Endangered Madrid church holds tearful mass

By Elisabeth O'Leary

MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of worshippers packed into an emotional Easter mass at San Carlos Borromeo church on Sunday, supporting a Madrid church threatened with closure because its priests refuse to obey strict Catholic rules.

"We want to be rebels, just in the way that Christ was," Father Javier Baeza told the faithful packing the simply decorated church in a poor district of the Spanish capital.

"Here we welcome all faiths ... who share, not their faith in Jesus, but their faith in people, just as Jesus did," he said in his Easter sermon.

Baeza and two other priests working at San Carlos say their liberal understanding of how the liturgy can be interpreted is not only valid, but necessary.

The Catholic archbishop of Madrid, disagrees and has told them to stop celebrating mass.

Baeza, Pepe Diaz and Enrique de Castro are deeply respected locally in the tough Vallecas district because they help drug addicts, prisoners, prostitutes and poor immigrants.

They wear ordinary clothing instead of priests' cassocks.

As Baeza tried to enter San Carlos on Sunday, some of those attending mass from other parishes -- including some Muslims and even a few agnostics -- did not recognise him as he tried to push his way in through the crowded door.

"I'm the priest, and if I don't get in, there's no mass," he joked as he elbowed his way through the crowd at the church door.

After the sermon members of the congregation stood up to say spontaneous prayers, many of them with cracked voices as they acknowledged the important role the parish had in their lives and prompting tears among those listening.

One of them called on the example of Christ as an anti-establishment figure and crucified by a powerful empire, to inspire the church's campaign to continue working as it is.

"The work these priests are doing is with the poorest and most isolated people ... they help them find homes, self-esteem, love, just as Christ himself would have done," said 60-year-old Gloria, who has been coming to the parish for 40 years.

"The Church should be close to the people. If these men go, it's just not the same," Gloria added.

The Madrid archbishop wants to hand over San Carlos Borromeo to Catholic charity Caritas so it can continue supporting the poor and needy, only in a more orthodox manner.