What do I mean by that?
Essentially, when the government of a country is hostile or indifferent to the authority of the Roman Catholic church, the bishops within that country make it their full-time job to point out areas in which the government is morally deficient. By taking the "moral high ground," the bishops are able to make the government look bad while making themselves look good. It is a well-tested strategy. It ultimately undermines the enemy government and encourages strong opposition to its policies--opposition that derives its strength not merely from shallow partisan politics but from a deep sense of moral and even Christian duty.
The bishops have used this strategy in Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, and Europe. Most recently, the democratic socialist government of Spain has been targeted by that country's bishops. Here, the bishops--as they have in the U.S.--have latched onto the abortion issue and made it the flagship cause of their strategy. Abortion is an ideal issue for bishops because it is generally disliked across the majority of the world and because it is based on a clear disrespect for life that is easy to indict on even non-religious grounds. The Zapatero government has chosen to strongly endorse abortion, and in a country that is over three-quarters Catholic such a policy move is not very wise. Needless to say, a regime change seems not far in the offing.
For more information on this topic, see my previous post "Spanish Bishops Flex Their Muscle."
The article comes from the Catholic News Agency.
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Catholics cannot support abortion, Spanish bishops reiterate
.- The press director for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Isidro Catela Marcos, has written a letter on behalf of the bishops reiterating that Catholic politicians cannot support abortion. The letter comes in response to pro-choice statements made by a Catholic who is head of Spain's Congress, Jose Bono.
In a January 3 interview with the Spanish daily, El Mundo, Bono twisted the words of John Paul II's encyclical, "Evangelium Vitae" to justify his pro-choice stance. In response, the bishops rejected Bono's reasoning and noted that Catholic politicians cannot vote for pro-abortion policies.
The bishops also commented on the country's abortion reform that is currently in the hands of the Senate. In December, Spain's House of Representatives voted 184 to 158 to pass a reform to the country’s abortion laws that would allow for the procedure up to the 14th week of pregnancy and limit the conscientious objections of medical professionals.
The bishops also criticized the law for treating abortion “as a woman’s right, and because women’s health is understood to be ‘social well-being,’ in addition to ‘physical and psychological well-being.’ It should also be condemned because it imposes abortion propaganda on the educational system.”
For this reason, the bishops’ letter recalled, “nobody in their right mind could support this law; Catholics cannot do so either in virtue of coherence with their own faith.”
The bishops said their letter was an expression of their duty to “explain the teachings of the Church on these matters, which are valid all over the world for every Catholic regardless of political affiliation.”
