When a party widely seen as far-right entered one of Spain’s regional parliaments last month, it posed a dilemma for the Catholic Church during a time of tension over the Socialist government’s secularisation programme.

“This result shows attacks on religious freedom don’t go unpunished – those seeking to divide Spain and create a world without God will have to pay a political price,” said Bishop Demetrio Fernández González of Córdoba. He was reacting to the success of Vox in regional elections in Andalusia in December, following disputes over immig­ration, education, abortion and other issues under premier Pedro Sánchez’s government. He said the “spectacular” advance of the party, which took 12 of the 109 seats, had ended a per­iod of “seemingly insuperable inertia” and made Andalusia “a pioneer of the social changes now expected in Spanish society”.