Spain's ruling
Socialists on Friday slammed Catholic bishops for urging
people to vote against parties who favor same-sex marriage
or negotiations with armed separatists in next month's
elections -- two obvious jabs aimed at the
government.
''The bishops
have decided to enter the election campaign. They have
decided to call for votes for the [right-wing] Popular
Party,'' Socialist spokesman Jose Blanco told
Cadena SER radio.
But Blanco said
it was logical given that for the past four years the
church had joined the Popular Party in numerous
anti-government demonstrations against negotiations
with the armed Basque group ETA, gay marriage, and
curtailing religious education in schools.
Describing the
bishops' stance as ''immoral'' and ''hypocritical,''
Blanco said he was sure that many Catholics, like him, felt
ashamed of the church's political interference.
Spain holds
general elections March 9, with latest polls indicating the
Socialists and the Popular Party are in a dead heat.
In Spain the
Catholic Church's leaders have long sided with the right and
even supported the fascist forces of Gen. Francisco Franco
in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and his ensuing near
four-decade dictatorship. Under democracy the church
has consistently backed the conservatives in
elections, although it has never actually named any
political party.
In a statement
Wednesday, the Spanish Bishop's Conference statement said
that while ''Catholics may support and join different
parties, it is also true that not all [electoral]
programs are equally compatible with the faith and
Christian demands in life.'' The statement cited Pope
Benedict XVI in urging protection for the traditional
form of marriage and it criticized government moves to
restrict religious teaching in school.
Blanco said that
Spain had the same abortion and divorce laws when the
Popular Party was in office and the church never complained.
On the issue of
talks with armed groups, the bishops said, ''A society
which wants to be free and fair must neither explicitly nor
implicitly recognize a terrorist organization as a
political representative of any sector of the
population.''
The efforts of
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's
efforts to negotiate an end to the Basque conflict
with ETA were supported by all parties barring the
conservatives. The bid collapsed when ETA called off a
cease-fire after failing to win concessions.
Blanco accused
the church of hypocrisy saying it took part in talks with
ETA under former Popular Party Prime Minister Jose
Maria Aznar. ''When Aznar sent a bishop to
negotiations with ETA it wasn't a sin,'' Blanco said.
In a statement
Thursday the Socialists said, ''If people are not to vote
for parties who have negotiated with ETA, then they won't
have to vote as no party fulfills that requisite.''
(Ciaran Giles, AP)
