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November 05, 2010

AP: Pope heads to a less Catholic Spain amid protests

by Daniel Woolls
The Associated Press

MADRID (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI meets Spain's Facebook generation this weekend  - setting up a clash of values and lifestyles in a once-staunchly Catholic nation that has become one of Europe's most liberal.

The visit is part of a major Vatican push to make increasingly secular Europe re-embrace its Christian roots, but the pope faces a big challenge in a nation that has undergone an extraordinary social transformation in just the past few years - with laws allowing gay marriage, fast-track divorce and easier abortions.

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