When politics and religion clash

In the not too distant past the Church was often accused of taking sides by supporting one political group and not another. These accusations were often made in countries where the majority of the population was Catholic. In many of these countries right-wing or centre-right parties had the open support of the clergy, the Catholic media and indirectly, at least, of the Church.

With the disappearance of Communism and the softening of attitudes by the extreme leftist parties the Church has practically kept out of politics, raising its voice only when issues relating to faith and morals are at stake.

Recently however the Church in Italy has had to come out into the open once again and take positions which some have described (not surprisingly!) as outright interference. A few weeks back the Italian bishops advised Catholics not to vote in the referendum held on a proposed amendment to the law on assisted procreation.

The law, passed only last year, makes it clear that life begins at conception and forbade experimentation on human embryos. During the hot pre-referendum debate those in favour of the amendment, including members of Prime Minister Berlusconi's party, emphasised that this was a purely political issue and the Church had no right to get involved. By taking a position and inviting Catholics to abstain, they claimed, the separation of Church and state was being threatened.

Those against the proposed amendment, among them Minister of Culture Rocco Bottilgione, retorted that Italians want a democracy which safeguarded the value of human life.

The referendum, as is known, was a complete flop with only 26 per cent of those eligible deciding to vote. On paper at least this could be interpreted, as some did, as a great victory for the Church. For others, like Emma Bonino, leader of the Radical Party, this was a great blow to the principle that there should be complete separation between Church and state in Italy.

A similar situation has developed in Spain. A fortnight ago an estimated half a million people took part in a demonstration in Madrid to protest against the Socialist government's plan to legalise same-sex unions.

For the first time in almost a quarter of a century the Spanish Church officially supported a public demonstration. Indeed the march was led by Cardinal Varela, Archbishop of Madrid. Nineteen bishops and thousands of priests and religious joined the vast crowd.

The event was not organised by the Church but by the Spanish Forum for the Family, a lay group which comprises some 150 pro-family organisations. On this occasion the Spanish bishops issued a statement saying that "the gay marriage Bill was the biggest challenge to Catholic values in 2,000 years".

The clash between the Church and the government in Spain on same-sex unions is not the only matter over which the two sides are in open disagreement. Other issues are abortion, which the government is planning to make easier to obtain, religious education in state schools and state funding for the Church.

Although the government did not comment directly on the Church's participation in the demonstration, the left-wing Spanish press which supports the prime minister and his government attacked the bishops for taking part in the march. They singled out Cardinal Varela, who, they said, "never marched against the war in Iraq or world hunger."

Even in the last US Presidential election in November the Church got somehow involved when most Catholics felt compelled not to vote for John Kerry, a Catholic, because of his attitude to abortion.

With man becoming even more determined to play God and hence only he can decide what is best for society and no one else, no matter the issue, discarding completely the notion of good and evil, the Church is destined to enter the "political" fray... even at the cost of being labelled fundamentalist and of threatening the separation of state and Church principle - so dear to liberals and nonconformists.