The Spanish Civil War - pg. 173

On 1 July, 1973 Cardinal Goma issued an open letter to
'the Bishops of the whole World' calling for church support for
the Nationalist cause, a letter in which he stated, somewhat
defensively, that the war was 'not a crusade but a political
and social war with repercussions of a religious nature.' This
was in contrast to the statement of the Archbishop of Valencia
a month earlier that 'the war has been called by the Holy Heart
of Jesus and this Adorable Heart has given power to the arms of
Franco's soldiers.' In addition, the Bishop of Segovia had said that
the war was 'a hundred time more important and holy than the
Reconquista' and the Bishop pf Pamplona called it the
'loftiest crsade that the centuries have ever seen...a crusade in which
divine intervention on our side is evident.' Leaflets with photo-montages
of Christ flanked by General Mola and Franco were issued to
Nationalist troops.