by Hilary White
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VALENCIA, June 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will be staging a homosexual conference on the day before the expected arrival of Pope Benedict XVI. The pope is to arrive in Spain July 8-9 to attend the 5th meeting of the World Family Forum in order to explore ways to bolster the integrity of the family, which the pope has said is under assault across the world.
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A consortium of homosexuals and leftist anti-Catholic groups, with the help of €17,000 from the Employment and Social Affairs ministry, and the University of Valencia, have organized the conference to counter the Family Forum meeting organized by Spanish family supporters and the Vatican.
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The Archbishop of Valencia condemned the homosexual conference – which will include a public “gay pride” demonstration – as “an offensive provocation” to Pope Benedict and the Church.
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This is not the first time that the currentÂgovernment has been accused of “provoking” the Church in such a fashion. In 2005,Âthe government’sÂown ambassador to the Holy See said Zapatero’s government had “stuck a finger in the Church’s eye” by approving the law on same-sex marriages two days before Benedict’s inauguration.
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The pope will greet Premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the headquarters of the Valencia archdiocese, and not at any official government location. The move, some have speculated, is a signal by the gesture-sensitive Vatican to show the socialists and Zapatero where they stand in Benedict’s estimation. The meeting with Zapatero is scheduled following his greeting of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia, for which the pope will travel to Valencia’s City Hall.
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Pope Benedict will be present on the last two days of the World Family Forum. HeÂwill give a closing speech on the Saturday evening and then preside over a public Mass at the cathedral the following morning. The pope has been a strong supporter of the World Family Forum and has urged Catholics from around the world to attend.
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Zapatero has confirmed that he will not be attending the Family Forum’s closing ceremonies, saying, “It has nothing to do with me.”
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Since sweeping to power in the wake of the Madrid train bombings, the Zapatero socialists have made their priority a program of overturning traditional social values. They have forced a largely unwilling populace to accept homosexual “marriage,” and embryonic stem cell research, and have relaxed the divorce laws. In a document released last weekÂPope Benedict called this program “the eclipse of God”.
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Spain’s Catholic character has been under assault since the social revolution in the 1960’s, and the country now suffers from one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
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Zapatero’s socialists may be losing ground with Spanish voters, however. Family groups have staged large protests against the abolition of marriage. This weekend, some estimated that up to a million people marched against what is perceived to be the government’s capitulation to terrorist groups.
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Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
First Gay ‘Marriage’ Legalized, Now Spain Bans Terms ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06031001.html
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Spain Continues Cultural Tailspin—Abortion Rates Soar 72%
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06010308.html