Catholic squeeze

Sep 16th 2004 | SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

From The Economist print edition

The Socialist government takes on several Catholic shibboleths

THE Spanish Catholic Church has long since forgone the imaginative forms of
torture dreamt up by the Inquisition. But as Spain's Socialist prime minister, José
Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has now discovered, the church has not lost its knack
for extracting sweat from dissenters. Mr Zapatero's first act after winning election
last March was to irritate America and Britain by withdrawing troops from Iraq. He
then turned his powers of annoyance on the church, announcing a string of
reforms that put ecclesiastical noses out of joint.

Mr Zapatero plans an entire programme of social reform, the "second transition"

as some commentators term it. The government is taking on both the church's
ideology and its privileged position. Mr Zapatero has pledged equality for
homosexuals, clearing the way for them to be given the right to adopt children.
"Homosexuals and trans-sexuals deserve the same treatment as heterosexuals
and have the right to live freely the lives that they have chosen," he has said.
Further plans include allowing women to inherit the Spanish throne, liberalising
the country's abortion laws, lifting restrictions on embryo research and cracking
down on domestic violence.

Mr Zapatero's centre-right predecessor, José María Aznar, was broadly in favour

of economic liberalisation. But in matters social, he seemed more of an avatar of
the right's reactionary past, happy to keep Spain in its traditional Catholic
straitjacket. To conservatives, the church has always been entwined with Spain's
identity, from the days of the Catholic monarchs to Franco. By contrast, Mr
Zapatero talks of "a Spain for all", with religion wholly separated from the state.
Before losing the election, Mr Aznar's People's Party had planned to reintroduce
obligatory religious instruction in schools. Mr Zapatero's Socialists say they will
guarantee that religious education is optional, offering one non-religious element
as an alternative. Teachers of religion are proposed by bishops but paid by the
government, an arrangement that has led to numerous cases of abuse. One
teacher, María del Carmen Galayo, lost her job for living with a man who was not
her husband. The teachers will now be subject to secular employment
regulations.

In July the church struck back, springing an ambush on Mr Zapatero when he

accompanied King Juan Carlos at the annual national offering at the cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela. Mr Zapatero, whose first overseas visit was to
Morocco, stood in the shadow of a statue depicting Spain's patron saint, St
James the Moor Slayer, on a white charger, hacking off the heads of Moors.
Church officials had just overturned a decision to remove the statue, an 18th-
century work by José Gambino, from the cathedral after it was deemed offensive
to Muslims.

With 52 clergymen glowering, the archbishop of Santiago, Julián Barrio, let loose
a point-blank fulmination. He accused Mr Zapatero of perverting the natural
order. He declared that marriage is "essentially heterosexual" and that the church
had every right to interfere in national politics "in cases of people's fundamental
rights or the salvation of souls". "It is not possible to truly understand or serve
Spain without taking into account its Christian roots," he added. Later the pope,
who had praised Mr Aznar for his "loyal collaboration", reproached Mr Zapatero.
Spanish bishops have called for the faithful to demonstrate against the reforms.
Stung by such attacks, the labour minister, Jesús Caldera, has hit back that the
church's preferential arrangement "has to end". He is referring to the
arrangement whereby Spaniards can tick a box offering a percentage of their
taxes to the church. The sum gathered adds up to €78m ($95m). Since this is
only just over half the church's annual budget, the government makes up the rest
directly. The head of the church in Spain, Antonio María Rouco, insists that it is
"logical" that a religion to which over 70% of the population subscribes appears in
the tax box. The church has held any reform of the system at bay for 17 years.
One theologian dismisses the attack on its coffers as a tactic deployed whenever
the church resists the government. The Franco regime "pulled the plug on some
church finances when the church criticised the dictatorship in its twilight years,
and so it goes on," he says. This time, the government's assault may be more
serious.