MADRID (Reuters) - Wide public acceptance of a church wedding for Spain’s crown prince to a divorced woman shows how liberal traditionally Catholic Spain has become since the iron rule of Francisco Franco ended almost 30 years ago.

Only a handful of people turned up to a recent protest under the banner “No To The Royal Wedding” and a reverential national press has barely touched on the marital status of the future queen for a country where divorce only became legal in 1981.

Thee-quarters of Spaniards approve of Prince Felipe’s marriage on Saturday to well-known television journalist Letizia Ortiz and only five percent do not, polls show.

This “live and let live” attitude reflects the views of modern Spaniards, some 95 percent of whom profess to be Roman Catholic but whose views on issues from homosexuality and prostitution to abortion are surprisingly permissive.

“Divorce is seen as something normal. It is widely accepted now in Spain,” said Juan Diez, head of analysts ASEP. “Spain is a country with a new social order … In a few decades it has become one of the most liberal countries in the world.”

At the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, Spanish women were not allowed to open bank accounts or hold a job without their husband’s permission, divorce was illegal and some 99 percent of Spaniards were Roman Catholics.

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