As Spanish desert Catholic Church, state cozies up to it

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As Spain's people drift from Catholic Church, government cozies up

• Spain's conservative government is considering dramatic restrictions on abortion and has already increase the Catholic Church's role in education, revealing a divided society.

After years of moving in a more socially liberal direction along with the rest of western Europe, the Spanish government is now doing an about face, seeking to clamp down on abortion and return the Roman Catholic Church to a prominent role in the country's school system.

Though the church is still losing ground among the faithful, it has powerful friends in the current conservative Popular Party government, which has traditionally had close ties to the Vatican. Now the PP is pushing a controversial bill in parliament that would dramatically restrict access to abortion.

“We see an alliance between the ruling party and the Catholic hierarchy on moral issues. The church wants to press its priorities and it appears to be winning on issues like abortion and education,” says Juan José Tamayo, director of theology at Carlos III University.

Shades of Fracisco Franco. Didn't the Spanish have enough of that during the Inquisition and the Spanish Civil War?