Once again, Francisco Franco will be remembered in churches throughout Spain on the anniversary of his death. On the occasion of this 20N, when it has been almost half a century since the dictator died, almost twenty masses will be celebrated in different cities “in suffrage for the soul of Francisco Franco”, according to the foundation that bears his name. Given this, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) has 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 whose extinction the Ministry of Culture has already begun the procedures in compliance with the Democratic Memory Law, others announced by Franco groups such as the Spanish Catholic Movement (MCE) are added. According to their compilation, the Cuelgamuros Valley will offer a mass this Wednesday morning and subsequently a visit has been called to the Mingorrubio cemetery, where the dictator’s tomb is converted into an authentic Franco altar.
The masses will take place in churches in many cities, including Valladolid, Málaga, Santander, Huesca or Zamora. In León, which does not appear on the foundation’s list, there will also be a ceremony: it will be officiated by the controversial priest Jesús Calvo, who in 2017 even said that Franco’s repression “should have been greater” or that “the life of any bullfighter It is worth more than that of all the reds.” In Madrid, the mass will be in the parish of the Twelve Apostles, the usual one in recent years and from which attendees usually leave singing ‘Face to the sun’ and with their arms raised.
On the verge of half a century since his death, there are many, many Spaniards who continue to preserve his memory, who piously offer their prayers for the soul of a devout son of the church. A Catholic Church for which he fought like no one else and for which he raised the flag when he was in the eye of the hurricane of an iconoclastic, incendiary horde that obeyed nothing and no one,” justifies the Francisco Franco Foundation, which also remembers José Antonio Cousin de Rivera, murdered in 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 ex officio, to protect his victims and prevent the celebration of an act of glorification of someone who caused irreparable damage,” laments the Association for the Recovery of Memory Historical 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 it means “the lack of protection of the families of the victims who have suffered the worst crime.” “forced disappearance.”
That is why the ARMH demands sanctions and that these “are not only symbolic” but that they range “from financial fines to the removal of the box that privileges the Catholic Church in the income tax return,” he exemplifies.
“A democratic State must be hurt by all the pain of victims of serious and violent crimes and it cannot be that in some cases all types of judicial and protective measures are taken and in others the damage is condoned and favorable relations are maintained with the religious institution.” that protects the exaltation of the dictator,” the petition concludes.
Source: www.eldiario.es
