Madrid, Spain, Dec 10, 2003 / 22:00 pm
Archbishop Antonio Cañizares of Toledo, Spain, has opened the cause for canonization for 800 martyrs of the ecclesiastical province of Toledo, all of whom were victims of religious persecution during the Spanish Civil War.
During a ceremony in the Cathedral of Toledo, the Archbishop declared that between 1936 and 1939, there occurred “an authentic religious persecution, in which there were true martyrs,” emphasizing at the same time that the Church does not pretend to judge those responsible for the martyrdom, “because [the Church’s] philosophy is that of faith and love, not hatred and revenge.”
The ceremony also included the creation of a tribunal for the cause of canonization and declaration of martyrdom, whose members took an oath over the Gospels that the process will be carried out in accord with Church laws.
Archbishop Cañizares emphasized that the motive for promoting the canonization of the more than 800 candidates was the statement by Pope John Paul II that the twentieth century had seen a multiplication of martyrs and that in order that their memory should not be forgotten, “the necessary documentation should be collected.”