Spain’s most senior bishop has issued an unprecedented apology for the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the Spanish Civil War.

Until now the Church has always highlighted its role as a victim in the 1936-39 war, which ended in victory for Francisco Franco’s troops and marked the start of a fascist dictatorship that lasted until his death in 1975.

Last month Pope Benedict XVI beatified nearly 500 Spanish priests and nuns who were killed in the years before and during the conflict.

Yesterday, however, the head of Spain’s Episcopal Conference said that the Church must also seek forgiveness for “concrete acts” during the strife-torn period. “On many occasions we have reasons to thank God for what was done and for the people who acted, [but] probably in other moments. . . we should ask for forgiveness and change direction,” Ricardo Blázquez, the Bishop of Bilbao, told the conference.

Many bishops in the audience appeared stunned by the unexpected apology, including Antonio MarÍa Rouco Varela, Bishop Blázquez’s predecessor and the hardline Bishop of Madrid.

Bishop Blázquez, who is reaching the end of his three-year term at the head of the Episcopal Conference, also angered conservatives by praising a bishop viewed as a key figure in Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy in the late 1970s.

Bishop Blázquez called Vicente Enrique y Tarancón – the so-called “Red Bishop” decried by many conservatives for his efforts to distance the Church from Franco after the dictator’s death – an “efficient instrument of reconciliation”.

In his apology, Bishop Blázquez cited the teachings of Pope Jean Paul II, who issued repeated apologies for the sacking of Constantinople in 1204, for the treatment of Jews by the Catholic Church and the Inquisition.

But the Spanish bishop may find himself out of step with current Vatican thinking. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope was sceptical about the value of so many papal apologies. He believes that the Church must be strong when it is under threat from secular and other forces.

The Pope’s recent mass beatification of clergy allied with Franco’s side during the Civil War caused outrage on the Left in Spain. The Vatican said it was not taking sides, but merely wished to honour those who had died for their religious beliefs.

In a speech to 30,000 pilgrims in St Peter’s Square, the Pope paid tribute last month to the martyrs of the Civil War and put them on the path to sainthood. “Their forgiveness towards their persecutors should enable us to work towards reconciliation and peaceful coexistence,” he said.

But critics have pointed out that only priests aligned with Franco’s troops were honoured. “Priests killed in Catalonia or the Basque Country loyal to the republic are not being beatified,” Alejandro Quiroga, Professor of Spanish History at the University of Newcastle, said. “It is a very selective, political reading of the whole thing.”

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