María Teresa Fernández de la Vega made a voluntary statement before the Congress Constitutional Committee this morning following recent criticism from the Spanish Catholic Church over the government's social reform programme.

Last week, at a demonstration in Madrid in defence of Catholic family values, two Spanish cardinals accused the government of undermining human rights and weakening the Spanish democracy by introducing divorce law reforms, and legalising abortion and gay marriages.

Ms De la Vega said that while "the government respects and will always respect the right of a section of the Spanish ecclesiastical hierarchy to criticise the government," it expects for that respect to be reciprocated.

She went on to point out that "no one has the right to impose their moral or religious beliefs on anyone," and warned that neither the Spanish people nor the government is prepared to accept "moral lectures" from the Catholic Church.