Bishop of Avila laments the promotion of 'reign of secularism' in Spain

Avila, Spain, Jul 18, 2008 / 14:22 pm

Bishop Jesus Garcia Burillo of Avila lamented the desire of some in Spain to impose “a secular gospel where the values of the Kingdom of God are substituted with ‘progressive values’ and the “reign of secularism,” whose signs are abortion, euthanasia and secularism.

In his latest pastoral letter, the bishop pointed out that recently leaders have been speaking of a “transformation of Spanish society” that will “change the mentality and lifestyle of today’s society, which is now passé, into a future of progress” with “signs” such as “abortion, euthanasia and secularism.”

He called on the faithful to reflect on this issue and to realize that the expectations of the ruling party are “in reality signs of death and not of life.”

Bishop Garcia Burillo warned that euthanasia is being proposed as “a personal right to death with dignity,” when “the practices that we know of, which are used to widen this right to die, consist in the sedation of a person in order to make him or her disappear.”

He also referred to the school course Education for Citizenship, “which aims to teach our children and teenagers according to the dominant cultural trends, a culture of death, a culture of equality of genders” that “aspires to be the educational basis of a truly secularist society, according to the anthropological model proposed by the State.”
Parents’ right to conscientiously object to the course must be respected, he added.

Bishop Garicia Burillo said Catholics should take a break from the media, which encourages people to selfishly fulfill their own needs without limits and sows “a reign of confusion.”