Madrid - A Vatican cardinal regarded as Pope Benedict XVI's right-hand man was Wednesday expected to try to improve relations with Spain during a visit to the country which the Vatican now regards as a leading advocate of liberal secularism in Europe.

Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone's visit is classed as private, but includes meetings with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and King Juan Carlos scheduled for Wednesday.

Bertone, who arrived in Spain on Tuesday to give a lecture at the invitation of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, was also scheduled to meet Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Bertone's visit was described by the Spanish press as the first "political" one to Spain by the man regarded as the Vatican's "prime minister". Spain's traditionally staunch Catholicism is now competing against a growing secularization.

The Vatican and the Zapatero government were expected to smooth over differences and to attempt to improve relations which have suffered due to the government's liberal social reforms.

After Zapatero became prime minister in 2004, Spain granted homosexual couples full marriage rights, and has eased divorce laws - in moves that prompted Spanish clergymen to hold massive rallies in defence of the traditional family.

Prior to Bertone's visit, Spain's Supreme Court rejected a request by Catholic activists to permit schoolchildren to boycott new "citizens' education" classes - which they saw as promoting secular or socialist values.

The Vatican itself, however, is thought to disapprove of the Spanish bishops' combative strategy, and Bertone was expected to downplay disagreements.

On the eve of Bertone's visit, the ruling Socialists rejected a string of initiatives from far-left parties that would have highlighted friction with the church.

Those initiatives included revisiting the financial privileges of the Catholic Church, which continues to receive hefty subsidies from state coffers.

The government is also stonewalling moves to legalize euthanasia, and postponed the presentation of a draft for a more liberal abortion law until after Bertone's visit.

"We are fed up," said Joan Tarda of the Catalan republican party ERC, one of the leftist parties that accused the Socialists of giving in to pressure by the church.

The Vatican has long been concerned about what Spanish bishops describe as militant secularism in Spain, and its influence in Europe and Latin America.

Spain is officially a secular state, but smaller faiths such as Protestants and Muslims complain about the financial privileges enjoyed by the Catholic Church.

Nearly 80 per cent of Spaniards are still officially Catholic, but less than 30 per cent of those Catholics attend church outside social events such as baptisms and weddings. (dpa)