Burn the priests is a call for murder that Twitter did not consider objectionable.
(Berlin) Berlin's increasingly established government bloc made up of CDU / CSU, SPD and Greens - some are already ruling, others are already ready for it - wants more than a billion Euros in 2021 (where do you get all that money from, not determined by your wallet) to spend on the "fight against the right". Even the Left is delighted. However, the operation has two negative sides. In itself it is more than dubious and overlooks far more real threats.
What was once a niche product that was clearly ideologically located on the far left is now regarded as a kind of unwritten "state doctrine" due to the left-wing turn of the Union under Angela Merkel, which was heavily influenced by the GDR. The neutrality of the state, which was recently loudly demanded, is no longer valid than the aim of using this slogan to push back the influence of Christianity. In reality, real socialism has always been more dogmatic than the Christianity, at which the left is so fond of pointing the finger.
The planned tax of billions for a dubious, yet politically transparent project, is intended to support a whole armada of even more dubious associations, institutions, institutes, documentation centers and "Esperten." With one billion euros lives, in fact, a whole army of blind rage, of course tight left anti-rightist activists, sorry , "experts". Through the back door disguised in this way, the taxpayer is supposed to finance the left networks without being asked.
Cardinal Canizares in the sights of a radical left that many Spaniards suspect are dreaming of dictatorship and persecution of the church – as in 1936.
(Madrid) In Spain, parts of the left yearn for the anti-church Popular Front climate of 1936. The pretext and instrument of Church persecution today is the Corona crisis. The left-wing government effectively repealed parts of the constitution, including the right to freedom of religion, thereby massively incorporating the public, social and private lives of citizens. It took a few weeks, but more and more people are realizing that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (PSOE) and other members of the socialist PSOE and radical left-wing Podemos government have justified the radical measures with absurd claims. Statements that were claimed to have been made by government representatives of other countries. The suspicion of central authorities and hidden puppet masters make the rounds. The result is increasingly vociferous protests throughout Spain, which the media in Central Europe do not report. This selective reporting, too, is increasingly aroused suspicion and mistrust. The lasnt barrel to overflow was brought on by the attack against Antonio Cardinal Canizares Llovera.
Display
The political left has targeted Cardinal Canizares who is being accused of violating the Corona requirements. In 2014, shortly before the first Family Synod, Pope Francis promoted him to archbishop of Valencia and thus away from the Roman Curia. Previously, he was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments by Pope Benedict XVI. Before Benedict appointed him to the Roman Curia, he was Bishop of Avila from 1992 to 1996, then Archbishop of Granada until 2002, and finally Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain until 2008. As such, he was called the "Blade of Toledo" because of his clear language.
The political left is crying out for an investigation into the Archbishop of Valencia, whose "crime" is to open the gates of a church on 10 May and to have blessed his episcopal See with a merciful image of Our Lady at the threshold.
Hue and cry was made that the Cardinal, called "the little Ratzinger" in his Roman time, had violated the Corona emergency measures imposed by the Socialist government.
The Archbishop's office replied that there had been no injury. Nevertheless, the Archbishop was reported and an investigation was launched by the city government.
Every second Sunday in May, it is a tradition in Valencia to celebrate the feast of the Mare de Déu dels Desamparats, according to the Catalan title under which Our Lady is invoked. In Spanish, the Virgen de los desamparados is Our Lady of the Abandoned in English. She is the Patroness of the city.
The Cardinal with the festively dressed image of Our Lady on May 10, 2020
The year 1409
This devotion and feast date back to 24 February 1409, when the priest Joan Gilabert Jofré, a Mercedarian, saw children on their way to the cathedral mocking and tormenting a homeless mentally ill man. Father Jofré, who had been ordained a priest in 1375, had spent his life following the charism of his order, with efforts to buy Christians out of Islamic slavery. When he returned to Valencia, he saw another need. He recognized the double need for protection of the man who was harassed by the children. In his homily in the cathedral, he denounced the gratuitous, irrational and cruel persecution of vulnerable, innocent mentally ill people and decided to form a brotherhood to serve people like the man whom the children had mocked as "El loco" before his eyes.
