Spanish government tells church to stop meddling

Relations between Church and State in Spain have worsened after the Government protested to the Vatican about Bishops urging voters to shun the ruling Socialist party in the forthcoming elections.

The Government was angered by the bishops’ statement opposing social reforms introduced since the 2004 election victory by the PSOE party. The bishops said that while “Catholics may support and join different parties it is also true that not all (electoral) programs are equally compatible with the faith and Christian demands of life.”

The reforms included the relaxation of divorce laws, the legalisation of gay marriage and the removal of religious classes from the national curriculum.

The statement has been seen as a thinly veiled call for voters to back the right wing People’s Party (PP).

The foreign minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, lambasted the statement, saying it came from a “fundamentalist, neoconservative hierarchy that does not even represent the feelings of most Spanish Catholics.”

The Bishop’s comments may well backfire against the church and the PP. Opinion polls regularly show that the Spanish, while still conservative by northern European standards, support the liberal social policies of the Zapatero government, while attendance at church is in steady decline.

According to a poll by Metroscopia published in El País, the PSOE has a small lead over the opposition only weeks ahead of a general election. 42 per cent of respondents would back the PSOE in the March ballot, while 38.6 per cent would vote for the conservative Popular Party.

Also see: Zapatero tells church to stop election meddling

22 February 2008