By Gudrun Schultz
SPAIN, March 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Spain’s bishops have launched a leadership initiative to counter the rapid liberalization of the country’s life and family policies, a report by Chiesa Press said February 23, modelling their approach on the efforts of the Bishops of Rome.
Sandro Magister, writing for Chiesa online, highlighted the “about-face” undertaken by the Spanish episcopate after years of indecision and weak leadership. The beleagured Catholic nation has seen some of the most liberal social policies in Europe established under the leadership of socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Same-sex “marriage” and homosexual adoption were introduced in 2005, along with no-fault divorce, abortion on demand and policies encouraging embryonic stem-cell research. In March 2006 the government ordered the terms “father” and “mother” be replaced with gender-neutral terms such as “Parent A” and “Parent B”.
The bishops’ response to the new legislation was largely passive, critics charged, with little moral leadership offered to give people guidance in resisting the changes. No longer, according to Magister, with the bishops’ introduction of two joint documents giving “pastoral instructions” on the situation last year.
The first one, released March 30, was a sharp criticism of the doctrinal and moral deviations in the Spanish Church, blamed by the bishops as the ultimate source of the Church’s failure to respond adequately to secularization.
“Today this document—written in agreement with the Vatican congregation for the doctrine of the faith—provides the basis for a campaign of doctrinal clarification in the diocese, among the clergy, in the seminaries, among the catechists, in the associations, in the parishes,” Magister wrote.
The second document addresses the particular legislative and social changes in Spanish society. The bishops refer to the “shock wave of secularism” that hit the country over the past few years, calling Catholics to embrace their religious and civil responsibilities in the face of the situation, and suggesting “moral guidelines” to offer assistance.
The bishops modeled the instruction on the address given by Pope Benedict XVI to the Italian Church, in Verona October 2006. The strong stance of Rome’s bishops against legislation undermining respect for life and family is increasingly serving as a guide for bishops’ conferences in other countries facing the same forces of secularism.
See Chiesa Press coverage, including text of Spanish bishops’ documents:
https://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=122761&eng=y
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Spain Fast Becoming Europe’s Worst Place for Families
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07011708.html
Spain’s Socialist-Led Descent into Darkness
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/nov/04111503.html
Spain to Teach Children From Age 10 to Accept Homosexuality
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06071701.html
Spain Legalizes Same-Sex “Marriage” and Homosexual Adoption
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jun/05063003.html
First Gay ‘Marriage’ Legalized, Now Spain Bans Terms ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06031001.html
Spain Continues Cultural Tailspin—Abortion Rates Soar 72%
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06010308.html