The complicated history of General Franco and the Spanish Church

At one point, Spanish Catholicism was almost synonymous with Franco’s regime.

Last month marked 50 years since the death of Francisco Franco, the military general and dictator who led Spain for more than three decades after the Spanish Civil War.

On the day of Franco’s death, November 20th, 1975, Cardinal Enrique y Tarancón, a towering figure of Spanish Catholicism at the time, offered words of consolation.

“At this hour, we are al…