WAR IN SPAIN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19122, 17 September 1936, Page 5

WAR IN SPAIN

REBELS RESUME ADVANCE MOORS AS SPEARHEAD PEOPLE RETURN TO IKUN HOMES FOUND IN KUINS (Klee. Tel. Copyright—Hulled Press Assn.) (Reed. Sept. 17. 11 30 a.m.) . LONDON, Sept. 16.

A message from Sail Sebastian says that, the Moorish troops of the rebel forces have resumed the advance towards Bilbao.

Thousands of relugees returned o\ cl the international bridge at lrun 10-dav when the frontier was reopened. -Most of them found their homes in ruins.

PERSECUTION OF CHURCH

SLAUGHTER OF PRIESTS

BISHOP’S DEN UN Cl ATION

BRISBANE., Sept. 0.

In an address to-day. the Roman Catholic Archbishop ol Brisbane, Or. JDuhig, questioned the reliability ol newspaper cable services as a guide to estimating the merits ol the cause of the rebels- in Spain.

Dr. Duhig said : “The misleading cables in the daily .newspapers have the people of Australia, in a log about the actual conditions in Spain. The very names, ‘loyalists,’ ‘rebels,’ and ‘Fascists, are nislending. The. so-called rebels are patriotic Spaniards. Most members ol the army and the soldiers under franco. Mola. and Dellano arc determined <o keep their country from being sovietused.

“There are very lew Fascists in Spain. At- the last election they laded to win a single scat. General Franco has dissociated himself both lrom the monarchists and the Fascists. 11c is lighting for the life, of his country, its institutions, and its ancient civilisation, against the emissaries of Moscow and barbarism and atheism, which they represent.

“Certain organisations and sections of the press have tried to persuade the public that, the Government of Spain deserves recognition and obedience because it is the legitimate Government of (he country. This Spanish Government, short as its life has been, lias, a most unenviable record. It, has opened the prisons and let loose on the people a host of the most violent- arid lawless criminals. It has connived at the persecution and slaughter of priests-, and has driven from their convents and monasteries men and women engaged in humanitarian work for children, orphans, the aged, and the poor. It lias permitted the burning of hundreds' of churches with priceless treasures of architecture and art. Tl has- confiscated church proper! v. such as the great monastery ol Montserrat, and driven out the monks whose order has possessed it for 1000 years, and made it one of the greatglories of Spain. _

“The Catholic Church does not favour dictators, hut- it is- far better for the Catholic Church to have, a dictator and live, than to have a- Government like the present Government of Spain. It the Government of Spain is victorious, there is nothing but- tiic catacombs for the church in that country.

“The rebels are lighting one of the most, insidious lorees that has . e\ei arisen in the world since the beginning .if time, and all Catholics should be determined to keep that- force in check in this country. Otherwise they may find themselves in the position of the unlortnnnle Spaniards. '