Antonio Añoveros Ataún Explained

Antonio Añoveros Ataún
Birth Name:Antonio Añoveros Ataún
Birth Date:1909
Birth Place:Pamplona, Spain
Death Place:Bilbao, Spain
Nationality:Spanish
Occupation:Bishop

Antonio Añoveros Ataún (1909–1987) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest. He is known mostly as a protagonist of the so-called "Añoveros case", a 1974 episode which marked the gravest crisis in relations between Francoist Spain and the Church. Though during the Civil War he joined Carlists, he is recognized chiefly as one of the most liberal members of the Spanish hierarchy during the late Francoism; he is appreciated especially in the Basque realm.

Family and youth

Añoveros' paternal family originated from the Madrid province. His grandfather, Guillermo Añoveros Ribas (1817–1897),[1] settled in Navarre due to his duties of Carabinero de la Hacienda Nacional,[2] the Spanish customs service. Antonio's father, Julio Añoveros Monasterio (1867–1939),[3] directed Tabacalera de Navarra, local section of the Spanish tobacco monopoly, and worked for the Pamplona city council as secretary of Junta de Beneficiencia de Navarra. Since 1928 he was elected Teniente de Alcalde and presided over Comisión de Beneficiencia; he was also recognized as author of pieces posted to local periodicals.[4] Antonio's maternal family came from central Navarre; his mother, Claudia Ataún Sanz (1881–1975), originated from Irurozqui.[5] The couple had 4 children.[6]

Upon insistence of his devoutly religious mother Antonio was first educated in the Marist Brothers' college in Pamplona.[7] Having obtained the bachillerato he moved to Aragon, studying derecho civil at Universidad de Zaragoza.[8] According to some sources he pursued law studies and sacerdotal education at the same time,[9] according to the other he abandoned university witnessing the rising tide of militant secularization; determined to confront it he returned to his native city and entered the seminar.[10] He was ordained priest in 1933 and posted to the St. Nicholas parish in Pamplona.[11] In the mid-1930s he assumed teaching duties at the Pamplona seminary[12] and animated local Acción Católica.[13]

None of the sources consulted provides information on Añoveros' political activities prior to the July 1936 coup. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War his older brother, Julio Añoveros Ataún, joined the Carlist Requeté militia;[14] Antonio followed suit and enlisted as a chaplain. The exact unit, timing and location of his service are not known; one author claims he served in hospitals and similar facilities,[15] though also in a machine-gun battalion.[16] He is recorded as having administered sacraments also to the Republican soldiers.[17] Añoveros was involved in matanza de Valcardera, the second-largest mass execution in Navarre;[18] he was one of 6 priests confessing 52 inmates about to be executed.[19] He later claimed to have been terrified by the scene and named the day the worst in his life; he turned gray the following night.[20] None of the few witness accounts available – including his own – notes he protested the killings.[21] Some authors claim the local hierarchy was aware and approved of the executions.[22] Prior to the Unification Decree Añoveros featured prominently in plans, drafted by Junta Nacional Carlista de Guerra and to be executed upon taking Madrid. They envisioned formation of Christianization Columns, units entrusted with propaganda and religious activities until the Church structures are re-established in the capital;[23] Añoveros was marked to head the Navarrese column, supposed to act in the Puerta del Sol quarter.[24] These plans were cancelled by political developments within the Nationalist camp; Añoveros kept serving as a chaplain and was noted in Carlist auxiliary units on the Castellon front in 1938.[25] He did show up in Madrid carrying out proselytizing activities once the city had been taken in 1939: he was noted as engaged in distribution of El Pensamiento Navarro, the sole Carlist daily spared amalgamation in the Francoist propaganda machinery.[26]

