Isla, Argüello and shame

These times do not allow us to underestimate the fact that two actors in public life defend dialogue and criticize polarization, which is what the president of the Spanish bishops, Luis Argüello, and President Salvador Illa concluded yesterday at an event in Madrid. But Argüello excelled: "I'm taking a photo with Isla where a few months ago I took one with [Santiago] Abascal and I'm not ashamed of either of them." Man, that's very kind.

May I ask why you should be ashamed of taking a photo with Isla? Because she's a socialist and the socialists are friends of Hamas, the kale borroka, Maduro and Puigdemont? Or why was he a minister of the perfidious Sánchez?

Spanish political life is sick with hatred, and the head of the Spanish bishops has been poisoned by the propaganda of his own radio station (a textbook example of polarization for more than thirty years). That's why, when he sees a Catalan socialist—even if he is a former Spanish minister, does not question the unity of Spain and is a supporter of properly understood autonomy—he believes he is the reverse of the coin of Abascal, Trump's ally in Spain.

When the Cerdán case brought Sánchez to the brink of KO, Argüello aligned himself with the PP and Vox and called for early elections (a demand that the Archbishop of Tarragona, Joan Planellas, did not share and criticized), and a photo like yesterday's with a Socialist was useful to focus his attention. And this is the president of the Episcopal Conference. Nothing new: we've known for years that Spanish bishops are more Spanish than bishops. And that's why, when they find a Catalan-speaking one, they send him to the missions in Catalonia.