ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 15, 2023 / 18:00 pm
A supposed comment by the late Pope Benedict XVI concerning Spain and the devil has been circulating on social media in recent days. The observation attributed to the pontiff comes from Jorge Fernández Díaz, Spain’s former minister of the interior.
According to a Nov. 11 post on X by “Catholic University Students,” which went viral, Benedict XVI supposedly said “the devil knows what Spain has done throughout her history: the evangelization of the Americas, the role of Spain during the Counter-Reformation… the devil attacks the best more and, therefore, attacks Spain.”
Although there is no record of this comment in Benedict XVI’s speeches and writings, the former minister has stated that the late pontiff said it during a private conversation they had at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery on June 17, 2015.
ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, reported on June 14, 2020, that during an online conference held a few days before, former minister Fernández explained the context of the pope’s words. According to the politician, the pontiff gave him that response when he asked him to pray for Spain because of the problems the country was experiencing, mainly due to the political tensions related to the pressure for Catalonian independence.
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