In 2010, the Brotherhood celebrated its 600th anniversary
With his Society, founded in 1410, the Lloable Confraria de la Verge Maria dels Innocents, the "Blessed Society of the Virgin Mary of the Innocents", he established the world's first institution for people with mental illnesses and placed it under the special protection of Our Lady in 1414.
Father Jofré and members of the Society, which consisted equally of women and men, along with some priests, erected a chapel in the hospice in honour of Our Lady of the Abandoned. When the chapel was completed, according to tradition, three young men in pilgrim clothes came and offered to create a picture of Our Lady within three days, if they were given a room for it that no one was allowed to enter. This happened, but there was no noise from the room. When nothing happened on the fourth day, the brothers opened the door and found in it the honored image of Our Lady, at whose feet two innocent children can be seen. But the young pilgrims had disappeared. Then the blind and paralyzed wife of the fraternity member who lived in the hospital and had taken her in, was healed. The image of Our Lady with which Cardinal Canizares blessed the city, is therefore said to be el feren el àngels, it was "made by the angels".
Soon the Society also took care of street children, then also homeless sailors and prostitutes. The Fraternity institution became a model for similar foundations, the first of which was established in the Iberian Peninsula in 1438 in Barcelona and in Spanish America, in Mexico City in 1567. In Valencia, Father Jofré's hospital became the city's general hospital.
In 1489, the image of Our Lady was transferred to the city's cathedral. In 1652, the construction of his own basilica in his honour, which was consecrated in 1667, was established directly adjacent to it. The Basilica of mare de Déu dels Desemparats, a collegiate monastery, is connected to the Cathedral of Valencia by a bridge. In 1923, the image of grace was crowned in the presence of King Alfonso XIII and the Apostolic Nuncio on behalf of Pope Pius XI. In the unofficial anthem of the city, the Mother of God of the Abandoned is sung.
The Basilica of the Mare de Déu dels Desemparats, built for the image of Our Lady
The Rage of the Socialists
On the second Sunday in May, on her feast, a procession from the basilica to the cathedral, a distance of 200 meters, traditionally takes place with the great participation of the people. Because of the coronavirus, it had to be cancelled this year. Cardinal Canizares therefore celebrated the Mass behind closed doors, but at the end of the celebration he stood with the image of Our Lady at the threshold of the basilica and blessed the city, while a canon sang the national anthem of the Autonomous Community of Valencia.
That was enough to turn the left-wing city government against him. It launched an investigation to determine whether the cardinal had violated the Corona regulations. Video footage of the event shows that the cardinal did not leave the basilica with the image of Our Lady. Meanwhile, rumors were spread in the city, which could be refuted by the archdiocese thanks to the direct video transmission. But it was of no use. The Socialist City Councillor Aamen Cano (PSOE), responsible for civil protection [Public Safety?], accused the Cardinal of "fraud" because he had blessed the city, even though he had no "permission" to do so. The Cardinal had acted "irresponsibly" by opening the basilica. This was particularly serious because he acted "with intent and treason."
On the instructions of the city government, the basilica was closed by the city police.
The Cardinal's Opinion
Cardinal Canizares responded with clear words. In a statement, he asked the city council:
"Why are you lying and complaining?"
What law or provision prohibits opening the door of a church?
"In all clarity, truth and firmness, and with the freedom that you seem to want to restrict and suppress, I am sorry to tell you that you are lying without mitigating reasons, while at the same time informing you that legality has been faithfully respected and strictly kept by the Church."
The Cardinal informed the city council and its comrades:
"If you had been in the basilica [what Cano would have been able to do as a city councillor] or if you had watched the broadcast of the Mass on television, you would know what happened and what I said."
And further:
"For my part, you are forgiven, and I am sure that the Virgin will forgive you too, because you did not know what you had done on this occasion, and I ask the Valencians, most of whom are not with you, to forgive you and to ignore your words and gestures. The damage you wanted to do has been done against you, even if in some media the damage and slander persists and the lie is spread: this does not contribute to the common good, which has to be the basis for every policy and everyone in politics. This creates damage and hatred."
