London's
Independent yesterday reported on Pope Benedict XVI's just-completed visit to Spain (
Pope's itinerary). The paper says:
the visit has touched a sensitive nerve in Spanish society, divided between traditional Catholics and a growing movement to eliminate Church influence in state affairs.
The Socialist Prime Minister, who figured this was a good weekend to surprise Spain's 1,500 troops in Afghanistan, is on the secular side. He has stopped short of scrapping the teaching of Catholic doctrine in state-supported schools, but during his six-year tenure he has infuriated the Church hierarchy by legalising gay marriage, simplifying divorce proceedings and, most recently, allowing first-trimester abortion on demand.
As the Pope's motorcade moved through Barcelona, a hundred gay and lesbian couples greeted him with a "collective kiss" to protest the Vatican's views on sexual freedom, divorce and condom use.
