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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (293925)	7/9/2006 1:29:03 AM
From: American Spirit	Respond to of 1573230

Don't post BS to me, you silly man.

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (293925)	7/9/2006 6:12:58 AM
From: Alighieri	Respond to of 1573230

Pope challenges Spain over family values By CIARAN GILES, Associated Press Writer Sat Jul 8, 12:48 PM ET VALENCIA, Spain - Pope Benedict XVI stressed traditional family values Saturday during a quick visit to Spain, challenging a Socialist government that has angered the Vatican by instituting liberal reforms such as gay marriage and fast-track divorce. In a city festooned with yellow and white flags and balloons, the Vatican colors, and brimming with pilgrims, the pontiff also prayed for 42 people killed Monday in a Valencia subway derailment — a tragedy that added a tinge of sadness to his first visit here as leader of the world's Roman Catholics. "We ask God's comfort for those who remain and those who left us," the pope said, speaking in Spanish outside the subway station, named for nearby Jesus Street, where he laid a wreath of white roses. The crowd hushed to let him speak. Benedict was in Valencia for about 26 hours to close a Vatican-organized gathering on family issues — an event expected to draw some 1.5 million people to this Mediterranean city — and he wasted no time in defending the Holy See's vision of marriage as a union of man and woman. "The family is a unique institution in God's plan, and the church cannot fail to proclaim and promote its fundamental importance," Benedict said on his arrival. He addressed gay marriage before even getting off the plane from Rome. Asked about the role of gay marriage in society, the pope told reporters: "According to human nature, it is man and woman who are made for each other and to give humanity a future." King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero welcomed the pope on his arrival and a military band played the national anthems of Spain and the Vatican as hundreds of Catholics endured sweltering, muggy weather to see the pontiff. The pope and the premier were to meet in the evening for what could be cross purposes: Besides legalizing gay marriage, Zapatero's government has made it easier for Spaniards to divorce and halted a plan by a previous, conservative government to make religion classes mandatory in public schools. Spain has passed from being a bastion of Roman Catholicism to a predominantly lay society in less than a generation. Statistics show that while 80 percent of Spaniards still call themselves Catholics, only 42 percent believe in God and 20 percent go to Mass. Tens of thousands of faithful — waving flags, clapping and releasing balloons — lined the streets of Spain's third-largest city as Benedict drove by in his bulletproof pope mobile. Maria Luisa Galdon, a 54-year-old housewife with three daughters, said Spain needs the visit because families here are in trouble. "What's missing is love, understanding and education," she said. She thinks the pope should give Zapatero a message to improve relations with the church and give it more support. "I think he will do it politely and necessarily," Galdon said. Yet already, the Vatican seemed irritated that Zapatero was not planning to attend a papal Mass on Sunday. "The Holy See doesn't invite leaders to Mass," said papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Vals. But he noted that such left-wing stalwarts as Fidel Castro of Cuba and former Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega have attended papal masses. Thousands of police providing security for the papal visit, including sharpshooters atop building and NATO planes patrolling the skies.