National
Archbishop of Pamplona criticises Prime Minister meeting with the Vatican Nuncio
By h.b.
Feb 14, 2008 - 2:32 PM

The Archbishop of Pamplona, Monseñor Fernando Sebastián, has criticised a meeting held in Madrid today 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.

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.