Archbishop Fernando Sebastian Aguilar of Pamplona (pic'd here)has stirred up a storm with comments that two far right Spanish political parties, the Falange and Spanish Alternative, are "worth a vote" because they "want to be faithful" to Church teachings.Expatica reports that Archbishop Aguilar made his comments in a message on the Catholic Church website in Navarre. According to Archbishop Aguilar, parties of the far Right, including the Falange and the Spanish Alternative are "worthy of consideration and of support".
The Falange was led by the dictator Primo de Rivera during the 1920s and later backed General Franco.
The archbishop's text formed part of a speech given at a conference in Leon in March.
Entitled "The Actual Situation of the Church - some practical orientations", the archbishop's paper gave suggestions about how the Church could regain some influence in society.
In a section called "How to make us present in society", it said: "Today in Spain, there are some parties that want to be faithful to the doctrine of the Church in its totality, like the Spanish Alternative, the Falange (and others).
All these are parties little considered. They are worth a vote. They do not have much chance to influence in political life even though if they could manage to establish important alliances if they receive the support of Catholic citizens."
For this reason, they cannot be considered obligatory but they are worthy of consideration and support."
The archbishop said there was a "silent desertion" by former believers.
He blamed the "revisionism" of the Transition period when Spain moved from the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco to democracy.
The archbishop blamed groups like Christians for Socialism and liberation theology.
In 2005, he warned Spain could be about to endure an "epidemic of homosexuality, strong psychological problems and painful frustrations" if gay marriage was legalised.
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