Teresa Forcades i Vila (born 1966) is a Catalan physician,

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

and

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

. Forcades i Vila is known for her outspoken and sometimes controversial views on the church,

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

and Catalan independence, and for her vaccine skepticism.

Education

Born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1966, Forcades grew up in a home where her parents rejected religion. She was sent, however, to the private Sacred Heart school, where she discovered religious faith through the study of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

given by the

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pra ...

s who ran the school. She went on to study medicine at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...

. In 1992 she moved to the United States, where in 1995 she completed a residency at the

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

School of Medicine, specialising in internal medicine. After obtaining a scholarship, she moved to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, where she gained the degree of Master of Divinity from

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

in 1997. As the result of a stay in order to prepare for some examinations which Forcades made at the

Monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

St. Benedict Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Christianity in Italy, Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Ortho ...

in Montserrat, Spain, founded in 1952, and connected to the famed Abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat, she received a call to monastic life. In September 1997, she entered the monastery, where she follows the Benedictine pattern of life, while still working in the fields of religious study,

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and medicine. In 2004 she obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

from the

. In 2005, she obtained a degree in theology. After four years, in 2009 she received a doctorate from the School of Theology of Catalonia.

Political positions

Feminism

Forcades understands

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

as a form of

liberation theology Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". I ...

. Forcades has openly criticised the Catholic church as "

misogynist Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced f ...

and patriarchal in its structure". She has developed her thoughts on this in the light of

Catalan independence

In 2013, Forcades co-authored the ''Manifesto for the Convening of a Constituent Process in Catalonia'' with economist Arcadi Oliveres. In it they proposed achieving independence for Catalonia through new political and social model based on

self-organisation Self-organization, also called spontaneous order in the social sciences, is a process where some form of overall order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when suff ...

and social mobilisation. Her political activism resulted in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' labelling her as "one of the most outspoken ... leaders of southern Europe's far left". In 2015, as another major vote for Catalan independence approached, Forcades received permission from her superior and the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

to set aside her habit and don secular attire, entering the political arena to lead the leftist Procés Constituent movement. She remarked, "Criticisms are to be expected. I follow somebody called Jesus and he had a lot of that." In 2018, she returned to the monastery of Sant Benet in Montserrat to resume her life as a contemplative nun.

Vaccination

Since at least 2009, Forcades has espoused views about what she says are the dangers of vaccines. A 2009 article in '' El País'' criticized Forcades' stance on the reliability of

influenza vaccines Influenza vaccines, also known as flu shots, are vaccines that protect against infection by influenza viruses. New versions of the vaccines are developed twice a year, as the influenza virus rapidly changes. While their effectiveness varies fro ...

. The critical stance taken by the article was later defended by the newspaper's

public editor A public editor is a position existing at some news publications; the person holding this position is responsible for supervising the implementation of proper journalism ethics at that publication. These responsibilities include identifying and e ...

. In 2021, the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' criticised her for her vaccine skepticism in relation to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Writings

Forcades has written three books: * ''La Trinitat avui'' (''The

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

Today'') (Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2005) * ''Els crims de les grans companyies farmacèutiques'' (''The Crimes of Big Pharmaceutical Companies'') (Cristianisme i Justícia, 2006) * ''La teologia feminista en la història'' (''Feminist Theology in History'') (Fragmenta Editorial, 2007)

Recognition

She was recognized as one of the

BBC 100 Women ''100 Women'' is a BBC multi-format series established in 2013. The annual series examines the role of women in the 21st century and has included events in London and Mexico. Announcement of the list is the start of an international "BBC's women ...

of 2013.

Notes

References

External links

Sister Teresa Forcades: Europe's most radical nun
BBC News
Desmontando a la monja-bulo
El País 1 January 2009
Crimes and abuses of the Pharmaceutical Industry
Cristianisme i Justícia, December 2006, {{DEFAULTSORT:Forcades, Teresa Living people 1966 births People from Barcelona Spanish Christian socialists University of Barcelona alumni Physicians from Catalonia Harvard Divinity School alumni 20th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians 20th-century Spanish nuns Benedictine nuns Christian feminist theologians Spanish public health doctors Women writers from Catalonia Women religious writers Catholic socialists Christian socialist theologians BBC 100 Women Female Christian socialists 21st-century Spanish nuns Liberation theologians 21st-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians 21st-century Spanish women politicians Women public health doctors