Pope Benedict is in Spain, a major front in his battle against European secularism, and he brought with him his usual arsenal of criticism, as per the BBC report:

Pope Benedict XVI has warned of an "aggressive anti-clericalism" in Spain which he said was akin to that experienced during the 1930s.He arrived in the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela at the beginning of a two-day visit to Spain."The clash between faith and modernity is happening again, and it is very strong today," he told reporters on the plane, quoted by AFP news agency.He is due to celebrate an open-air Mass and then travel to Barcelona on Sunday."Spain saw in the 1930s the birth of a strong and aggressive anti-clericalism," Pope Benedict said.

Where that anti-clericalism came from, and where today's (alleged) anti-clericalism comes from, the pontiff apparently does not say. That lack of any broader vision or context seems to characterize many of his readings on history, and on modernity. I think that's strange, given the depth and breadth of Ratzinger's knowledge, and it is unfortunate given that Christians and others in Europe are looking for more engagement in their religious leaders. The alternative certainly isn't working.Indeed, only 14.4 percent of Spaniards regularly attend mass, but 73 percent still define themselves as Catholic.That seems characteristic of some European countries, now and then.In the New York Review of Books essay on an exhibit and book about Picasso, John Richardson writes:

That Picassos feelings for communism had a counterpart in his feelings for Catholicism emerges in a statement to his dealer, Kahnweiler:

My familythey have always been Catholics. They didnt like the priests and they didnt go to mass, but they were Catholics. Well, I am a Communist and I.

Meanwhile, according to Jacqueline, Picasso was secretly making charitable donations to Catholic causes. He was also corresponding with a Spanish priest who wanted him to fresco his village church. Deny it though he might, he was, according to Jacqueline, plus Catholique que le Pape.

That many Catholics are not fans of clericalism or the hierarchy is obvious, but is it the defining characteristic of secularism, or is it a bad for Catholicism? And does it have any reasons that le Pape might elucidate during his pilgrimage? And what explains the enduring love of Catholics for their non-clericalist clerics?A fellow in Belgium who threw a pie in the face of the embattled Benedict appointee there, Brussels Archbishop Andr-Joseph Lonard ("His Grace under pressure?"), could be called anti-clerical. Then again, so too could Lonard's former spokesman, who quit this week after growing tired of trying to prevent his boss, a "loose cannon," from acting like a driver going recklessly the wrong way against traffic.

Archbishop Lonard does not take his leadership duties seriously, Mettepenningen added. But it is above all his surrealist attitude regarding the turmoil stirred up by his remarks that I take too seriously to still support this.

Surrealism is quite modern, I suppose. And many may applaud the archbishop for a kind of martyrdom. But Spaniards know from Don Quixote, who said, "There are no birds this year in last year's nests."