Resignified or textless crosses cannot be torn down by Francoists

The Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) in Spain has partially upheld the appeal filed against a catalog that indicated crosses and other elements linked to Francoism to be demolished.

The 4th Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the TSJCV partially admits the appeal presented by the Christian Lawyers Foundation against the publication of the Catalog of vestiges of the civil war and the dictatorship in the Valencian Community in the specific case of the crosses installed after the Civil War (1936-1939) originally related to the fratricidal conflict, but which have been resignified with respect to the original connotations.

Likewise, the ruling details that “crosses that lack text or any expression aligned with the commemoration, exaltation or exaltation of reference” cannot be included in the catalog according to current law.

Throughout the legal argument of the ruling, examples are cited of five crosses included in the catalog that would meet the requirements to not be designated as susceptible to demolition or transfer.

Among them is the Ribalta Park Cross in the city of Castellón de la Plana, which was removed from the place where it was located in the 40s of the last century and placed next to the Church of Santo Tomás de Villanueva in January 2023. .

This transfer was considered irregular by Justice in June 2024, after an action by Christian Lawyers.

After learning of this ruling, the organization has announced that it will request “the review of all the rulings that have endorsed the demolition of crosses in the Valencian Community”, among which is the one located in the town of Callosa de Segura, whose defense by the people it became a symbol of defense of religious freedom.

For the president of the Christian Lawyers Foundation, Poland Castellanos, the ruling represents “a boost” to her defense of the crosses in Spain threatened by the Historical Memory Law of 2007 and the Democratic Memory Law of 2022.

“We are not going to allow even one more demolition and we will initiate procedures to return all the crosses demolished so far to their locations,” Castellanos said in a statement.