And did you hear a thing about it in the press? I was in Spain when it was being organized and left just a few days before it - and it was a massive demonstration. But the Spanish and foreign press tried not to report it or to underreport it, and reported instead on a small gay march that was held.
There actually is quite a bit of feeling in Spain against the things that the Socialists are doing and a great deal of opposition to their attack on the Church. Even people who had been sort of lukewarm cultural Catholics are beginning to wake up, and they are very devoted to this new pope and his aggressive opposition to the anti-Christian policies of the Spanish government.
Zapatero has two more years in power. I don't know what is going to happen at the next election. However, I do know there's a lot of polarization in Spain and a lot of opposition to him and to Socialist policies. The question is whether he will succeed in stifling it. While the writer of the article may have thought the person who told her that the government was jamming the English translations was a little paranoid, believe me, the government is afraid of the Church and is doing everything possible to prevent its message from getting out. This includes refusing to permit certain Catholic radio stations and filing lawsuits for "slander" or speech crimes against Catholics who speak out.
Many judges and public officials have resigned their positions rather than have to "marry" gays, and there is a lot of feeling that the government is doing everything possible to drive practicing Catholics out of public life. So I think the Socialists are afraid, and their persecution is actually having the effect of calling a lot of Catholics back to the Church.
Thank you for your testimony!