns in the monastery of Manresa, has something of a minor celebrity status in the region.

A book writer and fervent Barcelona supporter, Sister Caram has her own daytime TV cooking program, specializing – amongst other things – Argentinian pasties and recipes from the Lebanon, where she has family connections.

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Sister Lucía Caram has 180,000 followers on Twitter.

Socially progressive

Well known for her strongly socially progressive points of view, she also has debates, complete with Biblical quotations, with local Catalan politicians on her hugely popular Twitter account, which has over 180,000 followers.

Sister Caram’s latest high profile assertion, though, that Mary and Joseph might have had a sexual relationship, has raised hackles in her local church – and culminated with her writing an open letter to insist that her comments had been taken out of context.

Speaking on a TV chat show on the Cuatro channel last weekend, Sister Lucia said she believed Mary “was in love with Joseph and they were a normal couple, and what is normal is to have sex.”

Sex is a ‘blessing’

She also added that “Sex is neither to be considered dirty or secret, I believe it to be a blessing.”

The comments sparked a minor media storm, and the Catholic archbishopric in the nearby town of Vic has reacted strongly, stating that “since its beginnings it has formed part of the Catholic doctrine that Mary was always a Virgin.” It also regretted “any confusion that might have been caused amongst the faithful.”

Sister Lucia’s high media profile has previously already been questioned by the Church’s local superiors, as did – she claimed in a 2012 interview – her attempt to strengthen relationships with her town’s Muslim community, “which they saw as backing down.”

‘Catalan of the Year’

There is no doubting her huge popularity, though: in 2015, she was named ‘Catalan of the Year’ by the readers of one of Catalonia’s biggest newspapers, El Periódico, in recognition of her dedication to social work.

Sister Lucia later attacked what she called “a fragmented, ideological and twisted reading in some quarters” of her comments about the Virgin Mary, adding that she had subsequently received various death threats. She also pointed out that she had defended celibacy as an option during the chat show.