A week after the Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Zapatero, visited the Pope in Rome, the Spanish government announced that it will bring forward more legislation to extend the secularisation of the country. Crucifixes and other religious symbols — including burqas — will be banned from public spaces.
According to the daily newspaper El País the draft of the proposed Law on Religious Freedom bans religious symbols in all public spaces including schools and hospitals, and that state funerals will become civil ceremonies, unless family members request otherwise.
There will be an exception for religious symbols in the case that they have historical or artistic, architectural or cultural value, and the prohibition will not extend to private institutions which carry out a public service.
The document says the moves will avoid any confusion between state functions and religious activities.
Catholic sources say that the law will not be brought forward until after the Pope’s visit to Spain, which is slated for November.
However, by then the Zapatero government may be gone.
Opinion polls show that support for the socialists in Spain has crashed since the financial crisis and that the majority want early elections.
On present showings, the right-wing People’s Party would be returned to power.
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