Death or conscience? Test fit for a saint

YOU demur (Editorial, October 29) at the beatification in Rome of the 498 martyrs of the 1936-’39 Spanish civil war.

Yet the Pope said the new Blessed “with their words and deeds of pardon towards their persecutors encourage us to work tirelessly for mercy, reconciliation and peaceful coexistence”.

I remember reading the reports from Spain in the Cork Examiner 70 years ago and we now know that about one million perished in the atrocities on both sides, among them about 7,000 nuns, monks, priests and bishops.