Church will not ask for U-turn on gay marriage, says bishop

The spokesman for the Spanish Episcopal Conference [CEE], Juan Antonio Martínez, said on Friday that the Church hierarchy would not be calling on the new government of the conservative Popular Party to abolish legislation passed under the Socialists, such as laws relating to gay marriage and abortion. The bishop went even further by suggesting that the Church never tried to tell governments how they should legislate.

"The CEE never tells any ruler what to do," he said. "It has not done so with previous governments, and it will not do so with this one."

But those statements were in stark contrast to the fact that a number of major demonstrations were attended by members of the Church against the aforementioned policies of the previous Socialist government.

When reminded of these protests, which saw thousands of families, priests and bishops out on the streets, Martínez had this to say: "We state the position of the Church. And we have said that there are laws that are clearly unjust. Governments will know what they have to do if they want to have just laws, ones that do not violate human rights."

When pushed further on the 2005 demonstration against gay marriage, which was led by CEE leader Cardinal Antonio María Rouco, the bishop put it down to the law being "absolutely unheard of in the history of Western civilization."