Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, has been elected today head of the Spanish Catholic Church, the outgoing leader, Ricardo Blazquez, will be vice-president.
Rouco Varela, the leader of the ultra-conservative section of the Catholic Church in Spain is well known across the country for his opposition to the Zapatero government as well as most of its social reforms including gay marriages, abortion law, citizen's education, peace process and stem-cell research. Ricardo Blazquez, a moderate, beat Rouco Varela for the leadership in 2005 by just one vote but hasn't been able to hold to the position after the further radicalisation of the Church in the last four years.
This latest development should make Zapatero rethink his original position and start a review of the State-Church pact. Spain deserves a more inclusive Catholic leadership than the one just elected.
Showing posts with label Catholic Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic Church. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Bishopping around
The Catholic Church in Spain is becoming such a big joke I don't even know how long is going to take for people to stop going to mass. The bishops have today announced that they will discourage any Catholic from voting for any party that supports peace negotiations with ETA.
Well, that pretty much leaves us with no party to vote for. As UCD negotiated in 1977, PSOE in 1987 and PP in 1999 (yes, even if Aznar now claims not to have done, he did call ETA the 'Basque liberation movement').
So there you are if you are a Spanish Catholic you should convert to a new form of rare Spanish Catholic anarchysm!
It seems old fellas it's time you all get taken to a retirement house, you've absolutely lost it now.
You can find PSOE's official reponse (in Spanish) here
Thursday, 3 January 2008
The Church enters the campaign.
On Sunday the governing hierarchy of the Spanish Catholic Church organised a mass rally in Madrid to denounce certain liberal policies promulgated by the Zapatero Government in the last four years.
Bishops from across Spain denounced the new divorce law, gay marriages and the new education plan as well as the 1985 abortion legislation.
Such display of moralistic righteousness and social intolerance is common among the Catholic hierarchy in Spain. But this time around their claims went even further and entered the very political. They denounced the rolling back of Human Rights and the possible dissolution of democracy because of these laws and openly attacked the Zapatero Government.
This is the last step taken by PP and his right-wing apparatus to poison even further the political situation in the country. Couple of months ago I wrote in this blog that PSOE wasn't planning to present in his electoral manifesto any issues that could be seen by the Catholic hierarchy as a head on attack on them. I called for PSOE to rethink their position, and I think the bishops' show on Sunday proves my argument right. The Spanish Catholic Church is certainly one of the most conservative and anachronistic ones that exist today. Having openly supported the Francoist dictatorship, they still enjoy fiscal and legal benefits unknown anywhere else. Today I ask myself why should my taxes be paying this church to spread hatred and intolerance as well as openly oppose my political believes? A revision of the State-Church agreements must now be undertaken and it's the Catholic Church that has forced such revision. Their faith is in decline not because of a Socialist Government but because of their fundamentalist views on social issues that Spaniards dealt morally with a long time ago.
Furthermore, I second Jose Blanco's, PSOE's secretary of organisation, demand that if PP is in full agreement with the Catholic hiearchy that they present in their electoral manifesto a promise to derogate the following laws, denounced by the bishops: gay marriage and adoption, equality, abortion and education. I can assure you they won't do it, because they know the Spanish public in general supports them. They let the Catholic Church do the dirty job for them, if that it isn't cowardice you let me know a better definition for it.
Bishops from across Spain denounced the new divorce law, gay marriages and the new education plan as well as the 1985 abortion legislation.
Such display of moralistic righteousness and social intolerance is common among the Catholic hierarchy in Spain. But this time around their claims went even further and entered the very political. They denounced the rolling back of Human Rights and the possible dissolution of democracy because of these laws and openly attacked the Zapatero Government.
