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By Eric Pape
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Pope John Paul II may be bowed, his speech slurred, his Spanish fading, but the 84-year-old pontiff still knows how to pick a fight. Last week he accused the socialist government of Spain of promoting "scorn and ignorance" toward religion. "Permissive morality," he told dozens of top Spanish clergy visiting the Vatican, will damage the "imprint of Catholic faith in Spanish culture and restrict religious liberty." A top church official offered a summation of the pope's message: "This is dynamite."
The fireworks were directed less at the hapless Spanish priests than at the administration of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Since coming to power last spring, Zapatero's cabinet has pushed a slew of social reforms guaranteed to irk the Holy See: easing divorce laws, loosening limits on abortion, making religious education optional, even allowing gay marriage. And bolstered by poll numbers showing only one in five Spaniards attends church regularly, they've done so with little regard for the Vatican's opinion. Just last week, Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono blasted the pope's criticisms as "an exaggeration and a mistake." Of the church's stance against gays, he declared, "I am not disposed to accept this doctrine by which... the kingdom of the heavens isn't made for homosexuals." Spanish Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Calvo Merino then lodged a formal complaint with the Vatican's representative to Spain, Archbishop Manuel Monteiro de Castro.
Is this the start of a new holy war in southern Europe? The Vatican certainly feels besieged; last fall officials warned of an "inquisition" taking place against religiosity in Europe. In predominantly Roman Catholic France--which allows civil unions for gays and banned crucifixes as well as headscarves in schools last year--churches have been closing for decades. The number of French who say they attend church regularly has shrunk to a mere 7.7 percent. Nearly 90 percent of Italians call themselves Catholic, but less than 30 percent say they go to Mass regularly. In Spain, only 14 percent of young Spaniards attend church--a 50 percent decline in less than four years. More than 60 percent of Spaniards say they have little or no trust in the Catholic Church, making the institution less respected than the Army or the police in a country with living memories of fascism.
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Zapatero's socialists, on the other hand, are feeling emboldened. Their victory had far more to do with the center-right Popular Party's mishandling of the March 11 Madrid train bombings than with their liberal platform. Nevertheless, the convincing nature of the win gave Zapatero something of a mandate. Rather than toning down the party's social positions--many of which had been promoted with less fervor by earlier socialist administrations in the early 1990s--the new government has pushed forward on several fronts simultaneously, from divorce and abortion (both currently legal but tightly restricted) to gay rights. A law allowing same-sex marriages and adoptions by gay parents is scheduled to be passed this spring.
The target may not be the church so much as Zapatero's domestic opposition. Measures like gay marriage are supported by two out of three Spaniards. Philosophy professor Robert Gahl, who teaches at the Vatican's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, notes that the Spanish have had a deeply troubled church-state relationship since their civil war in the 1930s. "Spaniards mourn both the religious persecution of the leftist regime during their civil war and the intermingling between church and state during Franco's dictatorship," he says. The Popular Party--which has not hesitated to blast the Zapatero administration for its attitude toward Basque separatists and its foreign policy--has thus offered only muted criticism of the measures. PP communications director Gabriel Elorriaga says party leaders don't want to challenge Zapatero too loudly on social issues "because it pushes us further to the right." For its part, the Zapatero government is now more popular than when it was elected.
The strength of the backlash, too, has much to do with Spain's internal politics. On many of these issues, the Spanish church itself is divided. But a hard-line conservative leadership dominates the debate, thanks largely to its strong links to the Vatican. Church conservatives are also well organized, assisted by groups like Opus Dei and the Legionnaires of Christ, who wield an influence similar to that of the Christian right in the United States, according to Rafael Diaz-Salazar, sociology professor at Madrid's Complutense University. At an antiterror demonstration in Madrid on Jan. 22, provocateurs in the crowd began insulting Defense Minister Bono--using epithets such as "fag," "assassin" and "liar." He was punched repeatedly in the back before bodyguards hustled him out of the fray. "This is not a clash that the government was looking for," says Diaz-Salazar. The socialists have brought on "a disproportionate reaction" from the Catholic hierarchy, he says, by pursuing an agenda that the church sees as "an attack on human dignity."
A more unspoken challenge, says Diaz-Salazar, is to the "larger problem of reforming religious education." A 1979 agreement between the church and the Union de Centro Democratico government of Adolfo Suarez provided for vast direct and indirect subsidies to pay priests and religion teachers, as well as for the upkeep of churches and church-run institutions in Spain. The Spanish government doles out an estimated 3.5 billion euros annually to such causes. Faced with shrinking economic growth numbers, the temptation for the Zapatero government to tap into funds earmarked for the church is strong. That possibility is making religious authorities nervous. Gahl speaks of a "venomous anti-clerical" extremism from some sectors on the left.
Amid such heated rhetoric, Zapatero's administration has called for a return to a more diplomatic tone--and restated its commitment to the 1979 church-state accord. (The Vatican noted its appreciation of the gesture.) But Zapatero, nicknamed Bambi for his gentle political style even when engaging in confrontational politics, has also promised to remain faithful to his party's liberal platform. The pope may not be the only leader with a surprising amount of fight in him.
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