The bill did not make it out of debate, but the proposal brought a range of views before the public.

Speaking to Crux, Archbishop Joan Planellas of Tarragona said he didn’t believe the debate itself was a good idea.

​​”I believe we should not get involved in these matters,” Planellas said. “There must be a deep respect for the religious reality of each confession and belief,” he said.

“We must ensure mutual respect, respect for diversity,” he added.

“Sometimes we see the other as an enemy,” Planellas also said, “and they are not an enemy but someone with whom we must dialogue.”

Planellas went on to express his misgivings regarding the burqa, a traditional Muslim women’s garment.

“That said,” Planellas offered, “one must always keep in mind that if it concerns the burqa, it is a form of discrimination against women.”

“Forcing a woman to dress in this way is also not right,” he said.

There are many Muslim women who wear the loose-fitting head-to-toe garment for reasons of personal piety, modesty, and cultural identity, though a minority of Islamic legal scholars hold that the covering is required by the Qur’an and parties like the Taliban in Afghanistan have made wearing the garment compulsory.

Planellas, however, who is also president of the Conferencia Episcopal Tarraconense – a Catalonian regional bishops’ assembly established in 1969 – was keen to underline his firm respect for other religious beliefs.

“All beliefs and ways of dressing must be respected,” he said, “as long as they are not discriminatory toward women.”

The clothing ban was proposed by Vox in a private member’s bill. The party cited security issues and women’s rights among the reasons in favor of the ban. the conservative People’s Party (PP) supported the ban.

However, right-wing and pro-Catalan independence group Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia), which has seven seats in the Spanish parliament, rejected the proposal despite early reports suggesting they would support it.

With only PP and Vox supporting the ban, the draft bill did not make it through to the next stage of the parliamentary process.

Junts explained it was in favor of a similar ban for public places, but made a slightly different proposal which included greater security control for Catalonia which is likely to prove highly contentious for right-wing groups in Spain.

“Neither burqa nor Vox. Neither full-face veil nor the far right. Nor fear, nor complexes,” Junts MP Miriam Nogueras said during the debate.

Vox’s proposal would have included an initial fine of €600 for anyone wearing a burqa or niqab in public spaces which could go as high as €30,000 for repeat offenders.

Anyone coercing someone to wear a burka or niqab could have faced up to three years in prison which would have increased if the victim was a minor or vulnerable person.

There would also be the risk of eviction from Spain for those found guilty.

Vox MP Blanca Armario was in charge of defending the proposal yesterday in the Congress of Deputies and called the burqa a “textile dungeon” and the use of the veil as a “practice incompatible with the fundamental values ​​of Europe.”

Ester Muñoz, an MP for PP, said “the full-face veil is the institutionalization of female invisibility.”

Andrea Fernández, from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), the party of Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, said the burqa and niqab stem from “sexist logic” and that she was willing for a “serious and rigorous debate” on the issue.

However, she highlighted “tolerance as a moral virtue” and said Vox’s proposal had “nothing to do with the dignity of women” but instead was about “their xenophobia, with the polarization they intend to bring to Spanish society.”

Meanwhile, the local council of Alcalá de Henares, a town of 200,000 inhabitants near Madrid, on Monday approved a proposal banning anyone wearing the burqa or niqab in the town’s municipal facilities.