Once again, Francisco Franco will be remembered in churches across Spain on the anniversary of his death. On the occasion of this 20N, when almost half a century has passed since the death of the dictator, nearly twenty masses will be celebrated in different cities “in support of the soul of Francisco Franco”, according to the foundation that bears his name. This is why the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) registered an official petition asking the government to sanction “the protection and participation” of the Catholic Church “in acts that exalt the dictator”.
To the 16 masses organized directly by the Francisco Franco Foundation, for the extinction of which the Ministry of Culture has already started procedures in accordance with the Democratic Memory law, are added others announced by Francoist groups such as the Spanish Catholic Movement (MCE). According to their compilation, the Cuelgamuros Valley will offer a mass this Wednesday morning and then a visit to the Mingorrubio cemetery is planned, where the dictator’s tomb is transformed into an authentic Francoist altar.
Masses will take place in churches in many cities, including Valladolid, Málaga, Santander, Huesca or Zamora. In León, which is not on the foundation’s list, a ceremony will also take place: it will be presided over by the controversial priest Jesús Calvo, who even declared in 2017 that Franco’s repression “should have been greater” or that “the life of any bullfighter is worth more than that of all the reds. In Madrid, the mass will take place in the parish of the Twelve Apostles, the usual parish in recent years and from which the participants usually leave singing “Face the sun” and with raised arms.
Nearly half a century after his death, many Spaniards continue to preserve his memory and piously offer their prayers for the soul of a pious son of the Church. A Catholic Church for which he fought like no one else and for which he raised the flag while he found himself in the eye of the hurricane of an iconoclastic and incendiary horde which obeyed nothing or no one”, justifies the Francisco Franco Foundation, which also remembers José Antonio Cousin de Rivera, assassinated during the civil war also on 20N.
“The State must feel pain for all the victims”
“If a church celebrated a mass in honor of a terrorist, justice would act automatically to protect its victims and prevent the celebration of an act of glorification of someone who has caused irreparable damage,” deplores the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory in its Writing. Its president, Emilio Silva, considers that the State “cannot remain passive” when celebrations of this type “offend and humiliate the victims of the Franco dictatorship” because this means “the lack of protection of the families of the victims who have the suffered more.” crime. » “enforced disappearance”.
This is why the ARMH is calling for sanctions and that these “not only be symbolic” but that they range “from the financial fine to the deletion of the box which favors the Catholic Church in the tax declaration », he illustrates.
“A democratic state must be touched by all the suffering of victims of serious and violent crimes and it cannot be that in some cases all kinds of judicial and protective measures are taken and in others the damage is tolerated and that favorable relations are maintained with religious people. institution” which protects the exaltation of the dictator,” the petition concludes.
