Catalonia's regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain as the central government looks set to impose direct rule.

The vote in the Catalan parliament was boycotted by opposition MPs as those present backed declaring independence by 70-10 in the 135-strong assembly.

Lawmakers from the Socialist Party, the People's Party (PP) and Ciudadanos had left the chamber before the vote in protest.

The move is likely to be declared illegal by the Spanish government as Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told senators earlier that direct rule was needed to return 'law, democracy and stability' to Catalonia.

The crisis began after Catalans backed independence in a disputed referendum earlier this month.

The Catalan government said that of the 43 per cent who took part in the referendum, 90 per cent were in favour of independence. But Spain's Constitutional Court had ruled the vote illegal.

A Spanish Cardinal sought to restore unity earlier this month by condemning the 'sedition and fraud' of secessionists and defended the 'moral good' of Spain's unity.

'Many of us feel intense pain, as if a dagger had been thrust into our guts,' said Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera of Valencia in a newsletter in early October according to the National Catholic Reporter. 'What has happened is very serious – an act of sedition, fraud and betrayal, a coup against the rule of law and a violation of the nation's constitutional order and the coexistence in freedom of all Spaniards.'

Spanish Christians should follow Jesus' 'calls not for fragmentation and division, but for unity and integration' he said as he urged them to resist a 'reprehensible act contrary to truth,' that would 'inflict wounds and cause confrontation between families, friends and neighbours'.

He said: 'Catalonia cannot be without Spain, nor Spain without Catalonia – this is what constitutes the unity of Spain.'