Manifesto by Communist party against the Church divides leftists in Spain

Madrid, Spain, Jan 18, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The secretary of the United Left political party in the northern Spanish city of Gijon, Guillermo Miranda, acknowledged this week his party was divided over a manifesto against the Church signed by hundreds of party members and published in a regional newspaper.

The manifesto entitled “God’s Monopoly,” which was signed by a segment of the UL that defines itself as “atheist” and “anti-clerical,” provoked reaction by Catholics, said Miranda.  But their objections, he claimed, “were basically over the title of the statement.”

Miranda minimized the conflict, arguing it was about disagreements “of an ideological and political nature” and that the document was a rejection of “the Church hierarchy” and its actions in public life, and not an attack on believers.