Court tells church it can keep its cross
A COURT has ruled that the controversial stone cross memorial removed from Callosa de Segura under the historical memory law belongs to the Catholic Church, but the part of the Plaza de España where it stood does not.
The Cruz de los Caidos (cross of the fallen) was erected in 1942 and used to bear the names of 81 people killed by the Republicans during the Civil War, with an inscription that they had ‘fallen for God and for Spain’, as well as the words ‘José Antonio Primo de Rivera presente’, in reference to the founder of the fascist Falange party.
Although the parish of San Martín Obispo eventually removed the inscriptions, the cross itself was taken away by the previous local council in 2018, following a long legal battle with the church which divided residents along political and religious grounds.
Since then it has been stored in pieces at the local hemp industry museum while the parish lodged a demand for it to be returned and restored to its original location outside the church.
Five years on, an Orihuela court has partially upheld the demand, with the judge considering it proven that the cross has been the property of the church at least since 1978, and ordering the town hall to return the monument to the parish.
Nevertheless, the judgment determined that the 29square-metre part of the plaza where the cross stood ‘is a space for public use by residents and the part of it in question does not constitute a real estate asset with the cross’.
The court did not question the previous ruling that the cross should have been removed under the historical memory law.
The ruling could still be appealed to the provincial court.