Manuel Azaña's Speech: Secularism and Church-State Relations

Azana Speech Text is a speech with political content by Manuel Azaña, a historical political figure during the War, Prime Minister, and President of the Republic, delivered before the Spanish Constituent Assembly of 1931, arising from the June 1931 elections. The text is from the fall of 1931 and was addressed to the deputies of the Cortes.
The intention is to defend a secular state, notably articles 26 and 27 of the Constitution, and to argue that regime change must address the deep problems of the country, including the oligarchic rule of the people, concentrated ownership, and the role of the Church. The author first raises in his speech that we are in a revolution that began with the fall of the biggest responsibility for the misfortunes of Spain: the king and the proclamation of the Republic. Secondly, he addresses the social problem arising from land issues, and thirdly, the autonomous and religious problems. Azaña prefers to see the latter in the private sphere, but he argues that political action must be taken to fix the separation between the state and the historical problem of the Church. This text highlights, on one hand, the finding of the problems of autonomy and agrarian reform, and on the other hand, the issue of church-state relations, defending the choice of secularism with the full separation of the two entities. This is certainly the main issue raised by the text. The document is an argument that almost philosophically nullifies the problem by shifting it to the private and intimate sphere of the individual. However, this is only a simplification: Spain is no longer religiously Catholic, but the majority of Spanish Catholics remain. Furthermore, the starting point for discussions about the rightist deputies is the privileged position of the Church ratified in the last Constitution of 1876, which stipulated that the state was religiously Catholic and that state budgets supported worship and Catholic clergy.

There was a certain freedom of worship, but always in private, not allowing public demonstrations. One of the great debates of the Constituent Cortes, which is part of this document, was religious in nature and was reflected in the 1931 Constitution. It stated that the Spanish state is secular, approving the law on religion and civil marriage, which abolished the budget for worship and clergy within two years. The exercise of education, industry, and trade by religious congregations was suppressed, including the Society of Jesus, and their property was seized by the state. The approval of the religious articles of the Constitution of 1931 led to the resignation of the government and Catholic sectors of Alcalá Zamora and Miguel Maura. Azaña replaced the Catholic Alcalá Zamora in the premiership, while the latter became president of the republic. Broad sectors of the Church interpreted these actions as provocations; for them, the state had followed a path that went from passivity to anticlerical violence and assault on the Church as the Constitution was written. The religious question became one of the pillars of the policy of the Republic, especially due to the political organization that the Church demonstrated through newspapers, agricultural unions, and parties. Most of the church hierarchy, led by Cardinal Segura, demonstrated against the republican regime. In conclusion, one could say that the speech in the Constituent Assembly by Azaña demonstrates one of the contradictions of the Republic and the 1931 Constitution. The religious issue was handled without resolution, perhaps, and helped to radicalize the Spanish population, who were mostly Catholics, especially those in rural and northern Spain. One could argue that the introduction of a secular state failed, and religious freedom was understood as a weapon wielded by the enemies of the Republic and the most conservative classes.