Pope leaves Spain, urging it to own up to Christian roots - Summary

Sun, 07 Nov 2010

Barcelona - Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday bid farewell to an increasingly secular Spain after a two-day visit, urging it to own up to its Christian heritage.

The faith had come to Spain "at the very dawn of Christianity" and "took ... deep root," the pope said in his farewell address at Barcelona airport.

"The preservation of this rich spiritual patrimony" would allow Spaniards to transmit "fundamental values" to the young generations, the 83-year-old pontiff said, expressing the wish that the Christian faith "find new vigor" in all of Europe.

The pope's second visit to Spain first took him to the pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela, before his arrival in Barcelona on Saturday evening.

On Sunday morning, Benedict celebrated a mass to consecrate the city'e emblematic Sagrada Familia basilica, the unfinished masterpiece of Catholic architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), which is one of Spain's most popular tourist sights.

In his homily at the Sagrada Familia, the pope urged the state to protect the family based on the union of man and woman, and described the life of children as "sacred and inviolable from the moment of their conception."

He was speaking in a country where Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government has legalized homosexual marriage, introduced fast-track divorce and made abortion available on demand in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Benedict later stressed the same message, describing marriage and family as "the hope of humanity" during prayers attended by tens of thousands of people in front of the Sagrada Familia - a name meaning Holy Family.

Large crowds cheered the pope, waving Vatican, Spanish and regional flags and chanting: "Benedict, Benedict!"

A total of about 250,000 people showed up to see the pontiff during his visit to Barcelona, officials estimated. That was less than initial estimates, which put the expected number at up to half a million.

The mass at the Sagrada Familia was attended by dignitaries including King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, as well as 8,000 people sitting inside and 36,000 sitting outside the basilica.

In the forest-like modernist building filled with plant and animal forms, Benedict praised the beauty created by the likes of Gaudi - whose canonization is being considered by the Vatican - as "revealing God."

The interior of the Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction for 128 years, had been largely finished by the time of the pope's visit.

However, the basilica, which will feature 18 spires, is not expected to be entirely finished before 2025.

After the mass, Benedict visited a Catholic center for disabled children, warning against giving an unlimited freedom to scientific medical advances.

"It it indispensable that new technological developments in the medical field never be to the detriment of respect for human life and dignity," the pontiff said.

On the plane to Spain, Benedict described Spain - a former Catholic stronghold - as the main battleground between faith and secularism, the daily El Pais reported.

Zapatero, whose social reforms are seen by the church as having accelerated secularization, did not attend either of the masses the pope celebrated during his visit.

However, he met the pontiff at Barcelona airport prior to Benedict's departure.

Homosexuals and feminists staged several demonstrations against the pope's visit, with about 100 gays kissing each other as the popemobile passed by in Barcelona.

The pope already visited Spain in 2006, and is due to return in 2011.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/352396,christian-roots-summary.html.