Last month Pope Benedict XVI beatified 498 'Spanish martyrs' of the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 39), mainly including clergy who had been killed by the anti-Franco Republican side. He described them as "heroic witnesses of the faith who, moved exclusively by love for Christ, paid with their blood for their fidelity to Him and His Church".
Although there were brutalities from both sides and the Vatican stressed the move was not meant to be political, within days of the beatification, the Spanish Parliament passed a 'Law of Historical Memory' strongly condemning Franco's brutalities during the civil war.
The Pope's predecessor, John Paul II, had on October 1, 1989, beatified an entire seminary - 26 priests and reminarians martyred in Spain in 1936. By contrast, in 1963, Pope Paul VI had put a 'hold' on beatification and canonisation causes from the Spanish Civil War.
As George Weigel says in the biography of Pope John Paul II Witness to Hope, "Virtually all the martyrs had been victims of the Republican forces, but Paul VI did not look favourably on the Franco regime (which had defeated the Republicans) and didn't want to bolster the Spanish dictator's position by beatification and canonisation of civil war victims... Franco had died in 1975, but Pope John Paul II was, in any event, a pope of a different mind about the martyrology of the modern world. The Church needed to be reminded that it lived in the greatest century of persecution in Christian history."
...and dialogue with Muslims
In an interview, 79-year-old Jesuit General Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach reportedly said that despite repeated actions by fanatical Islamists many Muslims today "are sensitive to the theme of peace and very committed. It is a good opportunity to work together in the interests of the entire human community." He added that it was wrong to depict Muslims as if they were all the same.
Fr Kolvenbach said that in spite of the radical difference between the two faiths, it is important for truly believing Christians and Muslims to meet one another, especially in Europe. He said that although it is not possible to engage in theological dialogue with Muslims, dialogue is possible and should be encouraged on various other issues including prayer, suffering and death.