Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Jan 23, 2005 - 11:20 AM HumanInterest

As if Madrid's fabulous art galleries were not enough of a tourist draw, a new attraction is sure to bring jumbo-jet-loads of charter visitors to the capital of Spain. Madrid's Cardinal Rouco Varela has denounced that in Madrid there is "mass sinning," and to make things even juicier, further explained that "sometimes the sinning is done with daring, sometimes with offhand frivolity" (personally, I have to admit that, although sinning with daring or frivolously comes more or less naturally to me, being sinful, frivolous and offhand all at the same time is a pretty impressive trick to pull off). The cardinal threw his wobbler at a diocesan synod, a kind of ecclesiastical pep-talk, on Saturday January 22 in Madrid, and his rantings were reported by the right-wing newspaper El Mundo. Visit Madrid, virtually only I'm sure you will be disappointed to find, or read on for some slightly less flippant remarks about Catholic conservatives, if you will forgive the tautology.


The cardinal's comments actually sound even more stimulating in Spanish. He said that in Madrid, "se peca masivamente" — that massively is much less impressive when translated ("people sin en masse" would have worked, but I might have been misinterpreted). In addition, all this sinning, said Rouco Varela as reported by El Mundo, takes place "con osadía, unas veces, y, otras, con disciplente ligereza." That disciplente is, I assure you, really sexy, especially if you say it slowly to yourself, savouring each syllable.

But however much the cardinal's comments may restore your faith in the famous Spanish lust for life, they have a flip side. The Spanish Catholic church has seen its power considerably reduced since the death of Franco and the restoration of democracy in Spain and is preparing for negotiations over its financing with a thoroughly laical socialist government. In addition, the Socialists have promised to introduce legislation to allow homosexual marriage, a measure which has aroused the wrath of Spain's most diehard reactionaries including, evidently, the ecclesiastical powers-that-be, who have vowed to raise support for demonstrations and other manifestations of Catholic disapproval. And a recent widely reported remark by a senior church official that the condom "had its place" in the fight against AIDS was rebutted almost immediately. In other words, the church is digging its trenches in anticipation of real conflict.