Collective Letter of the Spanish Bishops, 1937


The Collective Letter of the Spanish Bishops, 1937, was a pastoral letter of the Spanish bishops which justified Franco's uprising that had precipitated the Spanish Civil War. Franco, presenting himself to world opinion as the defender of the Church, was greatly displeased at criticism levelled against him by some European Catholics who condemned not only the murders of priests in the Republican zone, but also those of workers and peasants in the nationalist zone. Nearly all the Spanish bishops had spoken publicly in favour of the insurrection but this was insufficient for Franco. On 10 May 1937, Franco asked Isidro Goma y Tomas to promulgate "a text, addressed to bishops the world over with a request that it be published by the Catholic press everywhere, which would set out truth clearly and in proper perspective". Goma immediately set to work on the propagandistic statement aimed at international Catholic opinion.
The letter carried the date 1 July 1937 but was not made available to a wide public until August because time was wanted both to obtain the signatures of a small number of bishops who withheld their assent to the letter, and also to ensure that bishops all over the world, to whom the letter was addressed, received it before the press revealed its contents.
The letter was edited by Goma with some alterations by Enrique Pla y Deniel, Bishop of Salamanca, and additions from Eijo Garay, Bishop of Madrid-Alcala.
The letter calls the Civil War an "armed plebiscite" and discusses the meaning of the armed conflict - its description of the killings of priests and nuns, "was to have the strongest impact upon the recipients". Goma gave enthusiastic support to Franco - though he warned against the danger of Nazi influence - "the effect on the State of a foreign ideology which tends to draw us away from Christian ideas and influences, will create enormous problems when grafting a new Spain".

Non-signatories

Forty-three bishops and five chapterhouse vicars signed the letter. Five bishops did not sign the letter - though they were not equally significant.
Alvarez Bolado, a writer on the religious factor in the Civil War, highlighted four limitations of the letter ;