Vatican beatifying 498 from Spain's war

RedStarOverChina · #1 26th October 2007, 05:41

Quote:

Originally posted by DANIEL WOOLLS@ Associated Press Writer
CUENCA, Spain - First the militia fighters thought of hacking the bishop to death with an ax. In the end, they showed pity and shot him — one of hundreds of executions of Roman Catholic clergy as civil war erupted in Spain.

The bishop and 497 other people will be beatified Sunday by the Catholic Church, the last step before possible sainthood. The ceremony — the largest mass beatification in Vatican history — comes as Spain is taking a closer look at its painful past.

Bishop Cruz Laplana y Laguna was taken prisoner by leftist militiamen two days after the war broke out on July 17, 1936. The mayor of this town in central Spain offered to free him with a ruse: send police into the seminary where he was being held, have the bishop dress as a cop and sneak out.

Laplana y Laguna declined — he would not shed his vestments. Two weeks later, the bishop blessed his killers as they took aim and opened fire. "May God forgive you, as I forgive and bless you," he said, according to a book published by the Spanish Bishops Conference.

He will be beatified along with 497 other people the Catholic Church has declared victims of religious persecution just before or during the Spanish civil war.

The 1936-39 war pitted an elected, leftist government against right-wing forces that rose up under Gen. Francisco Franco, who went on to win and preside over a nearly 40-year dictatorship that was staunchly supported by the Catholic Church.

Violence against the clergy had been simmering since 1931, when a republic was declared in Spain. Leftist forces targeted the church as an institution they saw as a symbol of wealth, repression and inequality.

The violence was one of Franco's pretexts for launching his rebellion, and it intensified after the war started, with churches in government-held areas burned and more and more clergy attacked.

The Catholic Church says there is no official death figure, but estimates nearly 7,000 clergy were killed in Spain from 1931 to 1939.

Except for seven lay people, all of those being beatified Sunday were clergy — priests, deacons, seminarians, monks and nuns, ranging in age from 16 to 78.

Some in Spain question the beatification's timing — three days before Parliament is to pass a Socialist-sponsored law seeking to make symbolic amends to victims of the war and the Franco dictatorship.

The bill mentions people persecuted for their religious beliefs, but for the most part it is an unprecedented formal condemnation of the Franco regime, the executions of civilians by pro-Franco militia and summary postwar trials of people accused of opposing his regime.

Critics say the Vatican, which since the late 1980s has beatified nearly 500 other clergy killed in the war, is now hitting back at the government by choosing to beatify so many more all at once.

Christian Networks, a grouping of lay Catholic organizations, said the church should apologize for supporting Franco. "As the church has not asked forgiveness for what happened, this beatification is inopportune," it said.

The church insists research has been under way for decades, and the ceremony is being held now because Pope Benedict XVI finished signing the decrees only two months ago.

"The church works on this very slowly and with its own calendar, which is not shaped by any other calendar, much less the political calendars of any government," said Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, secretary-general of the Spanish Bishops Conference.

The government has clashed with the church by legalizing gay marriage and instituting other social reforms, but has taken care not to pick a fight this time.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero says he respects the beatification as much as he respects the civil war atonement bill.

Jose Andres Torres Mora, a Socialist lawmaker who sponsored the war amends bill, will be among those at the beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Square.

Torres Mora's great-uncle, Juan Duarte Martin, is being beatified. He was a 24-year-old deacon when the militia tortured and killed him. "I am honoring him both ways," the lawmaker said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071025/ap_on_...z2Ta9tMPptvaA8F

Remember the leftist comrades who fought against these Franco-loving bastards!

**RedAnarchist** · #2 26th October 2007, 12:33

Quote:

Laplana y Laguna declined — he would not shed his vestments. Two weeks later, the bishop blessed his killers as they took aim and opened fire. "May God forgive you, as I forgive and bless you," he said, according to a book published by the Spanish Bishops Conference.

What an idiot - he could have escaped but couldn't bear getting rid of his precious "sacred" clothing!

It shows the difference between the Left and the nutjob Right - we remember our fallen, whilst they consider them "saints", as if the magical sky fairy is going to promote them in magical sky fairy land or something

Kwisatz Haderach · #3 26th October 2007, 15:33

What a fucking disgrace. The Catholic Church in Spain has a history of brutal oppression going back centuries. And then, when the wheel turns and they end up on the receiving end of their own brand of justice (Inquisition, anyone?) they cry and moan and play the victim.

*Dean* · #4 26th October 2007, 15:59

I hate the Vatican. Those fuckers only recently apologised for supporting the holocaust, and have not apologised for supporting Franco. I say fuck them.

Seriously, who the fuck waits more than 50 years to apologise for supporting the goddamn Holocaust??? I do not understand how Catholics can support the church without being antisemitic.

Sickle of Justice · #5 30th October 2007, 22:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Edric O@October 26, 2007 03:33 pm
What a fucking disgrace. The Catholic Church in Spain has a history of brutal oppression going back centuries. And then, when the wheel turns and they end up on the receiving end of their own brand of justice (Inquisition, anyone?) they cry and moan and play the victim.

hear hear.

ComradeR · #6 31st October 2007, 09:12

The hypocrisy of the church never ceases to amaze me. They glorify butchers and fascists and have supported brutal dictators such as the Tsar, Hitler and Franco while ether turning a blind eye to, or participating in (and even instigating) the brutal repression, torture and slaughter of innocent people. Hell it wasn't all that long ago that the position of pope itself was dictator of the papal states.

apathy maybe · #7 31st October 2007, 11:30

I heard about this on the radio this morning (download or see the transcript at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/st...007/2076073.htm ). Apparently the priests (etc.) who were shot by the fascists are not part of this.

An interesting quote from the transcript,

Quote:

And in the case of the Basque country and some of the other provinces of the northern coast which are lush, fertile, dairy farming areas, where you've actually got a relatively prosperous peasantry, the position of the clergy within relatively prosperous villages, yes there's a much greater equality. And of course it's interesting that there are in the course of the Civil War, there are clergy who are executed by the Francoists, effectively because they do preach a Christian message. I could tell you, if you can bear this, there was an incredibly interesting story about a Jesuit priest called Father Huidobro, and this Father Huidobro was a chaplain to Franco's legion. And he was killed during the attack on Madrid, and the Jesuits put him up for beatification and possible canonisation. And the whole process went forward. This priest was renowned as a dedicated Christian, and finally in the course of the very detailed investigation that takes place during the canonisation process, it was discovered that he hadn't actually been killed by a Russian bullet, as had at first been thought, but he had actually been shot in the back by one of his own men fed up with the fact that he was constantly preaching against the rape, looting and pillage being carried out by the Foreign Legionnaires. And the canonisation process was dropped. I think this happened in the 1960s, and what is interesting though is that the Basque priests who were killed by Franco, have not been recognised by the Church. I mean this is why it's become such a big issue in Spain today, that the whole thing is so utterly partisan.

ComradeR · #8 31st October 2007, 11:58

Quote:

Apparently the priests (etc.) who were shot by the fascists are not part of this.

Like I said, the church glorifies butchers and fascists. <_<

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