Pope Benedict XVI Will Beatify Catholic Clergy Casualties from the Spanish Civil War

With all respect for the dead, this is quite political, no?

Taken from: Catholic News Agency : en español

First native Cuban to be beatified with martyrs of Spanish Civil War

Havana, Jun 29, 2007 / 11:13 am (CNA).- On October 28 Pope Benedict XVI will raise 498 martyrs of the Spanish Civil War to the altars—perhaps the largest number of martyrs beatified in one ceremony in the history of the Church. Among the five that are not of Spanish origin will be Brother Jose Lopez Piteira, an Augustinian deacon born in Cuba.

Brother Jose will become Cuba’s first blessed. He was born in Arroy Blanco, Cuba, on February 2, 1912 to Spanish immigrants. According to the family records, his family returned to Spain when Jose was four or five years old.

They settled in Partorvia in northwestern Spain. As a young man Jose entered the Augustinian order and began studies for the priesthood. He made his solemn profession in 1934 and was ordained deacon on September 8, 1935, the feast of Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba.

One of his biographers, Father Gonzalez Velasco, wrote: “It should be noted that the young Jose Lopez Piteira always felt proud that he was born in Cuba and was a Cuban citizen.

The magazine Palabra Cubana related the story of his martyrdom: “While studying at the Monastery of El Escorial, he was detained on August 6, 1936 with his Augustinian community at that monastery and imprisoned in Madrid. When he was told he could appeal to his Cuban citizenship to gain freedom, he answered: “All of you who have been my teachers and superiors are here. What I am going to do in the city? I prefer to have the same fate as everyone else, whatever God wishes that might be.”

“On November 30, 1936, Brother Jose Lopez Piteira was martyred in Paracuellos de Jarama together with 50 other Augustinian religious. At the time of his martyrdom he was 23,” the magazine reported.

Figari's Bio Claims TFP Saw Him as "Disguised Communist"

According to the latest biography released from his own organization's website, Figari is apparently not connected to more extreme right-wing groups and was seen by them as a communist. A tad weak that Figari and his organization have been negatively labelling people marxists, communists, terrorists, and the new biography displays Figari "persecuted" with the same label by another right-wing group, Tradition, Family and Property (TFP).

This strongly contradicts other accounts of Figari, the founder of 'God and Country', rooted in falange ideologies (which are fairly in line with fascism), and an alleged supporter of bringing TFP from Brasil to Peru. It also strongly contradicts the close ties that Figari's movement has with people such as Cardinal Cipriani of Opus Dei, who was very much involved with the Autocratic President Fujimori, and Bishop Chaput, a fairly right-wing bishop in Denver (except for his stance on immigration). And this new account of Figari's not-so-scary ideology is being stated while Sodality Bishops continue to root out the 'communists' and 'marxists' of the Church.

Taken from Sodality of Christian Life USA

"At age 24 he found a lack of esteem towards the Social Doctrine of the Church, which since age 16 he had considered essential for a just social renewal and for respecting human's rights and dignity. Therefore, in a short time he became a herald of the Church's social teachings, which granted him the bitter animosity of institutions such as "Tradition, Family and Property" that regarded him as a "disguised communist".

For a very secretive organization rife with controversy, past and present, and with right-wing affiliations, the new 'moderate' Figari and the 'moderate' Sodality of Christian Life is hard to believe. They should be applauded for their craftiness; they are on the way to re-writing their own history. As long as they [Sodalits] deny, counter-attack and pro-actively enforce being non-extremists, they will eventually erase proof of their right-wing identity - at least until the next controversy.