Pope Beatifies 233 Martyrs of 1936-39 Spanish Civil War

Pope John Paul II on Sunday beatified hundreds of nuns, priests and laypeople who died in the Spanish Civil War, invoking their names in a plea for an end to the terrorism in Spain today.

The beatification of 233 martyrs--the last step before possible sainthood, or canonization--was the largest such elevation in a single Roman Catholic ceremony, reflecting the pontiff’s determination to give his faithful many role models, including some from modern times.

The previous record was the beatification of 206 Japanese martyrs by Pius IX in 1877.

Those beatified Sunday died at the hands of leftists waging anti-clerical campaigns while battling dictator Francisco Franco during the 1936-39 war. Most of the 233 were killed in the province of Valencia.

Applause rang out when the 80-year-old pontiff, reading his homily in Spanish, invoked the names of the newly beatified in a plea for an end to terrorism in Spain blamed on Basque separatists.

“Terrorism is born of hatred and, in turn, feeds it. It is radically unjust and increases the situations of injustice, gravely offends God and the dignity and rights of people. With terror, man always comes out the loser,” John Paul said.

“No motive, no cause or ideology can justify it,” he said. “Only peace can build peoples. Terror is the enemy of humanity.”

Since a cease-fire ended a little more than a year ago, about two dozen killings have been blamed on the Basque Homeland and Freedom group, known by its Basque initials, ETA. The separatists, who want to carve out an independent state in the land straddling France and Spain, are believed to have killed more than 800 people since 1968.