Twitter criticized as ‘Burn the clergy’ hashtag trends in Spain

By Courtney Mares

November 25, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Credit: Twin Design via Shutterstock.

Rome Newsroom, Nov 25, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- On the same day that Pope Francis approved the beatification of 127 Catholics killed in Spain in hatred of the faith in the 20th century, a hashtag calling for Catholic priests to be burned was trending on Twitter in Spain.

Twitter permitted the hashtag #FuegoAlClero, meaning “Burn the Clergy,” to trend online in Spain Nov. 24, despite its message of hatred against Catholic priests. Twitter’s current user policy states that the promotion of violence on the basis of religious affiliation is not allowed on its platform.

Prominent tweets that used the hashtag included images of flames on priests’ heads and others that labeled priests as “pedophiles” and “thieves,” ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister agency, reported Nov. 24.

As of Nov. 25, these images of priests in flames with the hashtag #FuegoAlClero had not been removed from Twitter.

Users commented on the site that they were surprised that Twitter had not eliminated the messages in accordance with its hateful conduct policy.

Spanish journalist Txomin Pérez Rodríguez wrote: “I thought that @TwitterEspana had put in place strict measures against posts that incite hatred. Then I see that #FuegoAlClero is TT [a Trending Topic] today and it is not clear to me that they have done something. Or do they only act against what interests them?”

Other Twitter users began using the hashtag #YoApoyoAlClero, which means “I support the clergy,” in response to the hateful posts.

Some posts recalled that churches were burned and priests were executed during Spain’s Red Terror during the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939.

On Nov. 24, Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of Fr. Juan Elias Medina and 126 companions, who were killed during the Spanish Civil War. Declared martyrs, they will now be beatified.

Fr. Juan Elias Medina was 33 when he was imprisoned and executed in 1936. Medina, a priest of the Diocese of Córdoba, shouted “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” and forgave his executioners before he was killed.

Seventy-eight other priests from the Diocese of Córdoba were also recognized as martyrs this week, along with five seminarians, three Franciscan friars, and 40 lay Catholics who were killed for their faith in Spain in the 1930s.

Hate crimes against Christians and Catholic churches are once again on the rise in Europe. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe published data last week documenting more than 500 hate crimes against Christians in Europe in 2019.

Incidents in Spain included attacks against Catholic priests, arson attacks on Catholic churches, the destruction of images of the Virgin Mary, and the theft of consecrated Eucharistic hosts from tabernacles.

One priest was the target of an attempted physical assault while he was offering Mass April 2019. Another was punched in the face as perpetrators threatened to burn down his church in Sept. 2019.

A shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary was defecated in. The church’s walls and a statue of Jesus Christ were smeared with excrement.

A convent was the target of arson a few days after it was vandalized with paint in Sept. 2019. A statue of Jesus was set on fire in November and a church’s altar was set alight twice in two weeks among other arson attacks.

The participants in the Catholic bishops’ conference in Spain also received numerous threats of an arson attack in 2019, according to the OSCE.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Pope Francis at the Vatican last month.

In improvised remarks that were captured on video, the pope reflected on the vocation of politicians and highlighted the dangers of ideological thinking.

“It is very sad when ideologies take over the interpretation of a nation, a country, and disfigure the homeland,” he said.

Sánchez, the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, has previously clashed with the Church in Spain over religious instruction in schools and euthanasia, among other issues.

Spain’s bishops have criticized the government over its efforts to remodel the education system in Spain. They argued that the Celaá Law, named after Education Minister Isabel Celaá, would undermine parental rights.

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Catholics call for prayer, legal migration routes after Essex lorry deaths

October 26, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Brentwood, England, Oct 26, 2019 / 06:01 am (CNA).- In the wake of the discovery of the bodies of eight women and 31 men inside a semi trailer in eastern England on Wednesday, Catholics are calling for prayers for the victims and their families, as well as safer means for immigrants and asylum seekers in Europe.

‘We are praying for the thirty-nine women and men who died, for their families, and for all those across the world who have lost their lives while trying to reach a better future,” Bishop Paul McAleenan, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and lead bishops for migration and asylum in the English and Welsh bishops’ conference, said Oct. 25.

“This tragedy underscores the urgent need to redouble our efforts in establishing safe passages and combatting criminals who exploit desperate people,” McAleenan said.

Police have not yet released details about whether the people who died were migrants, or seeking asylum, and the nationalities of the victims has not been officially confirmed, though Essex police initially reported that all 39 of them were Chinese nationals.

Jesuit Refugee Service UK called for policies for safe and legal migration, including a widening the definition of family members eligible to reunite under refugee family reunion rules, in response to the discovery of the bodies.

“This is devastating news. We know very little about the people who lost their lives at this point, but they are someone’s son, daughter, brother, sister, father, mother, friend or neighbour. We pray for those who died and for their families and friends,” said Sarah Teather, JRS UK’s Director, Oct. 23.

“This is truly tragic news, but depressingly predictable and avoidable news,” said Maurice Wren, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council.

“If you deny people safe and regular travel routes to find safety, you are leaving them with no choice but to risk their lives on utterly perilous journeys and in the hands of criminal gangs.”

Despite the police’s initial report on the victims’ nationalities, at least three of those on board may have been from Vietnam. Several Vietnamese people, who fear that their family members were on board and among the dead, have confided to the BBC.

“Our thoughts are with the 39 victims in #Essex, no matter where they are from,” Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, said in a tweet Friday.

“This has again drawn world attention to the issue of illegal immigration. The world should join hands and take resolute measures to prevent such tragedy from happening again.”

GPS data from the trailer, which had been leased from Global Trailer Rentals, shows that it left the Republic of Ireland Oct. 15, crossed into the UK and made its way to the port of Dover before crossing into mainland Europe. There it moved among several cities in France and Belgium before crossing the channel again to the town of Purfleet on the Thames.

A man and a woman, both 38, from a town near Liverpool, have been arrested and are being held on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people, The Times reports. On Wednesday a truck driver from Northern Ireland was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The Times also reports that the arrests come after port authorities and police were accused of failing to act on repeated warnings about migrant activity near the docks.

The BBC notes that this is not the first time that the bodies of people believed to be migrants have been found in England; in June 2000, the bodies of 58 Chinese people who had suffocated to death, along with two survivors, were discovered in a semi truck at Dover.

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