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The archbishop of Madrid, Spain, Cardinal Jos\u00e9 Cobo Cano. | Credit: EWTN News<\/p>\n
The stability of Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u02bcs government is also being called into question by some of its coalition partners, such as the Basque Nationalist Party, which has labeled the decision not to call general elections before the end of the year \u201cirresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polarization is not limited to the political sphere, however. According to the Atlas of Polarization by More in Common (2025), nearly 5 million Spaniards have broken off a personal relationship in the past year due to ideological differences, a figure equivalent to 14% of the population. Furthermore, three out of every five citizens say they avoid discussing politics to avoid creating conflict.<\/p>\n
According to jurist Rafael Domingo Osl\u00e9, professor at the University of Navarra in Spain, this phenomenon reflects a grave deterioration of society at large. \u201cSpain is experiencing a moment of profound social fragmentation, exacerbated by a political class incapable of lowering the tone,\u201d he said in an interview with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. In his view, the volume of personal breakups \u201cis a symptom that we are losing the respect necessary to prevent a society from fragmenting.\u201d<\/p>\n
A shared language<\/p>\n
In this context, the pope\u2019s visit takes on a particular significance as the emergence of a voice capable of introducing a different language into the public debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cA papal visit does not, in and of itself, resolve a crisis of this nature. But it can accomplish something that politics, by its very logic, is no longer able to achieve: offering a common framework and a shared language,\u201d Domingo explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The key, he added, lies in the pontiff\u2019s unique position: \u201cThe pope arrives not as an arbiter of an ideological debate but as a shepherd reminding a weary society that every person, regardless of whom they vote for, possesses a dignity that precedes their opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Main fa\u00e7ade of the Congress of Deputies (lower house) in Madrid. | Credit: Nicol\u00e1s de C\u00e1rdenas\/ACI Prensa<\/p>\n
This circumstance has prompted an unusual gesture in recent Spanish politics: a unanimous invitation to the pope extended by both the House and the Senate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a country where parliamentary consensus is nearly impossible, all political forces have agreed to listen to the same voice. That, in itself, is already a healthy gesture,\u201d Domingo emphasized.<\/p>\n
Leo XIV will address a joint session of the Legislature on June 8, marking the first time a pontiff has spoken before both Spanish legislative chambers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The motto of the trip, \u201cLift Up Your Eyes,\u201d encapsulates the spirit of the visit, according to Domingo, who said he hopes Spaniards will \u201ccease focusing solely on immediate conflict and look toward what truly matters.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Concurrently, the encyclical\u00a0Magnifica Humanitas\u00a0<\/a>has met with a remarkable reception in the Spanish political world.<\/p>\n In a message posted on X, S\u00e1nchez emphasized: \u201cLeo XIV\u2019s encyclical\u00a0Magnifica Humanitaschallenges us all. AI is not neutral, and digital power could lead us to new atrocities if it is not directed toward the common good. The text is also a defense of peace, human dignity, and multilateralism. Spain is clear on this: In this moment of change, we cannot be resigned spectators. Everything that makes us human is at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n Along the same lines, Foreign Minister Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0the press, following his audience with the pope on May 4: \u201cThere is a great convergence between the Vatican\u2019s positions and Spain\u2019s humanist foreign policy at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite these points of convergence, tensions between the Church and the political realm remain.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the most visible flashpoints is the\u00a0re-signification<\/a>\u00a0of the Valley of the Fallen (Cuelgamuros), a monument to the victims from both sides of the 1936\u20131939 Spanish Civil War comprising a basilica, a cemetery, and a guesthouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n For 44 years, the mortal remains of dictator Francisco Franco lay buried there until their exhumation in 2019. Franco was the general who led the victorious right-wing Nationalist side against the leftist Republican side in the conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n The current government has led the drive to transform the site into a political memorial, while the Church has advocated for the preservation of the monument\u02bcs religious dimension.<\/p>\n Italian constitutional scholar Marco Olivetti warned during a press conference at LUMSA University in Rome that \u201chistorical memory has been used as a divisive element that shapes public perception of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n Added to this are legislative clashes such as the attempt to enshrine abortion rights in the Spanish Constitution or proposals to eliminate military chaplains, efforts in direct confrontation with Church doctrine.<\/p>\n However, criticism of the Church does not stem solely from the left. The bishops\u2019 defense of immigrants, including their support for the government\u2019s plan to give legal status to undocumented immigrants, which would benefit nearly half a million people already residing in Spain, has also drawn reproaches from conservative quarters.<\/p>\n Santiago Abascal, the leader of the Vox party, which declares itself Catholic, lashed out at the secretary-general of the Spanish Bishops\u2019 Conference, Bishop Francisco C\u00e9sar Garc\u00eda Mag\u00e1n: \u201cThis character never dares to criticize the mafioso government. Because the government provides him with his business through the invasion [the influx of illegal immigrants]. And that\u2019s his priority: the business. And a profound contempt for the Spaniards who wish to defend their homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n The risk of instrumentalizing the pope\u2019s words<\/p>\n The papal visit is not without risks in a climate of high polarization, Domingo warns. \u201cOne party will highlight whatever suits its agenda while remaining silent on the rest; another will try to do the opposite. It\u2019s inevitable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Nevertheless, he underscored the Holy See\u2019s experience in \u201cwriting speeches that stand as a cohesive whole.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTaking the pope out of context is relatively easy; refuting him is much more difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Cobo shared this concern regarding the pontiff\u02bcs address before the joint session. \u201cI believe this is a gesture that is also very characteristic of the Church, for it entails listening to the Christian tradition speaking about politics, but \u2018Politics with a capital P\u2019 [the noble art or statesmanship]. In a society where we are accustomed to talking about political parties, that moment is significant. The fear, indeed, is that we might attempt to make a discourse on \u2018Politics with a capital P\u2019 to fit into a partisan narrative, effectively pitting one against the other,\u201d he noted in his interview with EWTN News.<\/p>\n Moreover, the context is exacerbated by the rise of identity-based discourses that conflate politics and faith.<\/p>\n Sociologist Rafael Ruiz Andr\u00e9s, a professor at Complutense University in Madrid, warned in an interview with ACI Prensa that \u201cthere is a whole range of sectors, located primarily within the far-right spectrum, and specifically in Spain within the Vox party, that seek to portray the defense of Christian culture as a central tenet of their platforms.\u201d However, he qualified this by noting that \u201cit\u2019s not necessarily a defense based on religion\u201d but is rather linked to \u201cidentity-based culture, and in many instances, positioned in opposition to Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n In his view, one of Pope Leo XIV\u2019s concerns is precisely \u201cthat there be this sort of hijacking of Christianity by politics.\u201d In line with this, reports published following a meeting of the executive committee of the Spanish Bishops\u2019 Conference with the pope pointed to\u00a0the Vatican\u2019s unease\u00a0<\/a>regarding attempts to \u201cinstrumentalize the Church,\u201d although the bishops subsequently clarified that the pontiff spoke in general terms about \u201cthe risks of subjecting faith to ideologies,\u201d without referring to any specific group.<\/p>\n This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0<\/a>by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the divisive political climate in Spain, some say there is the risk that political factions will try…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16018,15610,82,16019,10020,16020,70,17,209],"class_list":["post-32726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-aci-prensa","tag-cardinal-jose-cobo","tag-madrid","tag-magnifica-humanitas","tag-papal-visit","tag-political-polarization","tag-pope-leo-xiv","tag-spain","tag-spanish-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}