As to the relation with the State and the political events of a nation, the two main attitudes taken in Europe by the Churches of Italy and Spain and by the Churches of France and Germany are different, but both legitimate. The first one is "more doctrinal", that is, "firm on its principles"; the second one is "more pastoral" and gives priority to "closeness with human reality". "Neither is an absolute that rules out the other". This is the conclusion drawn by the leader writer of La Croix, Michel Kubler, who on the front page of yesterday’s French daily paper proposes a reading "as seen from France" of the "relations between the Catholic and Governmental hierarchies" in Spain and Italy. Kubler speaks of a "strange spiral", whereby "legal initiatives about the family (abortion, divorce, gay couples, euthanasia,….) and education (the teaching of religion) are countered by massive ecclesial mobilisations that cause powerful political reactions". Kibler’s instantly compared it with what happens in Germany and France, where the attitude of the majority of the Bishops Conferences gives priority to "guidance rather than direct confrontation". Each approach comments Kubler "belongs to a special culture and history, but both must be combined together if the Church wants to comply with the announcement of its message and the service of mankind: two registers that are basically the same thing".
