Pope to stress unity at polarised Spain’s Parliament

The Pope will address Las Cortes, both houses of the Spanish Parliament, in Madrid on June 8, The Tablet reported.

Cardinal José Cobo Cano of Madrid said the Pope’s speech should not be read as an attempt to move Spain’s political needle for one side or another, but to elevate the country’s political conversation.

“We are used to seeing politics as rigid ideologies and confrontation,” Cardinal Cobo told the National Catholic Reporter. “I think that the Pope seeks to offer a different political reality and express gratitude for democracy and the political class.

“In Madrid, he will speak about the major challenges facing Europe and European dioceses,” Cardinal Cobo said, “but he is not there to endorse one message or another, rather he will convey the Church’s timeless message. That means sometimes it aligns with politics and other times it doesn’t.”

During an audience in December, Pope Leo warned Spain’s bishops of the risk of subjecting faith to ideologies.

After meeting Pope Leo at the Vatican on May 27, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a self-declared atheist, who belongs to the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ party), named several areas where his views coincided with Pope Leo’s, ranging from war to immigration.

“His words drive us to defend human dignity, protect the most vulnerable and work for hope, for a world that abandons the path to war and returns to peace, which is quite definitely a better world,” Mr Sánchez said.

Ahead of the Pope’s visit to Spain, which starts on June 6, groups represented by the Europa Laica or Secular Europe association have protested against the Pontiff’s planned address to the Parliament, The Tablet reported.  

The association sent a memorandum to Spanish parliamentary groups urging them to “weigh up and reconsider whether their deputies should attend this special session”, and calling for the repeal of Spain’s accords with the Holy See.

José Antonio Naz, the president of Secular Europe, stressed the non-confessional nature of the Parliament and said a religious leader should not be welcomed there.

Santiago Abascal, the leader of the right-wing, anti-immigrant Vox Party, said that he will attend the Pope’s address to the Parliament, but that his presence will not necessarily constitute an endorsement of Leo’s message.

FULL STORY

In first major European trip, pope’s Spain visit to touch on polarization, migration (By Justin McLellan/National Catholic Reporter)

Spanish PM hails Leo as ‘moral compass’ ahead of visit (The Tablet)