And even more clearly:
"I note that Marxist ideology is still at large: lies are a political weapon based on the motto: the worse, the better."
And a serious reminder:
"Do not forget that in the countries of our region and in almost all the countries of the world, an inalienable fundamental right is recognised, which is also guaranteed by our Spanish Constitution: the right to religious freedom, which you seem to disregard because you want to dictate what you can and cannot do in a church. Think about it and learn to respect this inalienable and inviolable right."
Das Year 1936
For those who do not know what happened in Spain in 1936, a brief review: on September 14 of that year, Pope Pius XI received 500 Spanish refugees who had to leave their homeland because of the persecution of the Church by the Popular Front. The Pope expressed his sorrow at the persecution and his admiration for the persecuted and the mistreated, especially for those Catholics who had suffered martyrdom.
Manuel de Irujo, Christian Democrat, Basque nationalist, 1937 Minister of Justice of the People's Front
In order not to let the opposite side of General Franco, who is still hated by the political left today, be quoted as Manuel de Irujo (1891–1981), a Catholic from Navarre, representative of the Basque National Party, who was Minister of Justice of the Republican People's Front government in 1937. On 7 January 1937, in Valencia, because of the struggles at that time in the capital of Republican Spain, he presented a memoir:
"The de facto situation of the Church throughout the pro-government area, with the exception of the Basque Country, is as follows:
– All altars, paintings and cult objects were destroyed with a few exceptions, most in a vile way.
– All churches have been closed for the cult, which is totally and absolutely reviled.
The majority of the churches of Catalonia were set on fire, as if it were a normal thing.
– The institutions and the official organs of the state have confiscated bells, chalices, ciboria, candelabra and other cult objects, and material has been extracted from their melting for war or industrial purposes.
All monasteries were evacuated and the religious life in them was eliminated. The buildings, the cult objects and goods were looted, burned, occupied or demolished.
The priests and religious were arrested, imprisoned and executed, thousands of them without trial. These are facts that continue to happen today, not only in rural areas where they were hunted and brutally killed, but also in cities. Hundreds of arrests have been made in Madrid, Barcelona and the other major cities for no reason other than being priests or religious.
– An absolute ban was imposed on the private expression of religious representations and cult objects. The police carry out house searches, turn apartments upside down and dig into intimate, personal and family life, destroy statues, pictures, religious writings and everything associated with or reminiscent of the cult with ridicule and violence."
Call against Pedro Sanchez's left-wing government: "No to oppression. No to dictatorship"
Meanwhile, "freedom, freedom" calls are making protests against the government's radical measures, the restriction of fundamental rights, the persecution of the people, and the impression of remote control by the vaccination cartel around Bill Gates. The media in Central Europe do not report on this. In Spain, there is concern that parts of the political left are once again dreaming of dictatorship and the persecution of the Church.
A video of the protests against the government's radical measures:
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Picture: MiL/Wikicommons/Youtube/Twitter (Screenshots)
Spain’s New Prime Minister intends to remove remains from the Valley of the Fallen this month
The Archdiocese of Madrid has warned the Spanish government against plans to exhume the remains of the country’s late dictator, General Francisco Franco, without obtaining agreement from interested parties.
“We want a solution which helps build a peaceful country,” said Rodrigo Pinedo Texidor, archdiocesan communications director, noting that the archdiocese is not for or against the removal of Franco’s remains
“We are against moves which don’t have his family’s consent and don’t consider what the Church has to say,” he told Catholic News Service after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed plans to remove the remains from a state mausoleum at the Valley of the Fallen, near Madrid, by the end of July.
(Madrid) The Bishop of Tenerife forbade Freemasons from entering a Catholic church. In November the annual congress of high level Freemasons of the 33rd degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in the Canary Islands will take place.
Bishop Bernardo Álvarez informed the Masonic Lodges of the Canary Islands, that it will not tolerate the presence of Masonic symbols in the church of Santa Cruz de La Palma. The Masons wanted to commemorate deceased lodge brothers.
