Spanish fascism and the Catholic Church

NPR ran a story last week about Pope Benedict's impending mass beatification of a group of Spanish clergy who were killed during the Spanish Civil War.

It is true that many in the Catholic Church were killed during the Civil War. But it is also true that the Catholic Church in Spain was a staunch ally of the fascists in Spain. Under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, the Catholic Church played an important role. Or, as an article in the London Telegraph puts it, after Franco came to power,

The Spanish Church was a powerful ally of Franco. Every house and classroom had a crucifix, and priests often wielded more influence than judges or police officers.

The Catholic Church in Spain, in other words, was a key ally of fascist repression in that country--which is to say, it was an enemy of social justice. This is in contrast to those liberation theologians in the Catholic Church who actually supported social justice--but who Benedict (as Cardinal Ratzinger) suppressed back in the 1980s. I am also reminded of the contrast between the pro-fascist Catholics in Spain under Franco, and the faith of Catholics like Oscar Romero in Latin America.

Franco was not only friendly with the Catholic Church. He was also a friendly with Hitler, as this photograph of the two of them together, taken from Wikipedia, illustrates:










Time magazine published this short article in July, 1944, a short time after D-Day:

An Allied observer visited the State Department, graphically illustrated current political trends in Spain with a story about pictures. The pictures were on General Francisco Franco's handsome desk.

A year ago, when the observer visited Franco, there were three of them—a large, autographed photograph of Pope Pius XII, flanked by large, autographed photographs of Hitler and Mussolini. When he called again eight months later the pictures were still there.

But when he went to see Franco less than a month ago, two of Franco's heroes had disappeared. Gone were Hitler and Mussolini. Only the Holy Father remained on Franco's table.

In other words, after D-Day, Franco knew which way the wind was blowing. It wasn't a good idea for him to associate with a loser anymore, even if the loser in question was an old friend with a similar ideology.

Francisco Franco, as an old running gag on Saturday Night Live pointed out, is still dead. But the legacy of his fascist regime is apparently not dead. If Benedict is going to honor those Catholics who died in the Spanish Civil War, will he also apologize for the role that his Church played in supporting the dictatorship?

Francisco Franco: Still Dead, Still a Bastard

Some of the greatest and most important champions of social justice have come from the Roman Catholic Church. This almost goes without saying, and yet I feel I must mention this, because what I am about to discuss involves historical events from 70 years ago that are have made their way back into the news, and which do not reflect positively on the Catholic Church. I am referring to Spanish Civil War and the subsequent repressive government of Francisco Franco.

One way to describe the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco would be to say that it was a unique, homegrown version of European fascism--a brutal and unholy alliance between right wing Roman Catholicism and violently repressive rule. Last summer, when I first wrote about this subject, I referenced a Time magazine article from 1944, which reported that, until D-Day, Franco kept on his desk photographs of his three favorite people: Mussolini, Hitler, and the pope.

The Spanish government is trying to do something to remember the victims of Franco's dictatorship. Called the "Law of Historical Memory", it "could make finding the remains of victims of Franco easier, and eventually lead to their names being legally cleared."

As an AP article reported,

While atrocities were committed on all sides during a war that took an estimated 500,000 lives — and the Law of Historical Memory makes reference to all of those killed — it is mostly Franco's victims, estimated at tens of thousands, who still lie in unmarked graves.

This is important background information when one considers that Pope Benedict has now beatified 498 people associated with Franco's side in the Spanish civil war. Benedict made a point of appearing at the ceremony himself. The Los Angeles Times reported that one large banner at the event read, "For a Catholic Spain, they died." Oh really? Well, here is a picture of Catholic Spain for you:



That would be Hitler marching next to his friend Franco, wouldn't it?

According to the same article,

protesters displayed a banner that, repeating graffiti that has popped up in Spain, said: "Those who have killed, tortured, and exploited cannot be beatified."

They displayed the banner with a replica of Picasso's famous Spanish War painting "Guernica." The churchgoers tore up the banner that portrays the horrors of war as the two groups brawled, Italian television reported.

Alas, it seems that those who have killed, tortured, and exploited can be beatified.