The Spanish Church defies Zapatero

On March 4th, a few days before the legislative elections, the Spanish Episcopal Conference named a new head, the archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, the prelate is one of the most hostile to the socialist government. Guido Rampoldi considers the antagonism between the Church and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the out-going Prime Minister. "Three years of intermittent blows have exploded in the electoral campaign. In the light of the polls, the bishops should have put their long conflict with the socialist government aside. Instead they have chosen the champion of a episcopate that is radically opposed to it. The number of Catholics in Spain is decreasing, as in the rest of Europe. ... Before a Church already terrified by this decline, Zapatero has launched a series of reforms linked to sexuality and ethics that a major part of the curia had considered its own exclusive business."

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