Religious Freedom In Spain

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31323, 20 March 1967, Page 12

Religious Freedom In Spain

The Army and the Church have always been powerful influences in Spanish politics. A recent constitutional interpretation of General Franco’s Organic Law has made it quite clear that their authority is to be in no way impaired. The law has defined the role of the Army. The Junta of National Defence is to be “a permanent constitutional organ of the State, a “ protector and supervisor of ideological principles ”, The law on religious freedom was intended to remove restrictions on Protestants and Jews, relatively very small minorities, in the practice of their faith. Protestants were to be allowed to advertise church services. All public offices, except that of Head of State, were to be open to non-Catholics. Protestant and civil marriages were to be permitted; but there would be no sanction for marriage outside the Catholic church between a Catholic and a non-Catholic. Roman Catholicism, in brief, would continue as Spain’s official and favoured religion. The law on religion, actually under preparation for more than a decade, is still awaiting enactment, and the draft approved by the Cabinet on February 24 has again been subjected to revision. To judge from the cabled version there has been a tightening of the provision in the original text “ recognising the right of individuals and religious communities “to divulge their faith”. In the amended text religious liberty now includes “ the right of individuals and legally-recognised confessional associations not to be impeded in the teaching of their faith by word or writing ” —the intention presumably being to restrict closely any possibility of Protestant proselytism.

What is apparent in any study of the Organic Law is that there is no intention of weakening the traditional association between Church and State, in which the Government is responsible for the nomination of bishops and the payment of clerical stipends. The “ New York Times ” pointed out not long ago that little attention had been paid to “ appeals by progressive members of the clergy, one recently signed by 400 priests, urging the hierarchy to “ dissociate itself from the Franco regime and to “apply the tenets of the Vatican Council”. This seems clearly to reflect the anxiety felt by Roman Catholic theologians, not in Spain alone but in Rome and elsewhere, over a sweeping penetration of government and business in Spain by the rich and powerful lay order known as Opus Dei. Founded in 1928 ostensibly e or the purpose of combating heresy, rationalism, secularism, and freemasonry in academic life, Opus Dei has become a major force in Spanish politics, business, and society. Most of those exercising power in Spain, some observers claim, are governed by the political and religious discipline of Opus Dei. One example of the order’s authority has lately been given by the Spanish correspondent of the “ Economist ”. A letter, he said, had been sent to the secretary-general of the Falangist movement—a member of the Cabinet—■“ instructing him to “ exclude items unfavourable to Opus Dei from the “ newspapers under his control ”,

The power of the order runs right through the civil service and the universities. Examining boards are dominated by it, and it runs the University of Navarra, for which in one year alone—l964—it was subsidised by the Franco Government to the extent of £600,000. The order has extensive interests in banking,, insurance, publishing (including newspapers), commercial radio—even film production, real estate, tourism, and advertising. Much of this, as the “ Economist’s ” correspondent has recalled, is in the tradition of Spanish religious orders. But, he says, because Opus Dei is a lay order, its members have opportunity to intervene directly in economic and political affairs. Catholic criticism of its place in Spanish society has been outspoken. . . . “ Individual “ priests deplore the methods of the order, the “ scandals popularly associated with it, and the anti- “ clericalism it is provoking. Many Catholic intel- “ lectuals refer to it as * Octopus Dei ’”. So far as is apparent, the regime does not contemplate any contraction of the order’s powers. Certainly the proposed concessions to religious freedom will not affect it It has been suggested by liberal Catholics and others that Opus Dei could not survive in a democratic Spain. Regrettably, the Spanish people are as yet far removed from the goal of a free democracy. The leaders of the order may nevertheless have doubts about the future, for they are reported to be transferring substantial assets abroad.