Bitter memories of Spain's civil war were on center stage Sunday, as the Vatican put 498 slain Spanish priests and nuns from that divisive era on the path to sainthood.The Mass recognizing the Catholic men and women killed around the time of the 1936-39 civil war was the largest beatification ceremony in church history. Thousands of pilgrims who traveled from Spain filled St. Peter's Square, waving yellow-and-red national flags and pictures of the newly beatified, whom the church considers to be martyrs.
"For a Catholic Spain, they died," read one huge banner.
However, the beatifications have stirred controversy in Spain, where critics accuse the Vatican of playing politics.The timing of the ceremony, and the fact it was held at the Vatican with an appearance by Pope Benedict XVI, was seen by many as an ideologically motivated gesture of support for a Catholic church at loggerheads with the leftist Spanish government.
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