THIS is a story of two men with contrasting fates.
JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA DE BALAGUER Y ALBAS
On 2 April 1956, a Spanish priest was given a knighthood.
54-year-old Josemaria Escriva received the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic from Francisco Franco personally.
Escriva wasn’t just any old priest – he was the founder and leader of Opus Dei.
Opus Dei – Latin for ‘God’s Work’ is a cult which operates inside the Catholic Church.
Today, Escriva is venerated as a saint.
READ MORE: Spain to pardon over 50 women locked up by wife of dictator during Franco regime
There’s no mild way to put this, so let’s say it: Josemaria Escriva was a Fascist, a cult-leader and a willing puppet of the Franco dictatorship.
Opus Dei is an extremist (some would say sinister) organisation. Today it operates in 90 countries. Unquestionably, it has a right-wing agenda.
Reluctantly, Opus Dei has allowed women to join.
Originally it was men-only, and it places a lot of emphasis on celibacy (refraining from sex). Work, family and loyalty are its watchwords – exactly the values that a dictator wants to inculcate in the citizenry.
When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the Catholic Church was quick to side with Franco (who was, in fact, a rebel against the elected government).
A young priest at the time, Escriva was based in Madrid (the capital was, of all Spain’s cities, the most anti-Franco and anti-Church).
Did Escriva stick to his priestly duties? No, he disappeared, and showed up a few weeks later in Burgos.
The double significance of this is that Burgos is a severely traditional town, the heart of “Old Spain” – and also Franco’s headquarters. The pattern was set.
Escriva and his movement, Opus Dei, were part of Franco’s entourage.
Does it matter in 2026? Well, it depends on your point of view. Should the Catholic Church hold opinions on social issues?
If you’re a young woman looking for accommodation in London, you can stay at an Opus Dei hostel. They are cheap and clean.
However, you’re going to have to convince the management that you’re single and unattached.
You’ll have to promise not to ‘consort’ with men during your stay (the adjoining men’s hostel is connected by a door, but it’s very locked).
The door opens when all the men have left the premises. It opens so that you – and the other girls – can clean and tidy the men’s rooms. In 2026!
MANUEL CARRASCO FORMIGUERA
On 3 April 1938 (some sources say it was a couple of days later) Franco had a lawyer executed. His crime? He wanted Catalunya to be free.
Manuel Carrasco was born in Barcelona in 1890. He was awarded a PhD in law at Madrid’s Complutense University in his mid-20s.
A passionate Catalan separatist, Carrasco wrote regularly for Barcelona magazines which made fun of Castilian Spain.
In the 1920s, Madrid was fighting a colonial war in Morocco. Empires were all the rage (Spain was attempting to build a ‘Saharan Dominion’) but the country’s forces were making heavy work of it.
Carrasco’s satirical writings earned him six months in prison.
During the Spanish Civil War, he tried to persuade his fellow Catalans that a lawyer should deal openly with Franco’s legal team. It was the best way to save the lives of prisoners.
This made Carrasco unpopular in Barcelona, and so he moved to the Basque provinces. This led to his downfall.
As he was moving by ship between the French Basque territory and its Spanish equivalent, he was arrested by Franco’s navy.
The dictator immediately ordered the lawyer’s execution.
When the Vatican tried to intervene to help Carrasco, Franco issued two decrees which suggest an element of personal spite.
Carrasco was moved to a prison in Burgos (in ‘Franco’s city’, it would be difficult for non-Fascists to find him) and the firing-squad order was issued at night, making it impossible for the Vatican to react in time to save him.
Manuel Carrasco Formiguera’s last words were: “Long live Free Catalunya!”
The toadying priest with the weird social ideas got Franco’s baubles and sainthood, whereas the lifesaving lawyer (literally) got the bullet.
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