The confrontation between the Spanish Government and the Roman Catholic Church took a bitter turn after the government said it "cannot go back in time" on social liberal policies.
The Church, meanwhile, has likened the Spanish Government to the "Third Reich" for introducing gay "marriage" and fast-track divorces.
The Socialist-led government has fired back against criticism from the Roman Catholic Church claiming that its policies are supported by the majority of Spaniards.
"Society is not ready to go back to the time when a single moral standard was imposed on all Spaniards," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega recently told a parliamentary commission on relations between the Church and the government, according to AFP news agency.
"Fortunately, these times have been overtaken by the desire expressed by the majority (of Spaniards), a majority that is not ready to go back in time," she said.
The remarks were in response to the rally held by Catholic Church on December 30 in defence of family values. The rally drew tens of thousands to Madrid.
The relationship between the Catholic Church and the Spanish Government turned sour after the Socialist Party came into power in 2004 and began accelerating its social liberal policies with the legalisation of gay “marriage,” the introduction of fast-track divorces and the end of religious education in schools.
Spain has undergone a liberal transformation in the more than three decades since the death of right-wing dictator General Francisco Franco, who was in power from 1939 to 1975.