The Bishop of Tenerife made his decision public, with which he forbid the presence of the Loge Abora No. 87 in a church of Santa Cruz de La Palma. The notification was issued to the master of the Masonic Lodges of the Canary Islands, which is celebrating the "Masonic Week" in these days.
The First Masonic march to Christ the Savior Church in Decades
According to the daily ABC, a meeting between Bishop Álvarez and the Socialist Jeronimo Saavedra (PSOE) took place. Saavedra was, from 1993-1996, Minister of the Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez, from 1999-2003, Spanish Senator, from 2007-2011 Mayor of Las Palmas and has since been a Member of Parliament. Saavedra is also a leading Freemason in the Canary Islands. At the meeting, the bishop informed his former minister "No" for an official appearance of the lodges in a church.
Bishop Alvarez and former Minister Saavedra
Bishop Alvarez and former minister Saavedra
This week all of the big names in Spanish Freemasonry gathered on the island of La Palma, including Oscar de Alfonso Ortega, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Spain. This said, in the fall of 2015: "We are experiencing one of the best moments of Freemasonry".
The Masons are to hold a "Masonic march" around the Christ the Savior Church on Friday, 2 September. Such things have not been done in decades. "It is the first event of this kind since the return of democracy," said Saavedra.
Revival of Loge Abora No. 87
Iglesia del Salvador
Iglesia del Salvador site of"Masonic march"
Thus, the lodge brothers celebrate the revival of the Loge Abora No. 87 after 80 years of inactivity "for political reasons". Because of the national forces of the Popular Front in areas, Masonic lodges had to suspend their activities. On March 1, 1940 Generalissimo Franco issued the Ley para la represión de la Masoneria y el Comunismo, the Law on Suppression of Freemasonry and Communism. Spanish Freemasonry continued its work from the Mexican exile, where many Spanish masons found protection and asylum when President Lázaro Cárdenas of the dictatorial ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), himself a freemason.
Currently, in the Canary Islands there are 20 active lodges. The Loge Abora no. 87 adopted in 1875, took up its work. They are now part of the Grand Lodge of Spain, after the Grand Orient of Spain had become extinct at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
Tenerife was, before the Civil War, one of the most important Masonic centers in Spain. In 1900, the lodge Añaza was established that belonged to the Grand Orient of Spain, a large Masonic Temple. General Franco seized the tempt in 1936 and appropriated it for the Spanish Falange.
Congress of the high degree Freemason
Florentino Guzman showing his project for the renovation of the Masonic Temple
Florentino Guzman before the project for renovation of the Masonic Temple
The return to the lodge was not possible. The heavily Socialist city government (2011-2015) saw to it that the temple was declared a national monument and began renovations in 2015. According to the renovation plan, a third of the cost will be from the public sector and two-thirds are to be financed by the private sector. The driving force behind the renovation is the socialist Councilor Florentino Guzmán Plasencia.
This year's International Congress of High Degree Freemasons will be held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in November. It is organized by the Supreme Council of the 33rd and highest grade of the Old Accepted Scottish Rite (A.A.S.R.) and takes place every year at a different location.
The lodge brothers hope to keep at least the final event in the renovated Masonic Temple.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Wikicommons / Diario de Avisos / ABC (screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com Link to Katholisches...
AMDG
The South African lay catechist and Samuel Benedict Daswa was killed by a crowd, because his Christian convictions opposed local spirit healers and witchcraft.
Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) Pope Francis has officially recognized 20 Spanish civil war victims and a lay Catholic from South Africa as martyrs on Friday. The future South African Blessed is Tshimangadzo Samuel Benedict Daswa (1946-90) from Mbahe in the former Venda homeland. Working on behalf of the Diocese of Tzaneen as catechist (photo), he was killed by a mob because in his Christian convictions, he opposed local spirit healers and their witchcraft. Whith the Spaniards, there are three members of the community of Josefite Sisters and 17 Trappist monks who were murdered in 1936 out of hatred for the Catholic Faith.
Still not officially recognized by the Congregation as a martyr, is the Salvadoran Socialist, Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980) murdered while he was saying Mass. For him, the competent Theological Commission had confirmed the death was because of hatred of the faith according to information from the Vatican already. [How is that possible if they don't know who the assailants were?]
