Editorials
It's a Sin
By h.b. - Feb 1, 2008 - 8:50 PM
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EDITORIAL COMMENT
On Friday the Catholic Bishops in Spain offered a statement on why exactly the presence of Bishop Juan María Uriate who acted as a mediator during the talks with ETA during the previous Partido Popular administration led by José María Aznar in 1998 was not a sin, and yet the contacts made with ETA by the current Socialist administration were sinful.
Basically the comment made by the Bishops’ spokesman, Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, was that in the first case only a meeting took place, and in the second there were negotiations.
One can understand how the Church knows what happened in the time of the Aznar government in 1998 as they were there taking an active role, but how do the Bishops know what happened in 2006?
The Catholic Church is in its rights to give moral guidance to its flock on how they should vote, but how can they seriously claim to be anyway Christian when they have now taken up such a blatantly hypocritical position on the terrorism issue. They should take a long hard look at their own moral behaviour before even considering advising how others should act on the matter.
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has repeatedly said that terrorism should not be a party political issue, there should be cross-party unity on the subject. A similar call has been made several times by King Juan Carlos, but it seems perfectly clear that the Catholic Church would prefer its flock vote for the Partido Popular, as you should never vote for a party which (now they say, a month before the election) has negotiated with terrorists. The fact that the P.P. did so in the past is no problem, as they promise not to do so again.
Clearer hypocrisy and political interference on the Church’s part would be hard to find.
Where were the Church’s moral concerns when the Partido Popular led Spain into the Iraq war against the wishes of 91% of the Spanish people? Silence when war is proposed and followed by the right wing, and moral outrage when peace is attempted by the left wing. How is war more compatible with faith exactly? It’s not what I read in my bible.
It begs the question on what, or should that be whose, authority are the Spanish Bishops acting? After all, the Pope himself asked people to pray for the success of the peace process in 2006. I wonder if his Holiness blessed the political ‘note’ issued by Bishops against such a process last Thursday. No record that he has, although of course the Pope is in full agreement with other attacks made on gay marriage and abortion.
In Spain today one cannot also fail to notice the unchristian attitude of the Church-owned COPE radio station, illustrated for example by their campaign and allegations of active euthanasia leading to the deaths of 400 patients at the Severo Ochoa Hospital in Leganés. The doctors concerned have now been found completely innocent of any crime or any medical malpractice, and yet from all the commentators on COPE who carried out months and months of abuse, calling these poor professionals ‘Nazis’, and ‘exterminators’, now there is not a single word of apology. No word of apology to any of the families either.
How can the Church morally continue to fund such a media operation?
Esperanza Aguirre did herself no favours either by saying the fact that medical malpractice was not proven in the case, did not mean it did not take place. By such a comment it is clear that the Regional President of Madrid no longer believes in the principal of innocent until proven guilty. It’s all turning into a moral wasteland.
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Deputy Prime Minister, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, called for the Spanish Bishops to respect the separation between State and the Church on Friday afternoon, as outlined in the Spanish Constitution, but recent events show that the call has not been and clearly will not be heeded.
What happened to basic Christian decency and moral standards on the right wing? They surely should not be incompatible, but that is exactly what they appear to be in Spain currently.
Tax payers are crossing out their state contribution to the Church in ever increasing numbers on their IRPF forms. On March 9 we will see just how the Church’s partners in the Partido Popular will fare in the General Election when the voters choose their ballot papers.
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