Facing Secularization and Diversification: The Role of the Catholic Church in Public Institutions in Spain

Spain, together with Portugal and Italy, is part of a 'family of nations' (Castles, 1993) where the Catholic Church has historically had a monopolistic role in the religious field. However, rapid transformations have displaced the Church from its old hegemony and have drawn a new scenario in Southern European countries. In Spain, the constitutional disestablishment, the detachment of a great part of the population from the traditional Catholic structures and the significant increase in religious diversity have compelled the Church to reconsider its own position, role and strategy within the Spanish society. Two lines of contention delimit this readjustment: the secular/religious divide and the religious monopoly/religious diversity division. In this paper we analyse the effects of the changing religious landscape for the Catholic Church’s symbolic and practical role in public institutions. The paper draws upon the fieldwork (interviews and observations) carried out in public institutions (hospitals and prisons), where religion meets the secular and the old religious monopoly meets religious diversification. The research has been conducted in the framework of the project The accommodation of religious diversity in hospitals and prisons in Spain funded by the National Research Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.