Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez Cortés ( Hoyo de Manzanares,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, 2 August 1913 -

, 27 August 2009) was a Spanish politician and jurist. He was minister of Education under

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

(1951-1955) but he drifted apart from the Francoist State since 1956 and, adopting a

Christian Democrat Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

position, steadily started to promote a quiet transition to democracy, especially through '' Cuadernos para el Diálogo'' magazine. He was considered one of the most relevant figures of the moderate inner opposition to

Francoism Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. Failing to play a relevant role during the 1977 democratic elections, he was later elected as the first

Spanish Ombudsman The Spanish Ombudsman or Defender of the People ''( Spanish: Defensor del Pueblo)'' is the ombudsman of the Cortes Generales responsible for defending the fundamental rights and public liberties of citizens by supervising the activity of public ...

Biography

Early life

Ruiz-Giménez was son of Joaquín Ruiz Jiménez,

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician who was minister twice under

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alf ...

and

mayor of Madrid The Mayor of Madrid presides over the Madrid City Council, the government body of the capital city of Spain. The mayor has the duty of boosting the local policies, it directs the action of the other executive bodies, leads the Local Executive Admi ...

. While student at the University of Madrid, he participated actively in the students' catholic organizations and in 1935 he was elected secretary-general of the National Catholic Students Confederation. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

broke out he was imprisoned several times, but finally released he sought asylum at the

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nian embassy, and thus he was evacuated to Marseilles via

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. Then, he joined the Nationalist Army and served in the front of

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, Teruel and Maestrazgo. After the war, he graduated in Arts and held a doctorate in Law. He was appointed councilor at the Madrid city council and the same time he was Law professor at the University of Madrid. He was elected president of the Pax Romana organization between 1939 and 1946. He collaborated actively in the redaction of the Fuero de los Españoles, i.e. a sort of bill of rights promulgated by Franco in 1945. He was appointed director of the Hispanic Culture Institute (1946-1948) and ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

(1948-1951), where he negotiated the terms of the 1953

Concordat A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Edi ...

From Francoist minister to Christian Democrat dissident

In 1951,

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Franco appointed him minister of National Education. He established a special commission to rehabilitate some teachers and scholars who were previously expelled from their tenures by the Francoism. His political stance was gradually sympathetic toward the Christian Democracy. In 1956 he confronted the minister of Interior about a students' riot and he was finally dismissed. Franco appointed him afterwards National Counselor with seat in the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. He resigned from this office in 1965. Meanwhile, in 1963 he founded ''Cuadernos para el Diálogo,'' a political and cultural magazine that was very relevant for the Spanish political life of the 1960s and 1970s because it hosted the moderate debate about the future evolution of Spain toward a more pluralistic, participative and European-minded situation. ''Cuadernos para el Diálogo'' was the most dissident option within the legal narrow framework of freedom of speech allowed during the last decades of Franco's reign. Ruiz-Giménez himself was considered the leader of the Spanish Christian Democrats left wing. In June 1975 he joined the underground Democratic Convergence Platform, which gathered a wide array of anti-Francoist organizations, including Social Democrats and Communists. Nevertheless, the Christian Democracy had very little option during the first democratic elections in 1977, as its political room was occupied mainly by the Suárez's UCD. Ruiz-Giménez's Democratic Left joined the Christian Democratic Federation coalition, that dissolved after its meager 1 per cent of the ballots.

First Spanish Ombudsman

After his withdrawal from the political forefront, Ruiz-Giménez was appointed Ombudsman, the first one in holding this office in Spain (1982-1987). During his later years, he enjoyed a great prestige among both left and right. He involved in several humanitarian and human-rights NGOs, presided the Spanish Committee of

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

(1989-2001), vice-presided the Spanish Commission of Relief to Refugees, and has been awarded and decorated several times for his philanthropic activity.

Writings

* ''La concepción institucional del derecho,'' Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Políticos, 1944 * ''Derecho y vida humana. Algunas reflexiones a la luz de Santo Tomás,'' Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Políticos, 1944 * ''Introducción elemental a la filosofía jurídica cristiana,'' Madrid: Epesa, 1945 * ''Pío XII, la familia y otros temas,'' Madrid: Epesa, 1958 * ''La política, deber y derecho del hombre,'' Madrid: Epesa, 1958 * ''Introducción a la filosofía jurídica,'' Madrid: Epesa, 1960 * ''El ser de España,'' Madrid: Aguilar, 1963 * ''El Concilio Vaticano II y los derechos del hombre,'' Madrid: Edicusa, 1968 * ''Iglesia, Estado y sociedad en España (1930-1982),'' Barcelona: Argos-Vergara, 1984 * ''El camino hacia la democracia. Escritos en "Cuadernos para el Diálogo" (1963-1976),'' Madrid: Centro de Estudios Constitucionales, 1985

External links

*
Obituary in ''El Mundo''
*

*
Obituary by Gregorio Peces-Barba in ''El País''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz-Gimenez, Joaquin 1913 births 2009 deaths Spanish Roman Catholics Francoist Spain Spanish Christian democrats Government ministers of Spain Ombudsmen in Spain Recipients of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Spanish magazine founders