| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"¥ UltraMan ¥" |
| Date: |
28 Oct 2007 07:30:49 AM |
| Object: |
~~ Vatican martyrs 498 <= just like Islam ! ~~ |
Vatican beatifies 498 martyrs
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican on Sunday staged its largest mass beatification
ceremony ever, putting 498 victims of religious persecution before and during Spain's
civil war on the path to possible sainthood.
Seventy-one bishops from Spain, a host of Spanish politicians and Spanish pilgrims
massed in St. Peter's Square for the ceremony, which came at a particularly delicate
time for Spain as it takes an unprecedented look at its past.
Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for
the Causes of Saints, declared the 498 beatified after reading out their names from
the steps of St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the Mass.
Spanish flags waved in the piazza as the crowd broke into applause.
Spain's 1936-69 civil war pitted an elected, leftist government against rightwing
forces that rose up under Gen. Francisco Franco, who went on to win and presided over
a nearly 40-year dictatorship staunchly supported by the Roman Catholic Church.
Violence against clergy had been simmering since 1931, with leftist forces targeting
the institution they saw as a symbol of wealth, repression and inequality. Their
attacks against the clergy gave Franco a pretext for launching his rebellion.
The church estimates that nearly 7,000 clergy were killed in Spain from 1931 to 1939.
The 498 people beatified on Sunday were killed in 1934, 1936 and 1937. They are
comprised of two bishops, 24 priests and 462 members of religious orders, as well as
a deacon, a subdeacon, a seminary student and seven lay Catholics.
By declaring the 498 martyrs, the Vatican could proceed with beatification without
having to confirm a miracle attributed to the intercession of each of the victims. A
miracle is necessary for any of them to be declared a saint.
Some in Spain have questioned the timing of the ceremony, coming three days before
Parliament is to pass a Socialist-sponsored law seeking to make symbolic amends to
victims of the war and of the Franco dictatorship.
The bill mentions people persecuted for their religious beliefs, but for the most
part it is an unprecedented, formal condemnation of the Franco regime.
Critics say the Vatican, which since the late 1980s has beatified nearly 500 other
clergy killed in the war, is acting with political motivation and is hitting back at
the government by choosing now to beatify nearly another 500 all at once.
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