Thursday, January 10, 2008

It's getting interesting in Spain

Unwilling to face the fact that his socialist policies haven't created a perfect society on Earth and otherwise unable to provide a counterpoint to the massive demonstration in support of the family last month, the secretary of Spain's Socialist Party has decided the proper course of action is to simultaneously insult and challenge the Pope. It's an interesting strategy, if it works, and one that is frequently seen in politics in our own fair country. Sadly it always betrays an otherwise weak position and a lack of sufficient intellectual formation to defend that position. It is sadly typical of the illiberal liberality that has taken the place of a once proud tradition of open-minded and vigorous debate. CNA has the full story:

.- A heated debate is taking place in Spain over the meaning of the family. In the wake of a massive pro-family march on December 30 in Madrid, the secretary of the Socialist Party (PSOE), Jose Blanco, has raised the debate’s temperature by asking Pope Benedict XVI to explain to him “just what exactly is the Christian family” and by recommending that “some members” of the Catholic Church “re-read the gospel.”

“As a Christian, I would like the Pope to explain to me just exactly what is the Christian family; maybe by traditional family he means that the woman just stays at home and does housework,” he told Antena 3 TV.

Blanco also called on “some members” of the Church hierarchy to “re-read the gospel,” since in his judgment one cannot “nourish inequality and injustice in the morning, and resolve them by the praying the rosary in the afternoon.”

Some Spanish bishops need to “evolve” in the same way that “Spanish and world society has evolved” in the recognition of rights for greater equality.
Yes, "evolve". Because chasing that zeitgeist has made everyone so very, very happy. I'd comment more, but really, the positions are sufficient comedy for themselves. May Spain soon rediscover her Catholic character at even the highest levels of her government.