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Zapatero dines with the Papal Nuncio in Madrid
By h.b. - Feb 15, 2008 - 7:32 AM
ALSO SEE : • Bishop want the faithful from all political parties - Jul 8, 2008 - 6:52 AM
• Madrid Archbishopric fined 1.5 million Euro for intereferning with a porn channel - Jun 8, 2008 - 9:49 PM

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (right) with the Papal Nuncio, Manuel Montiero - Photo EFE
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It comes at a time of high tension between the Spanish Government and the Spanish Bishops over comments made by the latter ahead of the General Election
The Archbishop of Pamplona, Monseñor Fernando Sebastián, has criticised a meeting held in Madrid between the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and the Papal Nuncio in Spain, Monseñor Manuel Montiero de Castro, describing it as ‘unfavourable in election times’.
The Bishop said that the Spanish Church would move ahead as their support was Jesus and not the Socialist party. He said the church felt under threat, but was not frightened by the possible Socialist rethinking on how it is funded by the State.

Zapatero has recently asked for the same respect for the Islamic veil as for the processions seen in Spain at Easter, and the Bishop said the comparison was ‘quite arbitrary’ because they both do not have the same importance or significance in Spanish society.

‘It seems that there is a policy in making everything equal and the importance of all religions equal in Spanish society, but it is different because history is as it is’, he said.

At the actual meeting between Zapatero and Manuel Montiero held in private last night, the two are understood to have discussed the relationship between the State and the Catholic Church. Dining together in what has been described as a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, little more is known about the contents, but the Government says the Deputy Prime Minister will give more details later today in her regular Friday afternoon press conference.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister has been explaining the comments heard by him off-mic after an interview on the TV station Cuatro.
José Luis Rodríguez Zaptero explained that tension was good in the political landscape now as it mobilised the citizens as to what was at stake on March 9 in Spain and got the Socialists out to vote. But he told the Onda Cero radio audience today that the only party to increase the tension excessively over the past four years had been the Partido Popular.


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