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  • How the Roman Catholic Church Spawned the Spanish “Civil War”

    The Spanish War is often referred to as a “civil war” by historians partly due to the massive bloodbath that ensued between 1936 and 1939. However, a closer and deeper look into the politics of the war would reveal hidden ugly truths.

    Spain became the Republic of Spain in 1931 cutting off government ties with the Roman Catholic Church including monetary support. The Republic adopted US government principles such as Freedom of the Press, Religion and Conscience which alarmed Vatican. The liberal democracy threatened the Church’s survival in Spain.

    The Church, fearing displacement, launched its own campaign to protect its interests by collaborating with Fascist groups within the militia. The Catholic Church backed Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Gen. Francisco Franco and on July 17, 1936, a well-organized military uprising began paving the way for Fascism to successfully stream through the annals of Spain’s political landscape.

    Pope Pius XII, then still papal secretary Cardinal Pacelli, went to New York to personally enlist the aid of then US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in banning arms shipment to Spain. Heavily influenced by Roosevelt’s ambassador to London, Joseph Kennedy, Roman Catholic layman James Farley and Democrat Cardinal Spellman, Roosevelt pledged allegiance to the Neutrality Pact after being warned that he would lose the Catholic vote which comprised ¼ of the US electorate.

    The Neutrality Pact, otherwise known as the Munich Pact, was an agreement that Adolf Hitler should have the Czech border of Sudetenland where about three million Germans inhabited after the First World War. In exchange for Sudetenland, Hitler was to leave other parts of Europe alone. Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the pact believing that Hitler was a man of his word and trusted that the Neutrality Pact would block a German-European war. Unfortunately, Chamberlain was not a very good judge of character because just less than a year later, Hitler invaded Poland and Britain declared war against Germany and Word War II was launched. The signatories of the Munich Pact were Germany, Italy, France and Great Britain.

    President Roosevelt prevented guns, medical aid and food from being shipped into the Republic of Spain as a result of the pressure put upon him primarily by the Catholic Church. In Washington, 60 congressmen signed a Spanish resolution in 1938 and those signatories were openly attacked on the pulpit, the Roman Catholic media and were referred to by Cardinals as anti-Americans. They were threatened of electoral defeat until they gave in and recanted. Only three congressmen stood their ground and affirmed their endorsement of the Republic of Spain. Because of this, the Republic of Spain was defeated and fascist regime took over in the country, killing in its path an estimated one million people.

    Calling it “A Crusade for God”, the Vatican under the helm of Pope Pius XII, the rebellion of the generals was watered down so that it would appear that it was for the preservation of Spanish culture and Christianity in Spain.

    Finding Fascism as its best ally, the Roman Catholic Church embraced it solely to protect its interests. Selfishly and greedily, the Vatican fought hard to retain power over the Spanish government at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives. Franco’s victory reinstated the Roman Catholic Church’s authority to dictate laws under the guise of preserving Christian morals within the Spanish masses’ lifestyles.

    Schools were turned over to the Catholic Church, divorce was abolished, religious marriages were made compulsory and religious taxes were imposed immediately following Franco’s victory. Franco was declared a hero, called a defender of the faith and culture. He was even sent the Supreme Equestrian Order of the Militia of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

    The Roman Catholic Church worked its best at protecting this piece of truth from being published internationally, the American media was gagged from writing about Vatican’s participation in the Spanish War or should any article be published, it always portrayed the Church as having nothing but the people’s or God’s best interest at heart. However, Spain’s bishops admitted to the accuracy of the report during the 1971 Congress of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy where a majority of Spain’s Bishops confessed that the Church supported the fascist regime.

    George Seldes, an American investigative journalist and media critic exposed these stark truths in his award-winning Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press, a documentary about freedom of the press, power and abuse of power, of diversity and fairness in the media. Seldes reveals how the Roman Catholic Church suppressed the media to cover up its participation in the Fascist regime. Furthermore, Seldes provides evidence in support of his conclusions. He cited The New Republic in “Who Lied About Spain” in its credits section and in a November, 1981 article, Seldes concluded that 1,750 of America’s newspapers were suppressed by the Church from publishing any report that concerns the Vatican.

    Aside from Seldes, Avro Manhattan, touted as one of the world’s foremost authority on Roman Catholicism in politics, also wrote extensively about the atrocities committed by the Catholic Church during in the Twentieth Century. In his sensational “The Vatican Holocaust – Revealed at Last!”, Manhattan accounts horrifying stories of religious massacre, forced conversions, murder of non-Catholics, mass executions and extermination. The 24-chapter long book is peppered with eyewitness testimonies, images, names, dates and places to prove the validity of its claim against the Roman Catholic Church. This controversial publication is available online via http://www.reformation.org/holocaus.html.