Program Information

While Francisco Franco and his fascists slowly led Spain into post-war economic and political recovery, he maintained a wary relationship with one of his key allies--the Roman Catholic Church.

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Transcript

Lead: While Francisco Franco and his fascists slowly led Spain into post-war economic and political recovery, he maintained a wary relationship with one of his key allies--the Roman Catholic Church.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: From the medieval period, Spain was one of the bulwarks within the Catholic constellation; yet the Madrid government retained significant control over church affairs inside Spain and insured state support of the church through periods of church weakness and strength. The two were convinced that the survival of church and state--of order and morality--were dependent upon a close if tense alliance, and that if they did not embrace one another both would collapse.

During the Spanish Civil War, the Roman Catholic edifice was one of the major supporters of Franco and nationalist cause. Many priests were killed in the sectarian fighting and the church expected to be rewarded. It was given pretty much a free hand in education and received government subsidies for priests’ salaries, but Franco, despite his devout Catholicism, continued the ancient practice of governmental control over the appointment of bishops. The church’s support for and involvement with the fascist regime was so intense that, after Franco’s death and Spain’s move toward more liberal democracy and secularism, Spanish Catholicism lost considerable power and influence.

Yet, it was the inevitable clash between political repression and economic aspiration that brought fascist Spain to its knees. The church could little help with that. Franco could close out the rest of the world for only so long; he could keep his hungry, enterprising and innovative people trapped in a ham-handed authoritarian dictatorship for only a while. During the late 1950s and 1960s, he gradually opened the Spanish economy to liberal market forces and international trade. The arthritic nature of his creaking construct was exposed for all to see, especially the Spanish people. Soon after his death in 1975, the Army and the church-based fascist machine simply collapsed and, like a bottle of champagne shaken vigorously for four decades, Spanish society exploded and was transformed almost overnight by free markets and liberalism into a secular democracy.

At the University of Richmond, I'm Dan Roberts.

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