The rebellion of a Madrid parish has put the spotlight on what many Spanish believers see as an excessive distance between them and the Catholic hierarchy.Madrid archbishop Antonio Maria Rouco Varela has announced the closure of the parish of San Carlos Borromeo over its unorthodox practices.
"Red priest" Enrique de Castro and his two colleagues celebrate mass in jeans, use biscuits instead of wafers at communion and allow Muslim immigrants to read the Koran during mass.
"We cannot just say anything we want during mass, but have to follow the dictates of the Catholic church," the archbishop's representative Joaquin Martin said.
But the parish of San Carlos Borromeo in the Vallecas working- class neighbourhood is well known for its social work, and the decision to close it has met with protests.
Hundreds of people now pack the small church during mass, and hundreds more from all over Spain have e-mailed the priests to offer their support.
"This church has understood the real message of Jesus," a supporter named Pablo wrote, while Ruben described the decision to close the church as "anti-Catholic" and "shameful. "
Rouco would only allow the priests to continue their social work without celebrating mass, but Castro and his colleagues are defying the order and held a mass last Sunday.
"If they continue disobeying" the archbishop's orders, they face a "serious sanction," Martin warned earlier. San Carlos Borromeo belongs to a current of grassroots Christianity close to the Latin American liberation theology, which wants to bring justice to the poor and oppressed.
The Spanish current emerged in the 1970s and 80s, when some priests focused on helping young heroin addicts and participated in anti-drug rallies and sit-ins. The Vatican has sought to curtail the growth of liberation theology, a line fully accepted by Spain's conservative Catholic hierarchy.
Few Madrid priests say openly that the Catholic church should be closer to the people, but dozens quietly prioritize grassroots work with drug addicts, criminals, immigrants, battered women and other marginalized groups.
Parishes teach professional skills to school dropouts, illiterate people to read, and help the unemployed look for jobs.
Many of Spain's 20,000 priests wear civilian clothes most of the time, according to the daily El Pais. Many are also critical of some Vatican policies.
Nearly 53 per cent would like priests to have the option of marrying, and 63 per cent feel the Spanish church should separate its finances from those of the state, according to a poll in a Catholic magazine.
The Spanish state pays more than 5 billion euros (6. 8 billion dollars) annually to Catholic church coffers directly or indirectly, a policy which has come under increasing criticism from other religions and secular activists.
The priests at San Carlos Borromeo have done extensive social work for three decades, even lodging homeless people in their homes. Castro has admitted to celebrating "Christian-Muslim masses" at which Muslims pray in Arabic, and the Koran is read alongside the Bible.
"The human being is above religions, and we need to believe in the human being," Castro said.
Such ideas are not to the liking of Pope Benedict XVI, who believes that too much diversity would weaken the church in an era of galloping secularization.
Priests such as Castro, on the other hand, say it is their activities that strengthen the church by responding to the needs of the people.
In Madrid, for instance, only four-tenths of Catholics now regard themselves as practising believers, according to a 2006 poll by the Centre of Sociological Investigations.
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