Yesterday, I posted an article about the Catholic Church waning in Spain, once considered the most Catholic of all the countries on the European Continent.
Today, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is set to address the Catalan parliament regarding the “current political situation,” a spokesperson for the body confirmed on Friday. An independence vote in Catalonia took place only a week after the Kurdistan region in Iraq also overwhelmingly voted for independence.
This history of Spain is both complex and convoluted, much too complicated for any suggestion that it could be adequately examined in an article such as this.
But yesterday’s article about the weakened condition in which the Church finds itself in the modern Spanish nation state has a direct bearing on the events which are transpiring in Catalonia and the growing tensions between the central constitutional government and the regions which have given their allegiance to it, often after long periods of civil unrest and violence.
As in the case of the European Union, which finds itself struggling with maintaining a fragile unity (highlighted in the Brexit vote to have England withdraw from the EU), there are critical issues in Spain that need to be addressed, with many in the country feeling far removed from having any effective voice regarding the impact which the central government's decisions have upon their livelihood and future.
The growing trend toward the fragmentation or division of nation states into smaller self-governing regions is evident throughout Europe as well as in other parts of the world.
There are any number of regions calling for greater autonomy or complete independence among the Europeans. The list includes: Scotland; Flanders, a Dutch-speaking region in northern Belgium; and “Padania,” hich is a proposed independent country consisting of the northern regions of Italy.
Outside of Europe, there is a strong independence movement in French-speaking Quebec in Canada, while recently there has been a renewed effort to establish an independent Biafra State in southeast Nigeria, and some English-speaking Cameroonians are agitating for their own independence.
There is a strong independence movement in French-speaking Quebec in Canada, while recently there has been a renewed effort to establish an independent Biafra State in southeast Nigeria, and some English-speaking Cameroonians are agitating for their own independence.
Recently, there were even rumblings that the State of California wants to secede from the United States, a ludicrous idea that could only have been conceived on the West Coast, the seedbed of extremist liberal and chaotic foolishness.
The Holy Father has voiced his concern that such fragmentation often results in smaller regions and states that are often hostile and uncooperative with each other.
Pope Francis stated: “For me, unity is always better than conflict, but there are different ways of unity . . . and even fraternity; fraternity is better than animosity and distance,” he said, insisting: “Fraternity is better, and bridges are better than walls. One must reflect on all of this.”
Why am I mentioning the political turmoil in Spain and other European countries?
Because any real student of Spanish (and European history) will readily understand that for decades it has been the Church which has served as the “glue" within nation states often composed of vastly different communities with their distinct histories and cultures.
The Catholic Faith used to be the central force which often allowed these distinctive cultural communities to find the fraternal bonds (to which Pope Francis refers) allowing them to join with other, often very different communities, in forming a cooperative and generally successful national union and government.
As the influence of Catholicism continues to wane throughout Europe, the movement toward fragmentation will grow.
Thus far, the Spanish Bishops’ Conference has not commented on the Catalonian referendum seeking independence from Spain. In the past, the voice of the Church would have been clear and very likely definitive in resolving such discords.
But that voice is muted and weakened now.
I suggest that what we are seeing taking place in Spain is a harbinger of the future woes Europe will be confronting.
Our world is become more disgruntled and fractious with each passing year as the religious values which once served to support unity and harmony erode.
The scenario taking place in Spain will be oft-repeated I am afraid principally because the Church has lost its central place within the nations which comprise Europe.
A sad prospect for sure!
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