Spain’s rightwing People’s party (PP) has been compelled to reiterate its condemnation of the Franco regime after the party’s leader was criticised for inadvertently attending a mass at which prayers were said for the soul of the dictator on the 46th anniversary of his death.
Pablo Casado, who has led the PP since July 2018, was seen attending the mass in a church next to Granada cathedral on Saturday evening. According to the PP, Casado – in Andalucía for a party conference – took his family to mass there because it was near his hotel and because he thought work commitments would stop him making it to church the following day.
“At no point was [Casado] aware that prayers would be said for the dictator,” the PP said in a statement on Monday. “In fact, there was no express mention of Franco in the homily.”
The party said its leader had only become aware that prayers had been offered for the dictator using Franco’s first name, Francisco, the day after he had gone to the mass. “He never knew that they were going to pray for Franco,” the statement said, adding: “The People’s party has always condemned the Franco dictatorship.”
The statement came after Casado’s political opponents had demanded to know exactly what had happened.
A spokesperson for the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), which leads Spain’s coalition government, described Casado’s presence at the mass “a totally irresponsible insult” and called on the PP leader to explain himself.
Pablo Echenique, a spokesperson for Unidas Podemos, the PSOE’s junior coalition partners, also said an explanation needed to be forthcoming.
“Last Saturday there were 10 masses for Franco and there are about 23,000 churches,” Echenique said in a tweet. “The probability of randomly stumbling into one is 0.05% – yet, according to sources from his own PP, Pablo Casado managed it.”
Íñigo Errejón, leader of the Más País party, said that while Casado may have attended the mass unknowingly, he still needed to address the matter. “If this had happened in another country – if Angela Merkel was travelling through Germany, found herself in Munich and went into a church where people were paying homage to Adolf Hitler – then I’m sure she would have come out the following day and said: ‘I was wrong. I didn’t want to be there and I’m sorry of I’ve offended the democrats of my country.’”
But not everyone was outraged. The Francisco Franco National Foundation – which exists to preserve and promote the dictator’s legacy – said that while it had not “expressly” invited Casado to the mass, it was pleased he had been there.
“We thank Mr Casado and his family, and the rest of those who attended the mass, for the prayer for the soul of an exemplary Christian such as Francisco Franco Bahamonde.”
The incident comes as the PP continues to lead in the polls despite internal rifts and tensions over the party’s ideological direction, and a few days after the government tabled amendments to draft legislation that would in effect allow prosecutors to investigate crimes committed under the 1939-75 Franco regime on the basis that crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide and torture have no statute of limitations under international humanitarian law.