A Controversial Papal Visit: Analysis of Spanish Editorials

Abstract

This paper explores the ideological basis and argumentative strategies given by four Spanish

newspaper editorials to a controversial religious event: Benedict XVI’s visit to the United

Kingdom in 2010. A hybrid method of Discourse Analysis and Text Linguistics is used to analyse

the editorials: the former, explores macro-structural aspects of the argumentive strategy

(Amossy, 2006, 2009) particularly the editorial’s framing (Entman, 1993), while the latter, the

microstructural aspects of textual cohesion (Halliday & Hasan, 1989). A marked ideological polarisation

between El País and ABC, and a less partisan and clear-cut approach in La Vanguardia

and El Periódico that offers differing interpretations have been observed in the treatment

of papal visit and Catholic religion.