The Council of Bishops faced off against the far-right party, Vox on the 12th of last month following criticisms from Vox leader, Santiago Abascal.
The collision came after the anti-immigrant Vox party allied with the centre right party, the PP, to ban Muslim religious services in public buildings in the town of Jumilla in the Autonomous Region of Valencia, which drew criticism across Spain.
The local PP government intends to change, following Vox’s demand, the municipal bylaw regulating the use of public sports facilities so that they do not host “cultural, social, or religious activities unrelated to the Town Council.” In reality, the aim is to prohibit the use of the municipal football field to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the Feast of the Lamb, the two major annual Muslim celebrations that in the municipality can attract more than two thousand people.
As a result of this move, the Chairman of the Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Luis Argüello stated that it was impossible to discuss immigration without addressing capital-labour conflict in the national economy with the consequent political consequences.
The Archbishop of Tarragona, Joan Planellas, went further, declaring: “We must assert unequivocally that a xenophobe cannot be a true Christian, adding, “Xenophobia is absolutely out of place in Catholicism,” which is when the proverbial hit the fan over the the Vox Headquarters.
In other words, the Council of Bishops considers that Vox’s stance is completely contrary to that of the Church, taking into account the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which highlights the right to religious freedom.
However, in recent years, ultraconservative-Catholic groups linked to the right wing have launched messages against immigration and, particularly, against what they have labeled as the “Islamisation” of society.
For example, The NEOS Foundation has been criticised by progressive sectors and media outlets, who describe it as ultraconservative and national Catholic. It is accused of attempting to ideologically influence the Spanish right and of promoting a reactionary agenda contrary to advances in civil and social rights.
It is also accused of attempting to weld together the main conservative party, Partido Popular, with Vox; the latter is actually a radical, splinter group that emerged from the Partido Popular. Bear in mind that the formation’s name, Partido Popular was an attempt to mask its origins as a coalition of right-wing groups under its former name of Alianza Popular.
Reacting to the broadside from the Spanish, Catholic Church, Vox Leader, Santiago Abascal expressed his “perplexity” and “sadness” over the Church’s criticisms of the PP and Vox agreement in Jumilla. “I do not know if it is due to public funding, which makes it difficult for them to combat certain government policies. Or I don’t know if it has to do with the cases of pedophilia, which have completely silenced them regarding the actions of certain oppressive governments. But I am perplexed by these positions,” he said in an interview for the Bipartidismo stream podcast.
(News: Jumilla, Valencia)
Keywords, Council of Bishops, Episcopal Council, Archbishop, Vox, PP, Anti-Immigrant, Freedom of Public Religious Worship
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