POPE Benedict XVI faced a colder reception in Barcelona on Sunday than he did the day before in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia).
Aside from a few hundred people outside the Sagrada Familia, very few people bothered to turn out to greet the Popemobile as it toured through the streets of the northern city.
And a huge crowd of same-sex couples, both male and female, kissed each other passionately in the street outside Barcelona Cathedral as the Popemobile cruised past.
“This is not a slight against Christians in general, those who do good work and adhere to the true teachings of Jesus Christ,” says Jordi Petit, leader of the Queer Kissing Flash Mob, which has been censored on Facebook at least once.
“It is a public criticism against the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
“Religion should be a personal choice, not imposed.”
Those in support of euthanasia and abortion also protested on the streets as the Pope did his rounds of the city.
Despite the shocked reaction of Spain's leaders at the Pontiff's speech declaring that the country was now 'more secular and anti-clerical than in the 1930s', he was greeted by the Royal family and by the president in a warm, cordial manner and Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi insisted that there had been 'no controversial intentions' behind Benedict XVI's words.
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