Monday, August 22, 2011

Zapatero's "conversion" from enemy to friend

Madrid sent some encouraging diplomatic dossiers to the Secretariat of State, regarding the state of the relations between the Vatican and what was supposed to be an avant - guard government upholding secularism.

Since the tough tug-of-war between the government and the Spanish Episcopate on same-sex marriage and Catholic education, Zapatero had opened the way for dialogue with the Vatican. 

Zapatero’s contribution to the World Youth Day 2011 organisation went beyond the Holy See’s wildest expectations and his law on abortion was not nearly as liberal as the Vatican had feared.
 
To the extent that it actually caused the outrage of “pro-choice” associations and anti-Pope movements. 

The tough way in which he dealt with the “indignados” demonstrations and the anti-Ratzinger protesters marked a real turning point in Zapatero’s attitude towards the Vatican, as he adopted a new conciliatory and collaborative “ostpolitik” towards the Holy See. 

And yet, after his victory over the super Catholic Aznar, the ultra secularist Spanish prime minister caused the Vatican hierarchies to make some rather derogatory comparisons, going as far as to say he was “worse than Fidel Castro” in terms of his anti ecclesiastical behaviour. 

The Iberian Episcopal Conference pointed out that now that Zapatero has had to soften his stance, partly due to recent electoral splits during the local elections and his low approval ratings, and he can no longer afford to be put to the test by the millions of Catholics that have taken to the streets on more than one occasion in protest of his secular policies.
 
In the fully fledged economic crisis the world is facing, the help offered by the Church in the achievement of social peace, is something the country cannot do without.