500 beatified - A need for sensitivity

YESTERDAY’S mass beatification by the Pope of nearly 500 Catholics killed during the Spanish Civil War may not have had the exclusivity that can engender an air of authenticity on such occasions.

There are few conflicts as bitter or bloody as a civil war, as Spanish history, and our own, will confirm.

Yesterday’s ceremony will reopen some of the deep wounds that divided and nearly, on at least two occasions in the last century, brought civilisation to a standstill on the Continent.

It is necessary and proper to continue to honour all war dead, lest we forget the mistakes and circumstances that led to their sacrifice.

Yesterday’s ceremony may be a symbolic act in the Vatican’s fight against secularism but anything that might rekindle the divisions that nearly destroyed Europe should be approached with great caution and sensitivity. These qualities were not in evidence yesterday.