However, this vote must first be approved by the Cardinal of the Congregation. Overall, the Congregation of Saints published eleven decrees on Friday, with the approval of the Pope. For the Italian foundress Maria Teresa Casini (1864-1937), a miracle of healing was confirmed. There are no obstacles to her beatification. Seven other people have been recognized as having "heroic virtue." There is also the Ukrainian priest, Ladislav Bukowinski (1904-74), the US Founder Louis Schwartz, who died in 1992 at the age of 62 years in the Philippines, as well as the Japanese Elisabeth Maria Satoko Kitahara (1929-58).
(Rome) The feature film "Un Dios Prohibido" (A Forbidden God) by Spanish director Pablo Moreno was honored at the 5th International Catholic Film Festival Mirabile Dictu for "Best Film" award and was awarded the "Silver Fish 2014". The award ceremony took place on June 26 in Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome.
The "Silver Fish" is reminiscent of one of the oldest Christian symbols. The award was presented by director and film producer Liana Marabini, president and founder of the International Catholic Film Festival. The aim of the festival is to give space and visibility to producers and directors of feature films, documentaries, docu-fiction, television series and short films, to promote the "positive models and universal moral values” which are therefore consistent with Christianity.
In 2014, 1.600 Productions From 120 Countries Were Presented
More than 1,600 Catholic productions from 120 countries took part in this year's Festival and competed for one of the seven prizes awarded. An international jury in 2014, chaired by the Austrian producer Norbert Blecha, assessed the submitted projects and awarded prizes for Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Actor and Best Director.
The "Silver Fish” for 2014’s "Best Film” which was the Spanish feature film "Un Dios prohibido" was excellent. The film tells the true story of 51 Catholic martyrs who were killed during the Spanish Civil War by Anarcho-Communists. The historical facts took place in August 1936 soon after the outbreak of the conflict in the wake of the April 14, 1931 proclamation of the so-called Second Republic of Spain, a freedom-destroying Popular Front regime, which began a brutal persecution of the Catholic Church.
"Un Dios prohibido": Is The Story of the Murder of 51 Missionaries in Spain
In Barbastro, a small market town in the Aragonese province of Huesca, 51 peaceful and defenseless "Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, better known as the Heart of Mary Missionaries or Claretians 1 were killed by militia members of the ruling People's Front out of hatred for the Catholic faith. This "beautiful film,” says Corrispondenza Romana is told in a successful and touching way, about the last few weeks and heroic moments in the lives of the missionaries before their execution.
The prize for the best short film went to the Italian Alessio Rupalti. In "I Was Looking for Something Else," he tells a story about the importance of human and family relationships.
"Voyage" to Unknown Places in the Vatican - Film About Mother Teresa of Calcutta
In the category of “Best Documentary Film” was the Frenchman Stèphane Ghez with the exceptional “Voyage au cuer du Vatican”. It was an extraordinary journey of discovery in the most beautiful and least known places in the Vatican. The Englishwoman Juliet Stevenson won the award of "Best Actress" for the masterful embodiment of Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the American film "The Letters". The film tells the story of the famous Albanian nun who founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, which was on the basis of an exchange of letters between the sister and her spiritual advisor. "The Letters" was also awarded the prize for best director, which went to the American William Riead.
Special Prize: Best Movies for the Evangelization
The Capax Dei Foundation also awarded a special prize to the two films, the most convincing as a means of evangelization. It is "Catholicisme", a documentary series by the American priest Robert Barron and to "L'Apôtre" (The Apostle) of the French Cheyenne Marie Carron, a film that tells the story of a young Muslim conversion to the Catholic faith.
Finally, the prize of "Friends of the Festival" award was presented for the best educational film that was named among the finalists. The prize went to the Italian, Giuseppe Tandoi for the docudrama "Nolite Timere" on the figure of Pope Celestine V.
