Holy Week in Sevilla this year sees an important change as it will be the first time that all the brotherhoods will be able to include women as Nazarenes.
The Archbishop of Sevilla, Juan José Asenjo, has decreed that there is to be no possibility of discrimination within any of the brotherhoods on the grounds of sex.
His predecessor, Cardinal Amigo, asked the brotherhoods a decade ago to accept women but decided not to interfere in the decisions of individual councils. The brotherhoods El Silencio, El Santo Entierro and La Quinta Angustia were the only ones still not including women, but as from March 2nd 2011 that will all change when the decree comes into effect.
The decree affects the whole of Sevilla province.