Felix the Cat
01-13-2008, 08:57 AM
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10499119
IT MUST have turned the bosses of Spain's main political parties green with envy. Less than three months before a general election, more than 150,000 people packed into Madrid for what may turn out to have been the biggest rally held during the campaign, in what looks like an increasingly close electoral race.
Those calling the people onto the streets on December 30th, billed as “Christian Family Day”, were not professional politicians, but Spain's Catholic bishops. The demonstration added up to an impressive display of strength. As the bishops were quick to point out, the church is Spain's biggest social movement. But they did not limit themselves to spiritual matters. Their words were full of raw politics, and their target was clear. The Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, they averred, was leading the country towards moral and democratic ruin.
“We are heading towards the end of democracy,” said one bishop. Spain was “going backwards” on human rights, claimed another. The family was under “serious attack”, said a third. Lay speakers piled on the anti-government rhetoric. “Don't leave the hearts and minds of your children in the hands of anyone, and especially not of the state,” said one. But the Socialists have hit back. Some bishops are “archaic andultra-conservative”, said the party's president, Manuel Chaves. Mr Zapatero said they were trying to sell a false apocalypse.
Conservative Catholics have disliked Mr Zapatero from the moment he won election on March 14th 2004, just three days after Islamist bombers killed 191 people on Madrid trains. The church has noisily opposed laws to make divorce easier, allow gay marriage and take religion out of the obligatory school curriculum. Not that there is there anything new about Spain's left clashing with the Catholic church. Their battles long predate the civil war of the 1930s, when radicals killed more than 6,000 priests, nuns and monks. The church hierarchy at the time backed the nationalist rebel general, Francisco Franco. Some bishops even publicly raised stiff arms in fascist salutes.
This historical confrontation was meant to have ended with the rediscovery of democracy in the 1970s. But church conservatives now seem inspired by America's powerful religious right and by Italy's Roman Catholic bishops, who have never been scared of politics. In Spain, where three-quarters of people define themselves as Roman Catholic but fewer than one-fifth regularly attend church, some bishops clearly believe it is time to convert faith into political clout.
Yet Christian Family Day may have done little to dent Mr Zapatero's chances of winning re-election on March 9th. Indeed, it could help them. Even observant Spaniards are relatively relaxed about their Catholicism. They are not as conservative as Poles or Italians. Some bishops were upset by the tone of the rally. Those willing to endure long coach trips to Madrid for the rally were never likely to vote Socialist. Their natural home is the opposition People's Party (PP), which trails the Socialists by 2.5-4.5 points in most polls.
The Socialists' main electoral problem is to get their supporters into the polling booths. One of the best ways to solve it is to scare them. That is what the 2004 train bombings, with their messy political aftermath and claims by the PP of involvement by the Basque terrorist group, ETA, did. Mr Zapatero won a surprise victory. Some Socialist strategists believe that the sight of a loud political church, bringing with it bad memories of Francoism, may have a similar effect. “They have lent us a hand,” claims one Socialist campaign organiser, Antonio Hernando.
The PP, tellingly, has not jumped on the church bandwagon this time. It prefers to focus on an increasingly fragile economy. Spain's bishops may have discovered their political muscle, but that does not mean they know how, or when, to use it.
IT MUST have turned the bosses of Spain's main political parties green with envy. Less than three months before a general election, more than 150,000 people packed into Madrid for what may turn out to have been the biggest rally held during the campaign, in what looks like an increasingly close electoral race.
Those calling the people onto the streets on December 30th, billed as “Christian Family Day”, were not professional politicians, but Spain's Catholic bishops. The demonstration added up to an impressive display of strength. As the bishops were quick to point out, the church is Spain's biggest social movement. But they did not limit themselves to spiritual matters. Their words were full of raw politics, and their target was clear. The Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, they averred, was leading the country towards moral and democratic ruin.
“We are heading towards the end of democracy,” said one bishop. Spain was “going backwards” on human rights, claimed another. The family was under “serious attack”, said a third. Lay speakers piled on the anti-government rhetoric. “Don't leave the hearts and minds of your children in the hands of anyone, and especially not of the state,” said one. But the Socialists have hit back. Some bishops are “archaic andultra-conservative”, said the party's president, Manuel Chaves. Mr Zapatero said they were trying to sell a false apocalypse.
Conservative Catholics have disliked Mr Zapatero from the moment he won election on March 14th 2004, just three days after Islamist bombers killed 191 people on Madrid trains. The church has noisily opposed laws to make divorce easier, allow gay marriage and take religion out of the obligatory school curriculum. Not that there is there anything new about Spain's left clashing with the Catholic church. Their battles long predate the civil war of the 1930s, when radicals killed more than 6,000 priests, nuns and monks. The church hierarchy at the time backed the nationalist rebel general, Francisco Franco. Some bishops even publicly raised stiff arms in fascist salutes.
This historical confrontation was meant to have ended with the rediscovery of democracy in the 1970s. But church conservatives now seem inspired by America's powerful religious right and by Italy's Roman Catholic bishops, who have never been scared of politics. In Spain, where three-quarters of people define themselves as Roman Catholic but fewer than one-fifth regularly attend church, some bishops clearly believe it is time to convert faith into political clout.
Yet Christian Family Day may have done little to dent Mr Zapatero's chances of winning re-election on March 9th. Indeed, it could help them. Even observant Spaniards are relatively relaxed about their Catholicism. They are not as conservative as Poles or Italians. Some bishops were upset by the tone of the rally. Those willing to endure long coach trips to Madrid for the rally were never likely to vote Socialist. Their natural home is the opposition People's Party (PP), which trails the Socialists by 2.5-4.5 points in most polls.
The Socialists' main electoral problem is to get their supporters into the polling booths. One of the best ways to solve it is to scare them. That is what the 2004 train bombings, with their messy political aftermath and claims by the PP of involvement by the Basque terrorist group, ETA, did. Mr Zapatero won a surprise victory. Some Socialist strategists believe that the sight of a loud political church, bringing with it bad memories of Francoism, may have a similar effect. “They have lent us a hand,” claims one Socialist campaign organiser, Antonio Hernando.
The PP, tellingly, has not jumped on the church bandwagon this time. It prefers to focus on an increasingly fragile economy. Spain's bishops may have discovered their political muscle, but that does not mean they know how, or when, to use it.