VATICAN: Spanish pilgrims flock to St Peter's Square for beatification of Catholics killed during Civil War

Thousands of Spanish pilgrims are expected in Rome for the beatification mass of 498 killed Catholics during the Spanish Civil War. The Catholic Church is preparing to beatify 498 of its members killed during the Spanish Civil War, putting them on the path to possible sainthood. Several hundreds of Spanish pilgrims began to gather from early morning in St Peter's Square on Sunday (October 28) for the event revives memories of a conflict that still divides Spain. Most of those to be honoured at Sunday's ceremony in Rome, the biggest mass beatification ever, were priests or nuns killed by left-wing militias at the outbreak of the 1936-39 war. Nacho Rampado, one of the many Spanish pilgrims in St Peter's Square, said: "I am here because an uncle of my grandfather was killed during the Civil War, he was a Christian and sung a religious hymn and this is why he was killed." Many Catholic clergy and Church leaders sided with Francisco Franco in the conflict, which began when the general led a military coup against the left-wing government of the then Spanish Republic and ended with his installation as a dictator. Ricardo Millas, who was queueing to reach the Basilica of St Peter's, said: "It is not a question of rethinking the Civil War; they are martyrs because they were religious." Over decades, the Church in Spain has gathered evidence proving that hundreds of its members died for their faith during the conflict. Their actions make them eligible for beatification. If the devout report miracles linked to praying to them, some could be considered for sainthood, a process which takes many more years. The beatification process has reawakened bitter memories of the Church's role in the Civil War. The conflict is still a regular subject of heated debate in Spain and the Socialist government is promoting a law, opposed by the Church, to officially condemn the rule of Franco, who died in 1975. 'It is the acknowledgement of a war in the name of religion', said Amalia Serrano, a woman wearing a ribbon with the Spanish flag. The Church insists it does not wish a religious ceremony to be confused with a political statement. The hold of the Church is loosening on a country once overwhelmingly Catholic but which now permits gay marriage. Yet anti-clericism, which spilled over into violence in the 1930s when thousands of members of religious orders were killed, still runs deep in part of the Spanish population.

ITN Source | October 28, 2007

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