Catholic Spain
Few nations have been as tied to their religion as Spain.
Because theReconquistaproceeded on a religious
ticket – Christianity was chasing Islam off the peninsula- once complete the emergent state was locked into
its faith, specifically Catholicism. And so it remained
for 500 years.The Inquisition (and perhaps that earlier
experience of religious division) saw Spain embrace
the Counter Reformation, ensuring that Protestantism
never gained the foothold here that it did further north
(see section 1.2.2 for more on the Inquisition). As
Spain built an empire it pushed Catholicism on the
New World, further strengthening the bonds with the
Spanish state. Attempts at introducing religious
freedoms in the 19thcentury foundered, and so by the
time Franco turned up with National Catholicism the
Spanish were thoroughly used to having their lives
directed by the Church.
Papal power: religion under Franco
After seeing its churches burned and clergy terrorised
by left wing extremists earlier in the century, when
Franco gave Catholicism the nod, it gripped Spanish
society.Theirs was the only legal religion, and thus the
only religion that could own property, publish books,
or even publicise services.The Church instigated laws
abolishing civil marriage, contraception and divorce.
Homosexuality was banned and Roman Catholic
religious instruction became compulsory in all schools.
The people, women especially, could do little without
Church approval.Two decades into the Nationalist
regime elements of the Church, the odd bishop
included, began to speak up for liberalisation, but for
many a Spaniard the die had been cast – the Church
and Franco were one and the same.315- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
8.2 Mass appeal: how Spain takes its religion
Spanish popes
There have been two –
Callixtus III and his
nephew, Alexander VI –
both around in the later
15 thcentury and both
of the Borgia family.
Callixtus was elderly,
feeble and incompetent,
although did order a
retrial for Joan of Arc that
led to her posthumous
vindication. Popular
legend suggests he also
excommunicated Halley’s
comet as a tool of the
devil in 1456. Alexander
had more earthly
concerns, with four
children by his mistress,
including an infamous
daughter, Lucrezia.
Although Alexander was
universally hated for his
nepotism and excess,
his apparent death by
poisoning was accidental- the toxin was meant for
someone else. As deaths
go, it wasn’t a good one –
a contemporary account
recalls his skin peeling
off, his stomach liquefying
and of the difficulty of
squeezing his bloated
corpse into a coffin. While
alive, his one saving grace
was generous patronage
of the arts.