The Catholic Church and the Secular State

Abstract

The Pope’s visit to Valencia (Spain) on the 8th and 9th of July, 2006, to close the 5th World Meeting of Families was programmed by the Spanish ecclesiastic hierarchy, the Vatican and the Popular Party of Valencia as a gigantic staged performance of the politicalconfrontation between the Catholic Church and the Socialist Government. However, the tragedy in the Valencia subway system, which cost the lives of 42 people, lowered the political tension. Benedict XVI used a conciliatory tone open to dialogue with the Head of theState and President of the Government, although he kept his defence of the family founded on the indissoluble matrimony between a man and a woman as the fundamental pillar of society intact and unchanging. The objective is none other than to modestly collaborate in theconstruction of the secular State, which is encountering so many difficulties along the way.

Keywords

• religion
• Church
• Catholicism
• State
• secularism