Why Andorra has a bishop for a prince, and what is at stake in its abortion bill

In Andorra, new laws require the signature of a Catholic bishop. Now the government wants him to sign one he is not expected to: a bill ending criminal penalties for abortions.

Ministers approved the bill on Oct. 28 and sent it to the Consell General, Andorraʼs parliament, under an urgent procedure. No vote has been scheduled.

Mitre and Marianne Andorra, home to about 90,000 people, has two heads of state, called co-princes: the bishop of Urgell, whose see sits just across the Spanish border, and the president of France. Apart from Vatican City, it is the only country where a Catholic bishop serves as head of state.

Almost 750 years ago, in 1278, the bishop and the Count of Foix settled a feudal fight over the valleys high up in the Pyrenees. The countʼs rights passed to French kings, then to French presidents.

The centuries have not changed this arrangement. The 1993 constitution kept both co-princes, “jointly and indivisibly,” as head of state. Article 8 “recognizes the right to life and fully protects it in its different phases.”

Bishop Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat succeeded Archbishop Joan-Enric Vives on May 31, 2025.

The prelate, only 48 years old at the time,…