Mallorca tourism row: climate academy backs bishop
Mallorca’s tourism pressures have drawn its bishop into a political row: the Climate Academy of Mallorca backs Sebastià Taltavull in Palma, Mallorca, Spain, on 4 November 2026 after regional minister Jaume Bauzá criticises his warnings about overcrowding and excesses. Bauzá is responsible for tourism, culture and sport. The academy says Taltavull is voicing a concern shared by a large part of Mallorcan society.
Church income and Lluc
Bauzá has pointed out that the Church also earns money from visitors. The academy says that does not answer Taltavull’s concerns: taking part in tourism does not prevent someone from challenging its excesses.
It says any suspected wrongdoing linked to places at the Sanctuary of Lluc should be investigated under the same standards as at any other establishment. But it argues that using the matter to dismiss Taltavull diverts attention from the regional government’s responsibilities for tourism.
A call for a wider debate
Taltavull recently set out his views at a Climate Academy round-table at the Estudi General Lul·lià. The academy also points to a 1990 pastoral letter in which the Balearic bishops addressed ecology and tourism on the islands.
Now it wants Bauzá to stop attacking Taltavull personally. It calls on the regional government to listen and explain what it plans to do about Mallorca’s tourism limits, housing, working conditions, protection of the island and the way tourism’s benefits and costs are shared.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com