Vatican confirms to Spain it will not oppose Franco exhumation plan

THE Vatican has written to the Spanish government confirming that it will not oppose their plans to move the body of Spain’s former dictator Francisco Franco from a Catholic mausoleum.

A spokesperson for the Holy See said its Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin wrote to Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo to repeat the church’s position on the exhumation.

The ruling left-leaning Partido Socialista (PSOE) made the exhumation of Franco from the Valley of the Fallen one of its flagship policies after taking power in June.

It comes as the government formally approved the move at a cabinet meeting last month. Franco’s family are set to choose the new burial site of the former dictator, with their proposal to inter his remains in Madrid’s Almundena Cathedral ruled out by the government.