Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Monday became the first European leader to be received by Pope Francis in the Vatican. It is not known what they discussed during their private 24-minute meeting, but Rajoy had come well prepared. His government has made no cuts to the annual amount it gives to the Church to cover services and salaries (€248 million this year), and has eliminated the previous Socialist administration’s Civic Education classes in schools, condemned by the Spanish church as anti-religion. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon has plans to reform the abortion law – which is anathema to the Church – in order to introduce stricter limitations but has no plans to change the same-sex marriage law, another of the Church’s pet hates. After the meeting with the Pope, Rajoy presented him with a replica edition of De aetatibus mundi, written by Francisco de Holanda in 1500 and made for King Philip II, as well as a Spain national soccer team shirt, signed by all the players. Rajoy is the fifth world leader to meet Pope Francis since his inauguration in March. The pontiff has already held audiences with Argentinean President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, and the prime ministers of Tanzania and Mozambique.
Sources:thenewsonline.es/news
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.