Vatican denies beatifications are politically motivated

THE beatification of 498 Catholics killed during the Spanish Civil War was not politically motivated, the Vatican’s number two said yesterday.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone defended Sunday’s ceremony, the largest mass beatification in Church history, in a sermon during a Mass said for tens of thousands of pilgrims who came to Rome for the event.

The ceremony revived bitter memories of a divisive conflict and was seen by some as an implicit criticism of Spain’s socialist government, which has been at odds with the Church over issues such as gay marriage and divorce.

“These martyrs have not been proposed for veneration by the people of God because of their political implications nor to fight against anybody,” said Cardinal Bertone, who is Secretary of State and ranks second to the Pope in the Vatican hierarchy.

The cardinal said the martyrs had been beatified — the last step before sainthood — because they were exemplary Christians who were killed for their faith.

Many Catholic clergy and Church leaders sided with Francisco Franco during the 1936-39 conflict, which began when the general led a military coup against the left-wing government and ended with his victory and installation as a dictator.

Most of the Catholic martyrs honoured on Sunday were killed by left-wing militias at the outbreak of fighting in 1936.

Sunday’s ceremony was the latest in a series of mass beatifications in the past few decades of groups of Catholics killed in Spain by leftists before or during the civil war.

Pope Benedict, speaking to the crowds in St Peter’s Square just after Sunday’s ceremony, said the martyrs honoured on Sunday were “motivated exclusively by their love for Christ”.