SPAIN'S CATHOLIC bishops are mobilising against Muslim plans to recreate the Andalusian city of Crdoba as a huge pilgrimage site for Muslims throughout Europe.

Crdoba's Muslim community wants to build a half-size replica of the eighth-century mosque in the city that was once heart of the ancient Islamic kingdom of al-Andalus. Crdoba's Muslim Association is seeking funds for the project from the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and Muslim organisations in Morocco and Egypt. The complex would include schools, conference centres, a hotel, library, sports fields, a swimming pool and shops, said the association's president, Abu-Muhammad Abdullah-Imram.

Another giant Saudi-funded mosque is planned near the ancient fortress palace of Medina Azahara, a heritage site just outside Crdoba. Similar mosques are planned for Seville and Granada.

But bishops are alarmed at the prospect of huge, eye-catching mosques, fearing the Catholic Church's waning influence may be further eclipsed by resurgent Islam financed from abroad. One million Muslims, immigrants and converts, are estimated to live in Spain, with the largest community - around 250,000 - in Andalusia. Many are drawn by the area's Islamic heritage and a romantic nostalgia for the lost paradise of the kingdom of al-Andalus that ruled Spain for more than 500 years.

Spanish Muslims recently relaunched a long-standing campaign for the right to pray in Crdoba's great mosque, a jewel of Islamic culture and one of Spain's most treasured heritage sites. Mansur Escudero, president of Spain's Islamic Council, unrolled his prayer mat last month at the mosque's west door and kneeled to pray, in defiance of a Catholic veto.

The mosque contains a glittering mihrab, or prayer niche, which is regarded as an architectural wonder of the world. It also houses a cathedral, built to consolidate Catholic rule after Muslims were expelled from Spain in 1492. Muslims are forbidden to pray in any part of the building.

"Joint acts of prayer between Christians and Muslims would do more for ecumenicalism and inter-religious dialogue than theological debates among religious leaders," said Escudero. But the archbishop of Crdoba, Juan Jose Asenjo, insisted that joint use of the mosque was "not viable, would not contribute to peaceful co-existence and would only generate confusion among the faithful".

The polemic was re-ignited when the pope, Benedict XVI, visited Turkey in November and prayed in Istanbul's Blue Mosque. "That was a tremendously positive sign to Muslims. It showed that mosques are open to Christian worshippers," said Escudero. "Why can't Muslims pray in Crdoba's mosque?"

Escudero wrote to the pope, and put the question to the head of Spain's Episcopal Conference, bishop Ricardo Blazquez of Bilbao. Blazquez, caught on the hop, replied that while collective worship was prohibited, he supposed private or individual prayer was acceptable.

Escudero then called upon Muslims to go to Crdoba's mosque to pray "in a respectful, private and individual capacity". But the bishops declared that "Muslims cannot in any way pray in Crdoba cathedral". There would, they stated, be "no negotiation whatsoever over the use of the cathedral under the pretext of a false inter-religious dialogue".

Following Escudero's public pray-in on December 27, archbishop Asenjo made his counter-move, calling on Crdoba's Protestant, Orthodox and Evangelical communities to join a week of prayer starting this Thursday. It was a rare ecumenical gesture; Spain's Catholics rarely show interest in other Christian groups.

Muslims in Spain have long been respectful to the country's ecclesiastical and civil authorities, but as numbers have swelled they have turned to more radical leaders. An alliance of Spanish converts, pro-Moroccan and pro-Saudi leaders took control of one of Spain's two main Islamic federations last year. Rising new leaders include fundamentalist imams from Saudi-funded mosques in Madrid and Fuengirola. They want Catholics to recognise Crdoba's mosque as "a patrimony of two, or three, cultures" - there was once a synagogue on the site.

The moderate Escudero does not favour the construction of ostentatious mosques with foreign money. "I prefer modest, decent buildings backed by Spanish local authorities," he said, but added: "Muslims have the right to build mosques big and small where they like."

Improvised mosques have popped up in homes and garages all over Spain, especially in Andalusia, to meet demand. But churches resist the building of flashy mosques that dominate the skyline. Many parishioners complain they are funded by undemocratic countries to promote Islamic radicalism.