Film Festival Is Counter-trend to the Dominant ideological Diktat
The Festival of Catholic Film "Mirabile dictu" provides a unique and valuable initiatives in the international film sector. It forms a counterpoint to the usual commercial, but also many alternative film festivals. The International Catholic Film Festival swims against the current of the ideological mainstream diktat of the prevailing culture. It represents heroic lives, values, sacrifices and the search for truth at the center. “All categories that are incomprehensible to today's thinking and out of fashion in a wealthy, relativistic society," said Lupo Gori about "Mirabile dicta".
(Madrid) In a sympathetic video, the martyrdom of the Claretians in the Spanish Civil War is narrated by children for children. The Claretians are a community of priests founded by St. Anthony Mary Claret in Spain as a missionary congregation in 1849. Its official name is Cordis Mariae Filii (CMF), Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary .
In 1936 the Seminaries of Siguenza (Guadalajara) and Fernán Caballero (Ciudad Real) murders were carried out by Red combatants out of hatred for the Catholic faith. 14 young seminarians aged 20 to 26 years old, a young priest of the Order and a friar were murdered. The beatification of Father José María Ruiz Cano (29 years) and his 15 companions took place on 13 October 2013 .
A total of 271 Spanish Claretians fell victim to the Republican murder spree by Communist, Anarchist and Socialist militias. The Order today operates in 64 countries with 19 bishops, 2,155 priests, 164 brothers, 5,553 students and 120 professed novices. The Order also has offices in Austria, Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany, where there is the provincial leadership in Würzburg. They are active in the United States as well.
Edit: Vere Surrexit Dominus, Alleluia! New Beatifics!
(Vatican / Reggio Emilia) On Maundy Thursday Pope Francis approved the beatification of 63 Catholics, among them are also martyrs of the Spanish Civil War. Along with those who will soon be beatified are included Rolando Rivi, a young Italian seminarian of Castellarano in the Emilia region, on whom Giovannino Guareschi has also based his Don Camillo. Rivi was shot on 13 April 1945 because of the anti-religious hatred of Communist partisan in the province of Modena.
The young Catholic who had come from grade school to the small diocesan seminary, died at the age of only 14. His killers had kidnapped him during the end of the civil war raging in northern Italy in the mountains of Emilia during the Second World War. What now in the history books is usually glorified uncritically as the "Resistance," is presented as a resistance against the "Nazi-fascism", that the fight against the German occupation forces and against Italian fascism was in fact in some areas of northern Italy, a civil war in which it came to who would hold the power in the postwar period. The Communist partisans took up arms, not only against German troops and Italian Blackshirts, but for the establishment of a Soviet Republic with the dictatorship of the proletariat and thus against all non-communists, including especially the Catholics.
Left historical misrepresentations are addressed and overcome
The "Resistance,” was understood by many Communist brigades as the spark for a communist revolution, also in Emilia. Therefore Rolando Rivi only a 14 year old boy, had to die, and with him, dozens of priests and religious, who were brutally murdered in the "death triangle" of Emilia. Not because they were suspected to have been fascists or had fascist friends, as Leftist historiography and "partisan tradition” would like to tell it, but because they defended the Catholic faith, which the Communist revolutionaries wanted to eliminate.
Rolando Rivi was a young lad of Catholic parents, whose greatest desire was to become a priest. He would rather die than take off his cassock as his killers had asked of him. [How many Communists in modern seminaries today want their young men to remove their cassocks and wear street clothes!]
The beatification process had entered eight years ago into the decisive phase after two dioceses, those of Modena, where the martyrdom took place, and that of Reggio Emilia, the home diocese of Rivi, completed the preliminary investigations. In 2005 the two dioceses promoted the cause from a joint committee, in order to promote the causa.
His greatest desire was to become a priest - grown reverence among believers in the Pacific
The admiration for the young seminarian was in the religious people has grown over the years after the war during the peace. Publicly it was by grace, miracles and healings, whose testimonies were collected from the two dioceses. From different countries today, the faithful flock to the hills of the Apennines to the Romanesque church, in which Rolando Rivi lies buried.
Pope Francis recognized with his signature on Holy Thursday, that the young seminarian was not murdered by the Communist partisans for political reasons, but in odium fidei, out of hatred for the faith.
