Filipino, 500 others beatified in Spain

MADRID: The Catholic Church in Spain will on Sunday beatify more than 500 people, most of whom died in the country’s 1936-39 civil war, despite calls for Pope Francis to cancel the controversial event.

Critics of what Spanish media have described as “the biggest ever beatification in the history of the Church” accuse the Church of helping to legitimize Francisco Franco’s military uprising and dictatorship.