The regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, recently gave a surprising speech at the presentation of the nativity scene in the centre of the city, which officially opens the Christmas season.

It is not usual for politicians in Spain to speak specifically about faith or the Bible, however, Díaz Ayuso defended the idea that the message of Christmas is necessary for our times.

“The child God who is born in Bethlehem is at the centre of the celebration”, she said in her speech, advocating for a “Christian perspective” of the holiday season. “The promise of freedom that Christian culture brings is the most profound in history”, she said.

For Ayuso, that perspective “makes us aware that nothing that happens to other people is alien to us”. Furthermore, Christmas brings Spaniards the “promise of the resurrection, that death is not the end”.

“It doesn't matter whether we have faith or not, because we are free to believe whatever we want. It is enough to be heirs of that culture and to know how to pass it on to those who come after us”, she added.

“Christian humanism, the basis of a liberal democracy”

Ayuso stressed that Christ's message gives “hope and confidence, even in the midst of the most terrible acts, his message was revolutionary, a before and after in the history of mankind: love one another”.

The president of Madrid underlined these “Catholic, universal roots, which remind us that we humans are born, above all, free”.

“Christian humanism” is the basis of “liberal democracy”, she added, reminding the audience that “we are all responsible for each other” and that is why we must protect ourselves, take care of each other and “leave no one behind”.

She also stated that she was grateful for living “in a state of law that is born of that way of looking at life, inspired by Greece, Rome and Judeo-Christian culture”.

Ayuso believes that “the key to Christian civilisation” lies in the fact that "men are free even to say no to God, even to the most absolute evil such as terrorism”.

“But that is also where our hope lies”, underlined the president of Madrid, so that “if we are free to do the worst, we are also free to do the best, to do good, and even to be heroes”.

An influential politician

Isabel Díaz Ayuso leads the regional government of Madrid, which includes the capital and other large cities in a region of 6.5 million inhabitants in the centre of Spain.

She is seen as the second most influential conservative political leader in the country, after the national leader of the opposition and head of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijoo. Many analysists expect her to run for president of Spain in some years.