Suddenly, some have seen the light and discovered financial austerity as a motivation to censure a visit from the Pope. It seems fair enough to us that a lot of public spending goes into events like this.
But the proliferation of critiques against the Jornada Mundial de la Junventud, an annual conference for Christian youth, looks like pure demagoguery. The secular argument is that government should not pay for religious functions. So does this mean we apply the same guideline to any other public function?
Madrid hosts a multitude of events that attract economic activity, and they facilitate them by levying taxes on citizens. We should welcome fair and rigorous scrutiny of government subsidy, but let?s not question the role of the capital as an arena for popular public celebrations.
