Spain’s bishops view upcoming Pope’s visits and family situation
(April 23, 2010) The situation of family values is not improving in Spain, and instead,
there is a "serious retreat toward the abyss of the culture of death," cautioned the
president of Spain’s Catholic Church. Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, archbishop of
Madrid, said this when he opened the plenary assembly of the Spanish Catholic Bishops’
Conference. Among the other issues he addressed were Pope Benedict’s upcoming trips
to Spain in August for World Youth Day and again in November, to Barcelona and Santiago
de Compostela. In Barcelona, the Pope will consecrate the famous Holy Family church.
The cardinal said this act will give the opportunity to "reflect on aspects of great
relevance for our Church today." "From the point of view of the social doctrine of
the Church," Cardinal Rouco Varela explained, "it evokes the need to continue proposing
the natural and Christian concept of marriage and the family as the basis of just
social coexistence…" The Spanish bishops’ president lamented that the situation of
the family hasn’t improved in the country. Soon it would be 5 years since the new
marriage law in the Civil Code has ceased to recognize and protect marriage in its
own specificity inasmuch as an alliance of life between a man and a woman. Furthermore,
a recently approved law on abortion has yet to come into force but in practice the
life of the unborn is without legal protection, implying a very serious retreat toward
the abyss of the culture of death, Cardinal Rouco Varela added.