José Antonio Reig Pla, bishop of the Spanish city of Alcalá de Henares (province of Madrid), has uncovered an «international conspiracy to decrease the population,» which most likely involves the participation of governments, universities, NGOs, political parties and labor unions, as well as the United Nations, UNESCO and the European Parliament. The bishop is referring to abortion. In his own words, as reported by Europapress: Monsignor Reig Pla, during his homily on Good Friday 2012. Photo from the website Espíritu Gay. Lo dice el Papa Juan Pablo II en la Evangelium Vitae, [existe un proyecto] científicamente pensado y técnicamente muy estructurado, de manera que están haciendo que no aumente la población, porque ese es el gran proyecto de todo ese complejo internacional (…) Hay grandes poderosos que financian estos proyectos. Es una batalla que están librando con muchos dólares y muchas ONG que sirven a grandes grupos internacionales que están frenando la población en África o Asia. As Pope John Paul II states in the Evangelium Vitae, [there is a plan in place], scientifically thought out and quite structured in a technical sense, which is designed to prevent increases in the population; in fact, this is the program of the entire international conglomerate (…) There are great and powerful people financing these plans. They are waging their war armed with huge sums of cash and with the backing of NGOs that serve the interests of huge international groups, who in turn are working to curb population growth in Africa or Asia. Word of this spread quickly on social networking sites, where Monsignor Reig Pla is a familiar presence, as he has never had a problem making his anti-gay and anti-abortion views public using any platform, including his own pulpit. Two distinguished tweeters who have commented on the bishop's remarks are writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte and former president of the Community of Cantabria, Miguel Ángel Revilla @perezreverte: Lo del obispo Reig es para tenerlo en cuenta. No por lo que dice, que también, y mucho, sino por la impunidad y desvergüenza con que lo dice. @perezreverte: Bishop Reig has to be taken seriously. Not because of what he says (even though that, too, is cause for great concern), but because he is able to say it so shamelessly and with such impunity. @RevillaMiguelA: Obispo de Alcalá: “Hay una conspiración mundial para que no nazcan niños”. Sólo somos 7.000 millones y eso que presuntamente él no ejerce @RevillaMiguelA: Bishop of Alcalá: “There is a global conspiracy to keep babies from being born.” There are only 7 billion of us, and he is (supposedly) not doing anything to keep the world's population up… José Antonio Reig Pla became known to the general public last year when state-owned TV station La 2 broadcast Good Friday services from his diocese. The bishop seized the opportunity to make claims like this one during his homily: (…) aquellas personas que hoy llevados por tantas ideologías acaban por no orientar bien lo que es la sexualidad humana, piensan ya desde niños que tienen atracción hacia las personas de su mismo sexo. Y a veces para comprobarlo se corrompen y se prostituyen… o van a clubs de hombres nocturnos. Os aseguro que encuentran el infierno. (…) those people today who are led astray by so many different ideologies, and who ultimately do not have a grasp on the essence of human sexuality, have believed since they were children that they are attracted to others of their own sex. And sometimes, to test this notion for themselves, they become corrupt and they prostitute themselves … or they frequent all-male night clubs. I assure you that they are living in hell. According to Cáscara Amarga, a digital LGBT newspaper, Reig Pla, as he is portrayed by the ultra-Catholic website HazteOir.org. This image from the site's Facebook page. Reig Pla tiene verdadera fijación con el colectivo LGTB. Hace sólo unos meses, y coincidiendo con la celebración del Orgullo Gay en Madrid, presentó una guía para curar la homosexualidad. Bajo el epígrafe ´Homosexualidad y esperanza´, la página web del obispado de Alcalá de Henares señalaba que «la comprensión e identificación de la orientación sexual de una persona puede cambiar en el transcurso de la vida; es posible la esperanza. Así pues, si alguna persona desea un cambio o evolución, o quiere formarse sobre este tema, desde el respeto a todos, informamos de los siguientes textos y recursos». Reig Pla has a real fixation with the LGTB community. Just a few months ago, at the same time as Madrid's Gay Pride Celebration, he released a guidebook for curing homosexuality.