Vatican's Madrid man bows out as Church veers left

[emad]

March 10, 2005

Times
From David Sharrock in Madrid



SPAIN’S political and social transformation after the Madrid bombings, which unseated a conservative government a year ago, continued yesterday when a moderate bishop replaced a hardliner as the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Ricardo Blázquez, Bishop of Bilbao, was elected president of the bishops’ conference after Antonio María Rouco Varela, his precessor, failed by one vote to win the two-thirds majority needed for a third term.

Mgr Rouco Varela was the Vatican’s preference and has come into conflict repeatedly with the Socialist Government in the past year, during which it has legalised gay marriage, made divorce simpler and eased rules for stem-cell research.

The reform programme has drawn sharp criticism from the Pope, who said that he was concerned about a possible restriction of religious freedom in Spain. The Socialists responded by summoning the Papal Ambassador to voice their surprise.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1518252,00.html

[oneighty]

1. The Pope?

Is the Pope still formulating church policy or have his political minded underlings taken over?

Curious.

180

[emad]

3. Opus Dei took over in the mid-1990s when the Pontiff's medication

for Parkinson's Disease was upped to the maximum possible levels of sedation.

All his writings, pronouncements and public statements have been the product of fundie spin.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

2. I love this part.

The reform programme has drawn sharp criticism from the Pope, who said that he was concerned about a possible restriction of religious freedom in Spain.

Typical right-wing rhetoric. When your ability to ram your ideology down everyone else's throats is (rightly) reduced, whine that your own freedoms are being stepped on.

[athenap]

4. restriction of religious freedom?

Dammit, we want our rights to marginalize gays, reverse science, and make it hard for a woman to get out of getting the crap beaten out of her every day. How dare they restrict our freedoms like that.

/snark

Normally, I'm a lot more moderate on the Catholic church and the Pope--it's the Pope's job to interpret Church directives, and presumably it's supposed to be independent of his personal feelings on the subject--it's not him, it's what the church law, canon, and history have to say about something. But this time...it sounds like sulking over internecine politics.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. A new Martin Luther?

this time in Spain.