As I say, I'm not familiar with Spanish law, so I honestly don't know, but if not you have the same problem that exists here: A civil and religious institution that share the same name, as well as many of the same attributes, despite being wholly separate practices.

Not that it really matters anyway because as far as the Pope is concerned such distinctions are meaningless; in the eyes of the Catholic Church you were either married within the Catholic Church (e.g. sacramentally) or you aren't married. There's no reason why the Pope should find homosexuals in the latter state any more objectionable than anyone else in it, but from the perspective the Pope is REQUIRED to take, "gay marriage" has no more standing than "Islamic marriage".

So no, I've no interest in re-treading old ground, and it's not necessary as long as we're talking about the doctrinal Catholic view on marriage, which explicitly precludes a purely secular aspect to it. The suggestion that somehow "persecutes" homosexuals MIGHT work in a country as heavily Catholic as Spain (though recent legislative acts argue otherwise) but in general it makes as much sense as an atheist saying Catholics "persecute" them by preaching the gospel. They didn't ostracize you, dude, you rejected a non-negotiable core teaching: YOU left THEM.