The Spanish bishops have strongly condemned “the affluent society that it no longer able to defend its own children and the unborn child in the womb”. This was the main conclusion of the 86th plenary assembly of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference held in Madrid from 27 to 31 March, during which discussion also focused on techniques of assisted reproduction, abortion and poverty. “The so-called affluent society does not really show any solidarity with the poorest countries of the earth since it has ceased to show solidarity with its own children”, declare the bishops of the 69 Spanish dioceses in their final statement. “It is – say the Spanish bishops – an ethically sick society” that “bears in itself the seeds of its own destruction”. The Spanish Church denounces as “illicit” the “practices of assisted reproduction” and the “grave abuses against the life and rights of children”, and condemns “with special severity the practices of abortion”. “The unborn can neither organize themselves, not defend their own rights, nor uphold them before the courts, nor vote against the parties”, say the bishops in their document, issued on 31 March and called “Directives on the licitness of artificial fertilization and on the unjust practices authorised by the law that will regulate them in Spain”. Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez, President of the Spanish bishops, also spoke of the ETA communiqué in which the Basque separatist organization declares a “permanent ceasefire”, and called for “the unity of rulers and political representatives and the collaboration of society”. At the end of their assembly the bishops also issued a pastoral message, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst” inviting the faithful to pray and participate in the 5th World Meeting of Families with the Pope, due to be held in Valencia from 1 to 9 July. “The Pope is coming to Valencia to proclaim the Gospel of the family whose value is central for society and for the Church”. The Bishops therefore think that the participation of everyone in this meeting is very important, especially “at this historic time, full of grave questions and fervent hopes”: a time when “forces intent on disfiguring the very nature of marriage in the eyes of the new generations” are at work.
