The Silences of Pope Francis
Pope Francis has attacked unfettered capitalism as “a new tyranny.” But the silence maintained by the former Argentinian bishop Bergoglio (now Pope Francis), during the brutal Argentinian dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, puzzles many people.
Vicente Navarro got a clue from the recent Tarragona service (honoring the members of the Church who had fallen during the Spanish Civil War on the fascist side). He found that Bergoglio’s silence during the Argentinian coup parallels the Catholic Church’s silence in front of the brutalities carried out during the 1936 military coup in Spain and the ensuing dictatorship.
Navarro explained:
“[T]he Church worked with the fascist regime closely, not merely cooperating, but essentially functioning as part of the dictatorial state itself. As a result, the Spanish Catholic Church benefited in its earthly interests, including its properties and business affairs. The Catholic Church was one of the major landowners in Spain and opposed the land reform initiated by the democratically elected Republican government. ”
“The Church was even directly involved in the repression of the Republicans who lost the war, giving support to the courts that issued death squad orders and imprisonment. There is even further evidence that many of the alleged “martyrs” honored at Tarragona were in fact individuals who had directly facilitated this repression (see “Beatos y Cínicos” by Jose M. García Márquez in Público 14.10.13).” Read more here.
Vicente Navarro, a native of Barcelona, went into exile because of his underground activities against Franco dictatorship. His Monthly Review article “The Lincoln Brigade: Some Comments on U.S. History” can be viewed here.
http://www.salaimartin.com/randomthoughts/item/572-don-vicente-navarro-ser%C3%A1-debidamente-ignorado.html
“I searched the archive of La Vanguardia any news that referred to detention, expulsion or punishment university Vicente Navarro López . But, as happened to my follower, I did not find any . In fact, the only mention I found of Vicente López Navarro is at page 27 of the April 7 , 1960. Titled ” School Police Protection and Welfare ” , you can read a list of fourteen names of students, among whom is Vicente Navarro López , who are told they can pass and collect the second quarter of BECA granted by the School Protection Commissioner of the Ministry of National Education (*** ) . That is, the archive said confirmed what my follower : Don Vicente López Navarro was one of the few beneficiaries of a grant from the government of Francisco Franco! These are the facts and I play La Vanguardia page for all to see .
Having seen, the followers of my Facebook wall have every right to ask, is it not strange that in 1960 the government of Francisco Franco granted one of his few college scholarships to a “dangerous ” student union fought ” heroically ” against Franco and whose family ” pursued ” (as Don Vicente confession ) since 1939 ?
I will refrain from comment. And that to me, really , I get exactly the same if Don Vicente Franco was a heroic fighter who was forced into exile to escape persecution or was a simple fellow who went to study abroad (like me!) . But what gives me the same is that my followers accuse of lying and falsifying history or qualify slanderers and petty when the La Vanguardia newspaper archive confirms that MY FOLLOWERS HAD REASON : Don Vicente Navarro López in 1960 enjoyed a grant from the Ministry of Education of the fascist government of Francisco Franco.”
http://blogs.libertaddigital.com/presente-y-pasado/la-persecucion-religiosa-en-espana-3112/
“As is known , although Vicenc Navarro intends to ignore during the Spanish civil war produced one of the greatest religious persecution of all time , marked by numerous acts of insanity and extreme cruelty explicit purpose of extermination of the clergy and the faithful more militant , covering even killing people for the mere crime of going to mass . There was also a deliberate eradication program remembered as the Christian religion : burning of churches and monasteries, destruction of crosses and religious symbols gravestones in cemeteries, destruction or theft of valuable objects of worship, valuable libraries, etc. . Given the enormous accumulation of culture and art proper to the Church, the persecution caused invaluable damage to the historical, artistic and bibliographic heritage of the nation.
The anti-Christian action started , just arrived the new regime, with the famous burning of convents , libraries , art schools and protected by the inhibition of the security forces. But the most serious offenses were not the same , to be very serious , but the almost unanimous self-identification of the Left with criminals , who awarded the title of ” the people.” And the people are sovereign , criminals and became rulers of the new situation. I do not think I exaggerate in the least , for such identification is the prologue to act even worse. Then the left broke democratic standards they claimed to represent , with no anti-Catholic but secular Constitution, which reduced the clergy to second-class citizens and allowed to use the power illegitimately , to suffocate the Church , in breach of way political freedoms.
The following years, especially during the insurrection of October 1934 – the real beginning of civil war and the triumph of the Popular Front in February 36, returned fire temple and began killing clerics , in over thirty Asturias , and significant episodes such as the poisoned candy when some agitators stirred up the masses with the story that the nuns such distributed candy to children , causing a riot with some dead and wounded. The anti-Catholic propaganda became more virulent. That is, the bloody persecution launched the resumption of the civil war in July 1936 just completed a preparation years. Shortly after the victory of the Popular Front, the satirical newspaper The strake posted this poll , “What would you do with that cassock ? ” . Is worth quoting as showing button , it includes 345 responses follows: ” Cook them as straining cooked , the juice and then crimping them to let it burn , and with ashes and powder cannonaded the Pope’s palace .” ” Peel , cook them , put them in cans for food and send the fascist Italian troops in Abyssinia .” ” Give them a good beating five hundred sticks at sunrise each day.”
” What is done with grapes : a good hang as ill trample them until there was a drop of blood.” ” Castrate , let them pull a cart, make sauce and make them eat Gil Robles and former minister Salmon” . ” Make them suffer passion and death , like Christ, to see if , as worthy their representatives , so that suffering with resignation of the Nazarene. If imitated in whole, then , after death, would be when you believe in them. ” “Those poor priests! There is so much I want you, one by one, I would hang from the tower of my people not to do more crimes, which many have doneCanallas ” . ” Put them in electricity cables , doused with gasoline, set fire to them and then make them sausages to feed the beasts .” ” Castrate . Grind . Boil . Zurrapas them . Estercolera throw them . ”
And so on. The responses came from across the country , with their signatures , which reveals two things : the deep ” poisoning the consciousness of the workers ,” denounced by the socialist Besteiro , and the sense of impunity that was taking over the people. No way it was grotesque outbursts and bullies because similar acts would be implemented a few months later . Incessant propaganda that set the mood for the great slaughter .
Anti-Catholicism , not mere anticlericalism , was the most characteristic feature of the left and Catalan separatists , the cement binding above separated many rivalries as to bring them to true civil wars between them. Not all of the left , of course, hated the Church with the same degree of intolerance , but even the more moderate looked with sympathy or indifference those behaviors and, in the best case , was content to abstain. The more traditional Republican comecuras were left , the Catalan ERC and anarchists , socialists and communists while holding something more pragmatic concepts , of course, not excluded , in due course , its share of first row of persecution.
***
This brutal , undemocratic and systematic harassment , bowed to the bulk of the Church to the national side , who came to his defense , against the revolutionary determined to exterminate . There was, however , one voice . Some priests and many other leftist Basque and Catalan separatists tried to conceal the slaughter or justify it with various arguments and , to that extent , contributed to it.”