Spain's left parades Lorca in a secular procession: religion without God

Lorca's 'secular procession' through Madrid: the left copies the rites it claims to oppose

Madrid's left has organised a 'secular pilgrimage' through the streets of the Spanish capital to parade a statue of Federico García Lorca. It was billed as a tribute to the poet; what the footage showed, however, was a full-blown procession, minus the censers but full of devotion. The event, held just hours ago, has triggered a wave of reactions on social media.

Faith without God

The paradox could not be starker: a movement that claims to fight religious symbolism in public spaces imports its forms to worship its own icons. G.K. Chesterton put it better than anyone: 'When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they believe in nothing — they believe in anything.' And Lorca, the Republican poet who was executed by firing squad, has become the secular saint of the moment, via crucis included.

Disposable saints

This is not the first time the left has manufactured its own saints. The most frequently cited precedent is Enrique Tierno Galván, the 'old professor' whom the PSOE (Spain's Socialist Party) turned into a pop icon of the Madrid movida. Versions of his biography circulate that the official narrative prefers not to dwell on, from his time at Princeton to the origins of his conversion to socialism. The ritual repeats itself: a reliquary is needed, even if the saint never read two lines of verse.

Closing: The awkward detail: chances are that among the organisers and attendees of the procession there is not a single person who has read two lines of Lorca. But it doesn't matter. That's what saints are for: to be venerated, not to be read. The left has discovered that reason alone cannot fill the void left by faith. And it is hunting for substitutes.