On the last day of the year the mother gave her last breath and on New Year’s Day we made it known after the funeral. I drove the coffin to the altar and went out to wait in the graveyard. A sharp eye that stayed in the front row of the church called me horrific and then told me that I had seen the Sacred Heart with the message REINARÉ EN ESPAÑA. I thought my friend would have a day or a pole; or that if in 1931 the Virgin of Ezkio "appeared," maybe this time would be complementary, or anything else, but not true.

Well, yeah, there it is. And not just one, but two. On both sides of the altar there are two courts or singers, and the lower part of the lectern, that is, the one next to the spectators, is the coat of arms of Spain: there are the lion, the castle, the chains of Navarre… Two angels instead of the two columns of Hercules and covering most of the shield with the Sacred Heart, below written in capitals with REINARÉ EN ESPAÑA. “Oh là là!, mon Dieu!, ce n’est pas possible!” Even though they rub their eyes, they're still there, they're not fantasy or fantasy.

Full of perplexity, I'm full of questions: When and who put them? And hasn't anyone else seen them so far? Neither the priests who have passed through Ezkio, nor those who shake the powders of the church, nor those who restored the Renaissance altarpiece a few years ago, nor the parishioners who are in the front row… Or have you seen them and not been hurt by tents? Or have you seen, been ashamed and decided to shut up?

I am not a member of the Catholic Church, nor am I who to say what I have to do. But to leave the courts in place with all normality seems to me a bit crude, because it would mean that the message is still in force, to satisfy the nostalgic. Nor is it a good idea to destroy the Archangel San Miguel – the guardians of the people – such as Satan, as these pieces are valuable traces of national Catholicism and meaningful testimonies of the past that must be well preserved. I am a translator, but I am also disguised by translating to the Basque language or replacing EN ESPAÑA with EUSKADI. The best thing would be to make it visible in a museum for pedagogy.

Anyway, is this just a humorous anecdote, or is it a metaphor for something more serious? Over time, the umpteenth among the Christian churches (in these places the Catholic Church of Rome) and most of society is becoming more and more kilometric. And not only taking secular society as a reference point. The remoteness is becoming stronger among messages, language, rites, liturgy, morality… officials of the major churches and those who want to live another Christianity. Most churches are about to become museums.