National Catholicism ( Spanish: ''nacionalcatolicismo'') was part of the ideological identity of

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 ...

, the political system through which the Spanish dictator

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

governed the Spanish State between 1939 and 1975. Its most visible manifestation was the hegemony that the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

had in all aspects of public and private life. As a symbol of the ideological divisions within Francoism, it can be contrasted to

national syndicalism National syndicalism is a far-right adaptation of syndicalism to suit the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is ge ...

(Spanish: ''nacionalsindicalismo''), an essential component of the ideology and political practice of the Falangists.

History

In 1920s France, a similar model of National Catholicism was advanced by the

Fédération Nationale Catholique The Fédération Nationale Catholique (FNC) ( en, National Catholic Federation) was a French movement that was active in the 1920s and 1930s, with the purpose of defending the Catholic Church against secular trends in the governments of the time. ...

formed by General Édouard Castelnau. Although it reached one million members in 1925, it was of short-lived significance, subsiding into obscurity by 1930. In Spain, the Francoist State initiated a project in 1943 to reform the university. It was called the University Regulatory Law (U.R.L.), which remained active until 1970. Valle de los caidos by forcy-cruz y basilica

Valle de los caidos by forcy-cruz y basilica

In the 1930s and 1940s, Ante Pavelić's Croatian

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

movement espoused a similar ideology, although it has been called other names, including " political Catholicism" and "Catholic Croatism". Other countries in central and eastern Europe where similar movements of Francoist inspiration combined Catholicism with nationalism include Austria, Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia.

References

* BOTTI, Alfonso, ''Nazionalcattolicesimo e Spagna nuova (1881–1975)'', Milano, Franco Angeli, 1992 (Spanish trans. ''Cielo y dinero. El nacionalcatolicismo en España (1881–1975)'', Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1992 )

History

See also

References

Further reading