A decision that is to challenge in those events and help to ensure greater attention in the post-war period "canonized” by Leftist historical misrepresentation. It is therefore an important signal that the first choices of the new Pope's beatification of Servants of God were killed by two different totalitarian ideologies which were yet opposed to God, which rocked the 20th and persecuted the Church.
Martyrs of totalitarians, Godless ideologues, raised to the altars
Among the 63 Catholics whose beatification Pope Francis signed, there is also the Dominican, Father Giuseppe Girotti, who was killed in 1945 in the concentration camp at Dachau.
Archbishop Luigi Negri of Ferrara said after learning of the beatification: "The meeting with Rolando Rivi meant in my life, the encounter with the experience of a radical adherence to Christ and to the Church, which dominates the boy's age and state wide. A faith in granite, a simple but robust faith that allowed him to stand faithfully and firmly even before the outbreak of the wildest anti-Christian hatred, with humility and realism. Evidence which is also aimed at the youth of today and certainly not unheard of today” says Monsignor Negri for the Nuova Bussola Quotidian.
Archbishop Luigi Negri: "Rolando Rivi is the St. Aloysius Gonzaga of the third millennium"
Archbishop of Ferrara compared the soon to be blessed Rolando Rivi with another great young saint. "I believe that Rolando can be the Saint Aloysius Gonzaga of the third millennium, because in him the same faith freshness and the same size of the witness of faith which shines forth"
Rolando Rivi is in fact already beatified with the papal signature. In the coming months, however, a solemn Rite of Beatification will take place in Modena, where the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will read the decree of the Pope.
Rolando Rivi is the first Italian Blessed, who was in a junior seminary and the first among the 130 priests and seminarians who were killed during the Civil War with Italian Communists.
Edit: He's in the 77th year of his priesthood. Persecution hurts, but the Church is eternal. The article below also mentions the massacres inflicted upon the Church in Spain by the Communists. This priest is losing teeth, his memory's not as good as it used to be, but he's not giving up.
[energypublisher.com]Ask any dedicated Catholic priest how he would prefer to die, invariably the answer is “At the altar.” And in Spain, once a bastion of the Catholic faith, there is at least one priest that who is well on his way to fulfilling that wish.
Rev. Serafín Rodal Fandiño celebrated his 100th birthday on January 10 by celebrating Mass in Teis, a locale near Vigo in northern Spain. Don Serafín has served in the priesthood for 75 years and despite his age is able to read the Gospel at Mass without the aid of eyeglasses while he sits beside the altar in his wheelchair.
He still celebrates Mass every day despite his age and infirmity.
Joined by his many friends, neighbors, and relatives, the centenarian wept in appreciation of the their good wishes as they sang Happy Birthday. A living testimony to faith, a fellow cleric, Brother Antonio Donaire, said of Don Serafín, as he is known, “He helped to get jobs for a lot of people in the Ascón shipyards; he has done a great deal of good.” Don Serafín has lived a facility operated by the Spanish Missionaries to Poor and Infirm for the last decade in the working class neighborhood.
Edit: "You shall burn like in 36" Voris describes the anti-clerical atmosphere of post-Catholic Spain. Twenty five percent of the Spanish population is Atheist.
The street of the "Heroes of the Alcazar": Plaque of General Franco street defaced by enemies of Spain: Who were the "Heroes of the Alcazar?"
During the Spanish Civil War, Coronel José Moscardó Ituarte held the building against overwhelming Spanish Republican forces in the Siege of the Alcázar. The incident became a central piece of Spanish Nationalist lore, especially the story of Moscardó's son Luis. The Republicans took 16-year old Luis hostage, and demanded that the Alcázar be surrendered or they would kill him. Luis told his father, "Surrender or they will shoot me." His father replied, "Then commend your soul to God, shout 'Viva Cristo Rey' and die like a hero." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alc%C3%A1zar_of_Toledo
Thousands of faithful attended an outdoor Mass in the rain on November 14, 2010 at the Valle de los Caídos. There were so many faithful in attendance that the crowd poured over into El Escorial. Traffic jams were experienced up to 10 km from the Basilica due to the number of faithful in attendance.
Video of traffic jam caused by number of faithful:
