A Catholic priest in Spain who was facing jail time for making remarks critical of radical Islam has been acquitted.

Father Custodio Ballester was accused of violating Spain's hate law after he answered a question posed in 2016 about an interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

"I thank God and the Christian people who supported me with their prayers and their presence in court," Ballester told Fox News Digital in a statement earlier this week.

Ballester, fellow priest Fr Jesús Calvo, and journalist Armando Robles were arrested and charged under the country's hate-speech law and faced multiple years in prison.

Abogados Cristianos, a faith-based advocacy group, announced the court's decision, stating that the court found "there is no hate crime."
 

ÚLTIMA HORA La Audiencia de Málaga absuelve al padre Custodio, perseguido por criticar el islam: no hay delito de odio. pic.twitter.com/aPMEloL7sV

— Abogados Cristianosﻦ (@AbogadosCrist) October 17, 2025

According to Europa Press, "the Málaga court ruled that the objective and/or subjective elements required for the hate-speech offence are lacking. In the words of the court: 'No matter how despicable or perverse the message may be, or even if the statements may be clearly offensive or unfortunate,' they do not in themselves constitute a punishable offence."

As CBN News reported, Ballester said in a letter written in 2016 that there can be no interfaith dialouge between Christian and Muslims. 

"Islam does not allow for dialogue. You either believe or you are an infidel who must be subdued one way or another," he wrote at the time. 

He expanded on his remarks in a 2017 YouTube video warning that Islam not only poses a threat in Europe, but also that in many Muslim-majority countries, Christians face persecution.

The Association of Spanish Muslims Against Islamophobia, responding to Ballester's public remarks, filed a complaint that prompted charges against the priest.

Ballester told the Catholic News Agency prior to his court appearance that his words were not hate speech or discriminatory, and the outcome would determine "the survival of freedom of expression in today's Spain."

"Otherwise, we'll be headed toward a new Cuban dictatorship. One where you were arrested for what you said as well as for what you thought, if it differed from what Fidel Castro decided," he explained.

Organizations and hundreds of Ballester's supporters called for his acquittal, saying the ruling was a politically motivated attack on Christianity.

Abogados Cristianos circulated a petition urging the hate crime prosecutor, Miguel Angel Aguilar, to drop the charges. It garnered more than 29,000 signatures.

Ballester said recently that prosecutors are unlikely to drop the case. He claims they are outraged about the court's decision and will likely appeal.

"My sentence has greatly angered the prosecutor's office because it halts all proceedings against freedom of expression," Ballester said. "They are going to appeal to the higher courts. The heads of the hate prosecutor's office: Miguel Ángel Aguilar and his deputies, Jesús Raimundo and Elena Pertusa, do not like defeat. We will continue to fight for freedom."

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