Papal trip comes during "crisis" in culture for Spain
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.”
Listen to the full interview by Emer McCarthy with Professor
Alejandro Rodríguez de la Peña: