The Pope has been touring Spain for the last few days (I wonder how much that has cost the country), trying to drum up some fervor for Catholicism in a country which was once the devout heartland of the faith, but is now reduced to being only nominally Catholic with just 15% of those calling themselves Catholic actually bothering to go to church. The revenue stream is drying up! Must get the suckers into the pews!

The most amusing episode in the tour is that a mob of gays and lesbians lined one of his parade routes to stage a kiss-in. Those militant radicals! Now they’ve resorted to aggressive smooching!

But not all welcomed the Pope’s message on his weekend visit to Spain, which began on Saturday in the medieval cobbled streets of Santiago de Compostela, a draw for pilgrims for more than 1000 years.

Hundreds of gay men and women couples locked lips for five minutes as the Pope passed by, breaking off to shout “Get out,” and “pedophile”.

“We are here to demonstrate against the Pope’s visit and call for a change in the mentality of the Catholic institution which still opposes our right to different ways of loving,” said one protester, Sergi Diaz.

The Pope, of course, just gave his standard whine about these modern times.

The clash between faith and modernity is happening again, and it is very strong today.

How nice of him to admit that the conflict is between those who look to the future and those who want to turn back the clock. I’m picturing the old guy gnashing his dentures and waving his cane while yelling at those gay kids to get offa his parade route.