Vatican Beatifies Allies of General Franco

In a deliberate move by the Vatican to undermine the upcoming 'law of historical memory', 498 members of the Catholic clergy killed during the Spanish civil war were beatified yesterday. Supporters of the beatification claim it was a long-awaited recognition for the "martyrs" of religious persecution. According to one bishop,

'The beatification is beyond controversy or partisan use. They were men and women who were peaceful and persecuted and suffered death for the simple fact that they were Catholic.'

Only, it was not simply because they were Catholic at all.

The Catholic church played a massive role in the repression of the poor during pre-war Spain. One hundred years before the war, the Bishop of Osma had established the Society of the Exterminating Angel. Founded in 1821, it was established to ensure the extermination of all Liberals in Spain. The Archbishop of Valencia ordered the hanging of a deist schoolmaster in 1827, for heresy. The victim, Cayetano Ripoll was tried and convicted without hearing his defence or being allowed to give evidence. He was initially sentenced to be burnt to death, but this was subsequently changed to hanging. After his death, his body was pulled apart and burned. The church in Spain was very much linked to the wealthy classes in Spanish society and this was reflected in Claudio Moyano's dictum that 'the poor should be respectful and humble with the rich'. It was during this period in the 19th century, that the poor began to lose faith with the Catholic church, indeed they began to loathe it.

It is, perhaps, little wonder that the people rose up against the church at the first opportunity. After all, it has been behind many sickening examples of violence and oppression. The church had become immensely powerful within Spain and had given up all pretence of aiding the weak and the poor. It is hard to blame those who fought back against years of repression by members of the church who played an active role in keeping the poor in their place. But these are facts easily ignored by the Catholic church.

Not only was the church a malevolent factor before the civil war, it remained one during and after. The Catholic church gave a great deal of support to Franco and his nationalists. Throughout his 40 year reign, Franco stuck by Catholic ideals and received the full support of the church. The fact that thousands of opponents of Franco were executed in the immediate post-war period and beyond, hardly seemed to bother the Catholic church. They certainly never condemned it. It was nothing more than a tiny blemish on an otherwise exemplary Catholic regime. And that is where the nature of this beatification comes into play.

The Spanish government, by finally recognising the families of Republican victims of Franco, have the church worried. The Vatican has yet to apologise for its role in the civil war and beyond, and is unlikely to ever acknowledge its mistake in supporting a fascist regime. This action by the Vatican is no more than a pre-emptive strike to get in their first before the socialist government of Spain (who are not as subservient to the church as their predecessors) finally condemns the Franco regime, the executions carried out under the direction of Franco and the summary postwar trials of people accused of opposing his regime. It is mischief making of the highest order. The Catholic church would do well to remember its role in the civil war and makes its apologies, rather than shifting the blame on to the Republicans and washing their hands of the whole affair. No side was blameless of the atrocities committed and certainly not the Catholic church.

Melanie Phillips - She Really Hates Muslims. Oh Yeah, and She is Fucking INSANE!!!

Another classic from the paranoid mind of Melanie Phillips:

The Sunday Times reports:

Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs…It will intensify the debate sparked last week by the disclosure that Sainsbury’s is permitting Muslim checkout operators to refuse to handle customers’ alcohol purchases on religious grounds. It means other members of staff have to be called over to scan in wine and beer for them at the till. Critics, including many Islamic scholars, see the concessions as a step too far, and say Muslims are reneging on their professional responsibilities.

Of course that’s right. These are not religious beliefs but political acts of provocation and further attempts to Islamise Britain. Many British Muslims will agree that the medical students’ claim is preposterous. There is only one correct response to such behaviour — to dismiss such students from the courses and sack such check-out operators from their jobs. The message should be clear and unequivocal —British culture will not submit to the attempt to cow, suborn and fragment it. Anything less uncompromising is cultural suicide —the path down which we are currently heading.

And there we have the proof (if it were needed). Melanie Phillips is despicable racist scum. Why? Well, I know for a fact that other religious groups are allowed to refuse service on religious grounds. For example, Catholic pharmacists are within their rights to refuse to sell the morning after pill as it violates their beliefs. Instead, they are to refer them to an alternative source of said medication. So, according to Melanie 'clinically sane, but oh so slightly mental' Phillips, Muslims are to be condemned for observing their religious beliefs, but Catholics are not. And yet, isn't medication slightly more important than booze???? Not in the fucked-up mind of Britain's leading racist it isn't. I look forward to this imbecile writing a similar attack on Catholics for 'fragmenting' our society. At this rate I fully expect to be greeted with a Nazi salute when I next click on her page.