FRANCO'S SPAIN
SK—To a liberal-minded Catholic, Mr. George Meany's cable quoted by Senor Moreno in the Spectator, was a heartening indication that not all my co-religionists in the English-speaking world are pre- pared to excuse the squalid enormities of the present Spanish regime. For too long Catholic journals in this country have appeared bewitched by Franco and his misguided supporters, clerics among them, who continue to bolster up his tottering tyranny. It could be argued there was some excuse in the days of the Civil War although Catholic democrats in Britain must forever owe a debt of gratitude to the Dominican review, Black/ riars, which, alone among its contemporaries, refused to acquiesce to what a distinguished Carmelite has called 'the pro-Franco mania' of the Catholic press at that time. Today, there is no excuse. As Mr. Gilmour pointed out, graphically and verbally, in his excellent article, the 'Christian Gentleman' of Madrid has more than one priest behind bars and could share bloody honours with Hitler and Attila in his suppres- sion of the heroic and devoutly Catholic Basques.
Franco's treatment of political prisoners and the pitiable condition of the Spanish poor are but two aspects of his regime which fall far short of even the
most basic Christian standards and ,yet, even now, the Catholic press in Britain finds it necessary to soft-pedal any condemnations and criticisms of , Franco and the social conditions obtaining in Spain today, even if they have been made, as they often arc, by members of the Spanish hierarchy.
Mr. Gilmour's remark that Franco would turn Marxist if it suited him reminded ,me of Peron's sudden quick-change from Fairy Prince to Demon King as far as the Church in Argentina was con- cerned. This evoked the comment from the now un- happily defunct Catholic Worker that the incident was a timely warning to all Catholics who near- canonise a dictator either because of his feigned role of fidei de tensor or because of his supposed potentiali- ties as a bulwark against 'Communism.' After all, Catholics should be the last people to need reminding that casting out devils with the aid of Beelzebub was never a particularly successful business at the best of times.—Yours faithfully,
100 Boileau Road, Ealing, W5
IAN III NDERSON
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