Franco's victims return to haunt Spanish church on eve of visit from the Pope

Families of victims of Franco's dictatorship have appealed to the Catholic Church to remove plaques listing "those fallen for God and Spain" in the 1936-39 civil war, because they honour only Franco's supporters.

The stone plaques that still adorn churches throughout Spain 64 years after the civil war ended form a constant reproach to the families of those killed defending the republic. Franco's victims have the right to be honoured too, say the families' representatives.

Descendants of republicans killed and thrown into unmarked graves have written to Spain's bishops and the Vatican during preparations for the Pope's visit to Madrid on 3 May, urging him to make amends. They want the Pope to make a gesture of apology for the church's support for Franco's 40-year dictatorship, and to honour in a sermon the memory of republicans killed by his nationalist forces.

"The church bore great responsibility for legitimising Franco's rule, and they should accept this and apologise," said Emilio Silva, spokesman for the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory. "Many of the families are believers and only want the recovered remains of their brothers, fathers and grandfathers to receive a dignified Christian burial."

In recent months more than 2,500 people have overcome decades of fear and silence to seek help in finding relatives buried in ditches after nocturnal assassinations by Franco's troops.

"The names of their own relatives' killers are among those listed on the plaques. It's a constant, cruel reminder of the injustice they suffered," Mr Silva said yesterday.

The letter also urges the Vatican to allow historians to consult its archives on Spanish church activities in the civil war. "Access to those documents would clarify many uncertainties and help to locate where victims lie buried," Mr Silva added. "It would break through the silence that still persists 28 years after Franco's death."

Mr Silva, who founded the association while seeking the burial site of his grandfather, shot in 1936, says a growing demand for reconciliation makes this a good moment for the church to make amends.

Last November, Spain's Parliament condemned Francoism for the first time. Earlier this month the Bishop of Pamplona, after consulting records of killings in Navarra province during Franco's 1936 nationalist uprising, apologised to surviving relatives.