This is the last step taken by PP and his right-wing apparatus to poison even further the political situation in the country. Couple of months ago I wrote in this blog that PSOE wasn't planning to present in his electoral manifesto any issues that could be seen by the Catholic hierarchy as a head on attack on them. I called for PSOE to rethink their position, and I think the bishops' show on Sunday proves my argument right. The Spanish Catholic Church is certainly one of the most conservative and anachronistic ones that exist today. Having openly supported the Francoist dictatorship, they still enjoy fiscal and legal benefits unknown anywhere else. Today I ask myself why should my taxes be paying this church to spread hatred and intolerance as well as openly oppose my political believes? A revision of the State-Church agreements must now be undertaken and it's the Catholic Church that has forced such revision. Their faith is in decline not because of a Socialist Government but because of their fundamentalist views on social issues that Spaniards dealt morally with a long time ago.
Furthermore, I second Jose Blanco's, PSOE's secretary of organisation, demand that if PP is in full agreement with the Catholic hiearchy that they present in their electoral manifesto a promise to derogate the following laws, denounced by the bishops: gay marriage and adoption, equality, abortion and education. I can assure you they won't do it, because they know the Spanish public in general supports them. They let the Catholic Church do the dirty job for them, if that it isn't cowardice you let me know a better definition for it.
Thursday, 29 November 2007
The power of the Catholic Church.
So the PSOE electoral manifesto is not going to include this time around any mention to abortion, euthanasia or the State-Catholic Church Pact of 1979.
I can understand the reasoning behind this decission, though not share it. The continuous attacks by the Catholic Church and the bishops' radio station, COPE, against the Government have fuelled protests by PP voters and right-wing groups. Gay marriages and adoption as well as the non-sense attack against the new subject in primary education 'citizens' education' have proven difficult rides for PSOE during this term and taken away the support of Catholic working class groups.
The decission is oriented to prevent the Church to become an active part of the electoral campaign by rallying its 'troops' and hurting PSOE with the Catholic vote in key areas like the Basque Country and Andalucia. However I believe it is time to take the Catholic Church on and prove to them that Spanish people are ready to remove the few privileges they still enjoy rooted in Franco's legacy.
The Catholic Church still has the right to provide a Catholic education subject in public schools, with an alternative provided for non-religious students, and benefits from limited Government funding payed by all taxpayers, including non-Catholics. PSOE has to show the strength needed to remove these privileges and remove all relations between the State and the Church, only this way we will be able to remove their ability to exert such a demagogic influence in the political arena. It is public money which is funding the Church's activities which do not anymore concern helping the needed but rather to consistently attack the left in perfect harmony with PP. Until we do not bang the fist on the table the 'Catholic electoral problem' for PSOE will never go away.
It will be hard but PSOE is the only party able to finalise what was started in 1979, the complete separation between Church and State in Spain.
The decission to duck the problem is not just ideologically wrong it is also electorally wrong because the problem will come back in 2012 while I have to keep paying taxes for the bishops for another 4 years.
I can understand the reasoning behind this decission, though not share it. The continuous attacks by the Catholic Church and the bishops' radio station, COPE, against the Government have fuelled protests by PP voters and right-wing groups. Gay marriages and adoption as well as the non-sense attack against the new subject in primary education 'citizens' education' have proven difficult rides for PSOE during this term and taken away the support of Catholic working class groups.
The decission is oriented to prevent the Church to become an active part of the electoral campaign by rallying its 'troops' and hurting PSOE with the Catholic vote in key areas like the Basque Country and Andalucia. However I believe it is time to take the Catholic Church on and prove to them that Spanish people are ready to remove the few privileges they still enjoy rooted in Franco's legacy.
The Catholic Church still has the right to provide a Catholic education subject in public schools, with an alternative provided for non-religious students, and benefits from limited Government funding payed by all taxpayers, including non-Catholics. PSOE has to show the strength needed to remove these privileges and remove all relations between the State and the Church, only this way we will be able to remove their ability to exert such a demagogic influence in the political arena. It is public money which is funding the Church's activities which do not anymore concern helping the needed but rather to consistently attack the left in perfect harmony with PP. Until we do not bang the fist on the table the 'Catholic electoral problem' for PSOE will never go away.
It will be hard but PSOE is the only party able to finalise what was started in 1979, the complete separation between Church and State in Spain.
The decission to duck the problem is not just ideologically wrong it is also electorally wrong because the problem will come back in 2012 while I have to keep paying taxes for the bishops for another 4 years.
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