Catholic Groups/Movements and their Members Political Participation in the Basque Country: Are they Encouraging the Involvement of Citizens?

Traditionally the Basque Country has stood out for its strong Catholic character, even above the Spanish one. From this small corner of northern Spain came the worldwide Jesuit community, several bishops, etc. Today, however, Basque society has abandoned this character to the point of being among the most secularized societies of Western Europe. This process began, in greater intensity, with the end of the Franco’s dictatorship (1975) and the restoration of democracy in Spain. In addition to this religious situation, we add the political particularity of the region. In the last 50 years, he has known ETA’s terrorist violence - which lasted until 2011 when they announced a definitive cease-fire. The situation made any political activity difficult to develop, especially for those non-identified with terrorist violence or non-identified with certain political nationalist sector. In this scenario took place the research on the political participation of people who are members of some Catholic religious groups and communities in the Basque Country. We refer from local movements of believers to movements of an international character (such as Catholic Action or Focolare). In a society where there was the difficulty to participate or where religion is less and less important, what role do these groups play in the public sphere? Is there any participatory difference from the rest of Basque society? Is the participation of these people carried out in the name of religion or is it done through existing collectives without religious character? Generally speaking, does the Catholic religion encourage the believers to be involved citizens? These are some of the questions that want to be answered in this paper.