The Portuguese Church returns to the political arena

The academic Carlos Abreu Amorim reacts to the spokesman for the Episcopal Conference's recent criticisms of the government, notably after the legalisation of abortion in 2007. "The bishop Carlos Azevedo has poured forth his political declarations. These aren't the usual appeals for public funds in the sectors that concern the Church. He goes further and involves himself in the political ring by taking clear-cut positions against the government. ... We are witnessing here a strategic turn. After several years during which the state Church kept itself out of the political arena, we now have a new player on the scene. As a man of the right, I regret this development. During the recent Spanish legislative elections, the leader of the right, Mariano Rajoy, took up the most extreme positions of the Spanish Church. According to many observers, this is one of the major reasons he lost."

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