How strong was Catholicism in Spain?

Answer 1

Catholicism was particularly strong in the Roman province which would later become Spain up until the 8th century. In A.D. 711 King Roderick lost control to the forces of Islam. In A.D. 753-754, King Alfonso began the, what would turn out to be, 770 year reconquest of Spain by the Spaniards ending with the marriage of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabel of Castile which united the two kingdoms into modern Spain in the 15th century. To quote from Warren H. Carroll's book, The Glory of Christendom, which is volume 3 of his A History of Christendom: "It may be strongly argued that Isabel of Castile was the greatest woman ruler in history, by secular standards of religious. ... In thirty years Isabel made it (Castile), united with her husband's Fernando's Aragon as the Kingdom of Spain, the greatest power in the world. She accomplished this by no harsh and domineering rule, but by bringing justice and peace, integrity and incorruptibility, responsibility and honor with her wherever she went, sealed by the love she bore her people and the love they bore her." She, and her husband, Ferdinando finally completed the reconquest, expelled the last remaining Muslims. She is referred to by historians as Isabel the Catholic; and in an era noted for the scandals associated with the rulers, she was exemplary. She left a Spain the "leading power in Europe for nearly 150 years--rock solid in faith, indestructible in strength, the last flowering of the glory of medieval Christendom upon the dawn of the modern age. She sent Christopher Columbus to bring the cross to half the world. Catholicism in Spain reached its height at this point in history and stayed there for a century and a half.

Answer 2

Very! And still is. It has been the country's primary religion since Mediaeval times; and for centuries Church authority was enforced very ruthlessly.