On
Friday, Pope Benedict XVI spoke to a group of 1000 young academics in
Madrid as part of his World Youth Day agenda.
Greeting him on behalf of
the academics was Professor Alejandro Rodríguez de la Peña, a history
professor and vice-rector at CEU San Pablo University.
Speaking
to Vatican Radio, Professor Rodríguez said the trip of the Holy Father
comes at a very important time in Spain’s history.
“The situation
in Spain is that we have a cultural crisis – an identity crisis – that
has to do with our national identity,” he said.
“Spain has historically
been a nation that is famous in the world because of its role as a
Catholic nation, and how Spaniards, since 30 or 40 years ago, we are
asking ourselves ‘who are we?’ Are we are a Catholic country?”
He said Spain is struggling with modernity.
“If
we are a secularized country we have to look for a new identity because
for around 1,300 years we have been a very Catholic country,” he told
Vatican Radio.
“The problem with Spanish culture now is that we have to
find an identity that incorporates Catholicism, which is our roots and
our original identity, and combine it with a new modernity which is not
[antagonistic] with Catholicism. We cannot build a new Spain against
Catholicism – that is to destroy our identity.”