Cooperation and respectAfter the new government was formed, on April 13 Spain’s Bishops Conference issued a statement offering “cooperation”. However, the Bishops will “speak out” in an atmosphere of cooperation and humbleness whenever governmental activity fails to “comply” with the common good. According to Spain’s Episcopate, relations with the Government are “cordial”, but “they are always based on the truth of the Gospel and on the teaching of the Church”, otherwise, the Bishops affirmed, “we wouldn’t be faithful to God”. In the past days the Spanish Church had warned José Luís Zapatero Rodríguez that it will defend “the sacred value of the family from the moment of conception to its natural termination”, pointing out that “the Church Magisterium is very clear on this point”. This explicit position of the Church in defense of life solicited the reaction of Spanish Premier Zapatero who during the investiture at the Chamber of Deputies, claimed he will provide “full guarantees” to women who intend to interrupt their pregnancy, both as relates to health care and to the respect of their privacy. Before Zapatero’s stand, Spanish prelates recalled the position of Spain’s Bishops Conference which past March 31st, on the occasion of the National Day for Life requested the abolition of abortion. Therefore, keeping in mind “the duty” to “promote the value of human life within the Church and society”, Bishops voiced their support to initiatives based on this principle, like the international moratorium on abortion, and proposed alternative solutions to abortion, like increasing economic and social aid to women and promoting adoption. “Thousands of married couples go through long and painful adoption procedures, while over one-hundred thousand children in Spain in 2006 were put to death through abortion practies”, the Bishops stigmatized. Religions for peaceIn the past days personalities from the civil society and different religious traditions coming from various Countries like the Abbot of Montserrat, Josep Maria Soler, the Secretary General of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, William F. Vendley, former President of Iran Mohamed Khatami, along with the President of the Council of Churches of the Middle East Aram I, signed the statement of Montserrat “on religions in the construction of peace” which calls “not to practice acts of violence in the name of religion”. The statement affirms that “conflicts are born at the level of power, resources and ideology. However, religion is often manipulated to trigger conflicts”. An appeal was also launched to the media soliciting contribution in preventing the diffusion of stereotypes and partial truths and in promoting greater understanding between different cultures and religions. According to the statement, “deceiving information on the origin of conflicts requires an analysis on the existing relationship” between “religious feelings and violence. This is necessary in order to proceed to the construction of peace through prevention and peaceful resolution.” The statement points out that “unless we analyse and disseminate the details of this report, the media and people throughout the world will continue thinking that religion foments violence”. Evangelization and culture”The new evangelization cannot be separated from the evangelization of culture”. With this motivation the archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, set up in the past few days “the Episcopal Vicariate for Culture”, appointing Father Francisco César García Magán as Episcopal vicar. “The evangelization of culture, or rather, the Christian faith which becomes culture – he affirmed – is one of the major needs of the Church at all times and places, even here at the present moment”. For the Cardinal, faith witnessed and announced by the Church must necessarily “implicate man as a wholesome being inclusive of his aspirations”. It needs to be “conceived and manifested” in order “to be lived and translated into culture”. On the other hand, “culture needs faith” since “faith offers a deep conception of man which culture needs”. Furthermore, Card. Cañizares Llovera recalled, the Church “has proved itself to be an extraordinary promoter of culture and humanization”. For this reason, “the presence of the Church in the realm of culture cannot be confined to a mere cultural intervention. It should offer the possibility of a true encounter with the Lord of history Jesus Christ”. “The new evangelization of culture and the reconstruction of a truly humane world demand – His Eminence declared – the inner transformation, through the force of the Gospel, of those judgement criteria, fundamental values, points of interest, lines of thought, inspiration sources, humanity life models , which contrast the Word of God and the design of Salvation”. “As a bishop – the Cardinal concluded – I have the moral duty to promote in our dioceses the encounter between the message of salvation and the culture of our times”, marked by “profound secularization and religious indifference”.
