Though some 100 gays and lesbians had planned the civil action along Madrid’s Calle Serrano to protest the Pope’s hard line against homosexuality, authorities blocked protesters less than a kilometer from their meet-up spot and forced them to disperse. Big Papa is in the Spanish metropolis as part of a four-day celebration of World Youth Day.

The queer protest had been organized on Facebook by a group defending LGBT rights, said activist/performance artist, Jaime del Val. A  similar smooch-fest successfully greeted the Pontiff when he came to Barcelona last November.

Unmolested by smooching sodomites, the Pope spoke to a group of nuns about threats to the religion:

“This is all the more important today when we see a certain ‘eclipse of God’ taking place, a kind of amnesia which, albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity, is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity.”

Treasure of the faith—like the ghastly Spanish Inquisition, held in the very same town some 500 years ago?

BTW: If any cute Spaniards still want to kiss another guy in public, we’re totally available.

Image via Sergey Gabdurakhmanov