World Youth Day is a Catholic event for young people between the ages of 18 and 30. Over one million young people have arrived in Madrid, Spain to celebrate their faith and to grow in their love of Jesus Christ together as a community. Over the next 3 days there will be plenty of news coverage on what is a great event for all Catholics, and a great spectacle whether religious or not.
Some of the peaceful events of WYD have however been marred by some ugly protests centered around Plaza del Sol in the centre of Madrid. There have been reports of violence, intimidation and threats.
First of all, if people want to protest whatever they want they're perfectly entitled to although it should be done peacefully always. The main reason for the protests has been the reported burden on the public finances which are being used to cover the trip with the message being that in a time of economic cut backs public money should not be used to finance such an event. As some of the media coverage has been incredibly one sided, I wanted to share some information you may not have heard which shows that maybe the reasons for the protest aren't in the cause of public finances:
1) In Spain you can choose NOT to have your taxes given to Church on your ballot paper. If you don't want any of your tax money to go towards these activities, you don't have to, it's completely your choice so if any public money is being used for this trip, it has been raised through people voluntarily donating their tax money.
2) Whether you agree with it or not, this is officially classified as a state visit and as such the Spanish government is required to meet its security obligation which would be afforded to any other official state visit.
3) Each official Catholic pilgrim is paying over 200euros towards the costs of the visit, which will make up 70% of the total cost, the rest will be made up from donations from large companies such as Banco Santander & Coca Cola.
4) There are estimates of around 1.5million people flooding into the Spanish capital and participating, using services, hotels, restaurants etc. which will outweigh the costs (around 100m Euros some believe).
5) I wonder what these protesters, who are so concerned about their tax money, would think about their tax money going on policing and clean-up of their violent protests?
6) They didn't seem too concerned about the clean-up costs for example of the M-15 protests, Gay Pride etc. I've been in Madrid during Gay Pride and the streets in the centre of Madrid get absolutely ruined. Will they call for these to be cancelled this year? I think not. Maybe these protests aren't really about money?
In conclusion don’t be fooled by the news coverage that these protesters receive, they are not being motivated by concerns over public finances. They are motivated by their hatred towards the Church. The media may focus upon these protests but they are in the tiniest majority, as was the same with Pope Benedict’s visit to the UK for the Beatification of Bless John Henry Newman. Spain is still a very Catholic country and anyone in Madrid at the moment will tell you that the streets of Madrid of full of Catholics, and the protesters are a small minority despite the disproportionate coverage they will receive.
Again if people wish to protest peacefully for any reason they are more than welcome to, we live in a free society! But these protesters are woefully ill informed about the finances of World Youth Day.
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