Spain and the Vatican (1964)

[Francisco Suárez]

The contest between the "liberals" and the "conservatives" at the Second Vatican Council seems to be ending in victory for the former. Pope Paul VT, it is reported, is coming down on the side of modernism. This fits the report that the Vatican is also trying once again to bring the Roman Catholic Church in Spain into tune with the rest of the world.

It has been one of the paradoxes of religious history that Spain, at least since the days of Ferdinand and Isabella, has been more "orthodox" than the Holy See. The Reformation could not touch Spain; in fact, the Counter?Reformation began there. The Inquisition took its most extreme form in Spain.

In Rome, Protestants are "separated brethren"; in Spain they are damned souls who are still agitating for the right of public worship. Nowhere in the Christian world is there such a ferocious record of anti?clericalism — church burnings and the killings of priests and nuns—as Spain has seen since 1835, a century before the latest civil war.

The Vatican, in its very long history, learned to be worldly. The Spanish Church, forged in the desperate struggles against the Moors that began in the eighth century, has been extremist.

The newspaper Ya of Madrid, Spain's leading Roman Catholic daily, now quotes Pope Paul VI as saying to a Spanish cardinal: "Don't be afraid of religious liberty." Both the church and the Franco Government have, indeed, been afraid of religious freedom. Plans to soften the restrictions against Protestants, who only number one?rtenth of 1 per cent of the population, seem to have bogged down. The Concordat of 1953 contained a protocol upholding an article in the Fueros, or bill of rights, of 1945 that said : "None shall be molested for his religious beliefs or for private practice of his worship." But the key? word is "private." The basis of the Concordat is explicit. It states that "the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion continues to be the sole religion of the Spanish nation."

A great many of the younger members of the Spanish priesthood and several bishops would doubtless agree with Pope Paul that religious liberty is nothing to be afraid of. However, the reports from tie Vatican Council indicate that the Spanish cardinals and bishops there line up with the conservative minority.

If Pope Paul is opening the door of liberalism so widely that the winds of change will be enabled to blow even into Spain, Vatican II will have to its credit still another historic accomplishment.

https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/14/archives/spain-and-the-vatican.html

[Michael Wilson]

Spain has lost the faith; thank you Paul VI and Vatican II.

[ChristusRex]

Spain has lost the faith; thank you Paul VI and Vatican II.

That's SAINT Paul VI ! 

[Vetus Ordo]

Spain has lost the faith; thank you Paul VI and Vatican II.

That's SAINT Paul VI ! 

Spain can lose the faith.

Rome, however, can't. If Rome loses the faith, then there's a problem.