Pope-Mobile

The Pope was here yesterday.  We live about an hour bus ride from Santiago De Compestela, a major catholic pilgrimage.  There are several different routes to take to this church, but the most famous originates in France.  Here's a picture I took of the church during my last trip to Spain 3 years ago:

The Pope arrived here yesterday, greeted by the Spanish royal family.  His message to Spain: that there is an "aggressively secular movement" in Spain, which saddens his heart (i.e. gay marriage and abortions are legal in Spain).  Needless to say, an unpopular pope has quickly become increasingly loathed in Spain.

Two weeks ago, when I found out that the Pope would be coming to Galicia I asked the family over lunch whether anyone would be going to see him.  The family laughed hysterically at me and then spent about 30 minutes chastising him (his politics, his looks, etc.).  They then made jokes about the Pope giving last rights to the pig, who they butchered the same day he was here in Galicia (even Emilia, the 85 year old matriarch of the family, who usually sits silently in a chair by the window, was laughing).  Spain is an overwhelmingly Catholic country, yet there is a growing movement away from the Catholic church.  Spain is a very liberal country and the church, particularly under Benedict XVI, do not perceive social problems similarly.  The family here believes that his perception of the world is centuries old and that he is not in touch with the church's followers. The family also heavily criticized his response to the sexual abuse occurring within the Catholic church and its subsequent response.

When we went to mass on the Day of the Dead the older, more traditional of the priests at the local church here in Raxo performed the service.  During the sermon he asked us to forgive those priests that have abused children as they are humans and they make mistakes.  Luckily for me, there were microphone problems the day of the service and I couldn't understand a word (the last time we went to mass it was perfect for me-a fledgling Spanish speaker-as the priest spoke nice and slow, enunciating everything).  When we got out of the service and were standing outside mingling, Rosa and Begonia were talking about this statement - they were furious.  Similarly, this past Sunday the pope was in Barcelona at La Sagrada Familia.  This is a church designed by Gaudi.  There is a bunch of his architecture all over Barcelona and it's really beautiful.  Here's a picture I took of this church during my last trip to Spain:

We watched the CNN coverage of the mass over coffee with Rosa in Vigo.  As the pope was being presented with jewel encrusted bibles and cups Rosa and Jonathan agreed, if Jesus saw this, he would be infuriated and deeply saddened.  Rosa then spoke of the church's lack of action in combating against poverty.  Later that afternoon we went to a soccer game with Vicente and heard the crowd chant "the pope is a pedophile". 

It was very interesting to me, a non-religious, American to experience Spain's reaction to the Pope coming.  There were some statements and jokes that were done in jest, and probably not the most mature ways of handling the situation.  But I very much admire their separation of faith and this cancer that is the current administration of the church.