What My Family’s Bloody History In The Spanish Civil War Teaches About The FBI’s Assault On Catholics | Authoritarian governments have always hated Christians.
... In the 1930s, virtually the entire Spanish government was run by left-wing, anti-religious radicals who called themselves “Republicans.” These communist radicals engaged in the widespread persecution of Spanish intellectuals, the upper class, devout Catholics, and clerics. Inequality and terror imposed on the non-communists during the lead-up to the war eventually became intolerable and provoked revolution, with Gen. Francisco Franco staging a right-wing military uprising in 1936 to overthrow the Republican government. ...
... Anti-church propaganda eventually escalated from smear campaigns to the burning of churches and mass executions of Catholic religious and laypeople by the end of the war. Properties were seized and stolen, and conservatives were convicted of crimes in kangaroo court rulings, leading to unjust executions.
My great-grandmother and great-grandfather lived through the war, and being middle-class Catholic intellectuals and vocal opponents of communism, it is no surprise they were primary targets of Republican aggression. ...
... By the end of the war, a reported “13 bishops, 4,172 priests, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns and sisters,” and an unknown number of lay people were killed.
We cannot be apathetic toward the FBI’s targeting of Catholics, nor can we fail to speak out against the cultural demonization of Christians. ...
Here's a good summary of the Spanish Civil War and the war against Christians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1HoZNEQ8Og