Madrid sent some encouraging diplomatic dossiers
to the Secretariat of State, regarding the state of the relations
between the Vatican and what was supposed to be an avant - guard
government upholding secularism.
Since the tough tug-of-war between the
government and the Spanish Episcopate on same-sex marriage and Catholic
education, Zapatero had opened the way for dialogue with the Vatican.
Zapatero’s contribution to the World Youth Day 2011 organisation went
beyond the Holy See’s wildest expectations and his law on abortion was
not nearly as liberal as the Vatican had feared.
To the extent that it actually caused the outrage
of “pro-choice” associations and anti-Pope movements.
The tough way in
which he dealt with the “indignados” demonstrations and the
anti-Ratzinger protesters marked a real turning point in Zapatero’s
attitude towards the Vatican, as he adopted a new conciliatory and
collaborative “ostpolitik” towards the Holy See.
And yet, after his
victory over the super Catholic Aznar, the ultra secularist Spanish
prime minister caused the Vatican hierarchies to make some rather
derogatory comparisons, going as far as to say he was “worse than Fidel
Castro” in terms of his anti ecclesiastical behaviour.
The Iberian
Episcopal Conference pointed out that now that Zapatero has had to
soften his stance, partly due to recent electoral splits during the
local elections and his low approval ratings, and he can no longer
afford to be put to the test by the millions of Catholics that have
taken to the streets on more than one occasion in protest of his secular
policies.
In the fully fledged economic crisis the world is
facing, the help offered by the Church in the achievement of social
peace, is something the country cannot do without.