Spain was a pagan country both before and after the Roman conquest in 218 B.C. However, by the end of the 6th century A.D., it had followed the Roman Empire’s journey to Christianity. That changed in the early 8th century, when North African Muslims conquered the southern three-quarters of the country. It wasn’t until 1492 that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella triumphantly completed the “Reconquista,” or re-conquering, of Spain from the Muslims, returning Christianity to the nation.
Spain embarked on an aggressive Inquisition to root out all heresy. The Inquisition became infamous during the Protestant Reformation, as well as living on in the memories of Jews as one of the worst times they had during centuries of bad times in Europe. Following the Reconquista, nothing seemed capable of swaying Spain’s staunch Catholicism.
Image of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral created using ChatGPT.
In the centuries following, wherever the explorers traveled around the globe, the Catholic fathers followed. It is because of Spain that Latin America is a predominantly Catholic geographic region.
Things started to change, however, when communists and fascists went to war in Spain during the 1930s. Both were the bastard children of socialism, itself a foul ideology, but fascism allowed countries to retain a gloss of faith and private ownership.
The two ideologies loathed each other. This is why, in the years before WWII, those among the British upper classes who believed democracy would inevitably fall before either communism or fascism threw their weight behind fascism. Most quickly changed their tune when Hitler attacked England.
When the Spanish Civil War ended, the communists had lost, and Franco, the fascist, was in charge until his death in 1975. Because Franco had fought the communists, and the communists had then, as they have now, a deep hostility to religion, the Catholic Church backed Franco in the war.
Because Franco wasn’t popular (no dictator is), the Church lost popularity, too. That’s why, in 1978, Spain’s Constitution made it official that Spain was no longer a Catholic country but was, instead, a non-denominational one. Catholic Spain as an official entity was dead.
Moreover, Catholicism in Spain started dying too. By 2025, while roughly 55% of Spaniards identify as Catholic, only 18.8% of Catholics actually practice the faith. The remaining 36.6% are remnants who are culturally meaningless. Meanwhile, Islam is the second largest—and fastest growing—religion in Spain. When Muslims say “Reconquista,” they mean it. Currently, though, Muslims are staying out of religious matters in Spain, because the leftists are doing their work for them.
Although Spain has a monarch, King Felipe VI, like King Charles III of England, is also a remnant who holds no power. The current government is the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, a name that tells you everything you need to know about it. Approximately 46% of the country's voters identify as left-wing to “center left” (which means “left-wing”).
This cultural shift in Spain explains why Spain is well on its way to making it a criminal offense for anyone—including men of the cloth—to offer pastoral counseling to those who voluntarily wish to leave behind their homosexual inclinations:
Introduced by the Socialist Parliamentary Group (GPS) and supported by multiple parties by a vote 311-33, Spain’s lower house passed the initial stage of a legislative amendment that would “penalize conversion therapies aimed at eliminating or denying sexual orientation, sexual identity or gender expression” by imposing prison terms of six months to two years for those found providing such services.
Note that the vote isn’t close: 311-33. That suggests that, unless there’s a ferocious backlash from the few practicing Christians in Spain, it will soon be illegal for ministers to turn to ancient Christian doctrine to help unhappy people break free of homosexuality. Ferdinand and Isabella, and all Catholic monarchs since, are spinning like tops in their graves as the “de-conquista” nears its inevitable conclusion.