Early ecclesiastical career

At some point Añoveros became vicedirector of a diocesan Pamplonese weekly La Verdad.[27] It is not entirely clear when he ceased as a parish priest for St. Nicholas in Pamplona; during the war he was officially delegated to Delegación de frentes y hospitales, a branch of Falange catering for the wounded;[28] no sooner than in 1939 Añoveros was nominated representative of the diocese to Casa del Consiliario de Madrid and in this capacity he made few trips abroad. Afterwards he was appointed primer capellán and professor at Escuela Nacional de Mandos del Frente de Juventud, an institute designed to train the Falangist youth cadres.[29] This assignment was terminated in 1942, when he assumed the Santa Maria parish in the central Navarrese town of Tafalla; he was also appointed director of the local Casa Sacerdotal Diocesana.[30] He passed into the living memory of the local population as a young, ingenious and resolute priest, trying to serve the poor community the best;[31] he continued at the post until 1950.[32] In early 1950 Añoveros left Navarre for Andalusia; he was appointed canónigo de la catedral in Málaga. He rose also to Director Espiritual del Seminario Conciliar, rector of the local seminary,[33] and performed some other minor duties.[34] Working closely with the charismatic figure of the Málaga bishop Angel Herrera Oria, Añoveros grew to his right-hand and in 1952 was elevated to vicar-general of the diocese.[35] In 1952, promoted by Herrera Oria (who also acted as his principal consecrator),[36] Añoveros was nominated the Malaga Auxiliary Bishop; his titular see was Tabuda.[37] In late 1954 he moved to Western Andalusia, nominated the Coadjutor Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta.[38] At the new post he remained influenced by the strong personality of the aging titular bishop of the province, Tomás Gutiérrez Díez.[39]

Himself coming from an accommodated family, Añoveros developed interest in social issues already when in the Pamplona seminary;[40] he pursued it animating the local Acción Católica, first during the Republic and later during the Civil War.[41] At both his Andalusian assignments he continued co-operation with Acción Católica as its local delegado episcopal, becoming also increasingly involved in charity as Delegado Diocesano de Caridad.[42] He was noted as demonstrating utter interest in the poor, frequently visiting the city suburbs.[43] At that time his relations with Spanish government seemed excellent: a former Carlist chaplain and mentor of Falangist youth cadres, in the early 1950s he was taking part in venerating ceremonies to honor Francisco Franco;[44] a photograph of Añoveros friendly chatting with the Caudillo was splashed across front pages upon his assumption of the Cádiz post.[45]

Second Vatican Council

Prior to Vaticanum II the Spanish preliminary input was rather modest. On the central theme of the Church itself it was reduced to a petition, fathered by Añoveros jointly with the Jaca bishop Ángel Hidalgo Ibáñez, that the doctrine of Cuerpo Místico deserves more elaboration.[46] During the Council itself he participated in all 4 sessions from 1962 to 1965.[47] Though Spanish bishops as a group constituted one of the most conservative blocs of the assembled hierarchy,[48] Añoveros emerged in the middle, siding neither with the reformist nor with the conservative wing. His contribution to Vaticanum II was moderate; though counted among the 3,000 Council Fathers,[49] he neither chaired any section nor was particularly active on any specific topic. However, he took part in a number of debates.

The liturgical reform focused on enhanced participation of the lay in the mass. Añoveros was in the majority favoring introduction of the vernacular, resulting in the sixth amendment to the constitution on liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 1963); it allowed a freedom of action while at the same time making provision for an increased use of modern languages in the liturgy.[50] When discussing the role of deacons, priests and bishops in church modus operandi and the decision making process,[51] finally summarized in Dogmatic Constitution of the Church (Lumen gentium, 1964), Añoveros spoke in favor of the priesthood being treated more thoroughly in the scheme; he effectively backed the supporters of permanent deaconry and collegiality of bishops.[52] He also voiced strongly in favor of setting regional seminars.[53] During the work on Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions (Nostra aetate, 1965) he emerged as a moderate, referring specifically to the Muslims as profoundly religious and very sensitive to charity. He perceived the Christian-Muslim dialogue as feasible and insisted it is enhanced, stressing that the Christians respectfully recognize Muslim spiritual and that moral values and all missionary endeavors be tailored accordingly.[54] Contributing to Declaration on Religious Freedom, (Dignitatis Humanae, 1965), and especially during the discussion on the so-called 4 SC (textus reemendatus), Añoveros spoke against the version prepared by the Council for Promoting Christian Unity and joined the 70-something group of bishops who formed part of the opposition nucleus.[55] Though far from the fundamental rejection advocated by Marcel Lefebvre (or even critique from some fellow Spaniards like Abilio del Campo), Añoveros called for setting limits of religious liberty.[56] He argued that the state had the right to limit religious freedom to safeguard three values: a political good, that is the public peace: a moral good, that is the defense of public morality; and a civil good, that is the harmony of citizens in the exercise of their legitimate rights. He suggested further elaboration of the text during works of a new sub-commission, and called for changing the title, suggesting Civil Liberty in Religious Matters instead.[57]

Bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta

Following the death of Tomás Gutiérrez Díez, in 1964 Añoveros succeeded him as titular bishop of Cádiz and Ceuta.[58] Though during long strings he was absent from the area due to Second Vatican Council engagements, he is known to have ruled the diocese with iron hand,[59] his key concerns having been the seminary and social issues.[60] It is also at his Cádiz-Ceuta assignment that he gained nationwide recognition.

Until some point Añoveros' focus on poverty, injustice, labor and social issues in general appeared to have been in line with syndicalist Falangist viewpoint, but already when assisting Herrera Oria in Málaga his relations with the Movimiento were getting cold.[61] Añoveros' increasingly vocal support for Catholic labor groupings, Hermandad Obrera de Acción Católica (HOAC) and Juventud Obrera Cristiana de España (JOC), was putting him on collision course with the official policy,[62] especially as the organizations were assuming an alternative and challenging format.[63] Some of his gestures looked like manifestos, which pitted the world of poverty against that of glamour and officialdom.[64] Also in his sermons he embraced similar threads, e.g. when he lamented the plight of agricultural workers in Andalusia and lambasted lack of social conscience by the upper strata.[65] However, at that time Añoveros was careful not to enter an openly confrontational path; in 1966 he presided over the 1966 Ceuta celebrations of 30th anniversary of "Convoy de la victoria".[66] After death of the conservative primate Enrique Pla y Deniel Añoveros became more vocal within the Spanish episcopate; he co-engineered condemnation of the official vertical unions, declared by the Bishops Conference in July 1968.[67] Gradually his articles in HOAC bulletins,[68] sermons and pastoral letters were assuming increasingly severe tone;[69] some references, like the ones about "the oppressed", were no longer compatible even with most flexibly applied official line.[70] Apart from focus on social issues Añoveros advocated also a new Church animated by the Vaticanum II spirit;[71] he also voiced in favor of family values in what seemed like confronting a new, consumer lifestyle.[72] With the censorship almost lifted, in the late 1960s his sermons were getting widely quoted in the Spanish press; their author gained a nationwide recognition, e.g. declared Person of the Year by the Catalan periodical Mundo in 1970.[73]

Añoveros approved of and supported the phenomenon of „curas obreros”, encouraging seminarians from Cádiz to take up labor assignments in local industry.[74] This, combined with his focus on social issues and down-to-earth profile of a "parish bishop",[75] drew comparisons to Hélder Câmara, chief exponent of the Latin American so-called liberation theology,[76] though Añoveros has never admitted embracing the concept. At the turn of the decades Spain's officials lost any illusions they might have had about Añoveros; at one point police suspected him of having running a communist cell[77] and in 1971 Dirección General de Seguridad counted him, together with Vicente Tarancón and Narciso Jubany, among "jerarquías desafectas".[78]

Bilbao: "caso Añoveros" and afterwards

In December 1971 Añoveros was nominated the bishop of Bilbao.[79] He was short-listed as the only candidate, a workaround employed by Vatican to dodge the concordat and deny Francoist Spain the opportunity to influence the process; the official government response claimed that the government demonstrated good will and consented.[80] On the other hand, some scholars claim that Franco actually wanted Añoveros to land in Bilbao, hoping that his image of a popular hierarch would help to pacify the unruly region.[81] This version seems corroborated by the fact that Consejo Presbiteral de Bilbao initially opposed Añoveros' nomination, reportedly concerned about his Carlist and Falangist record.[82]

Añoveros quickly identified himself as sympathetic towards Basque nationalism.[83] He refused to attend official feasts along the Francoist hierarchs,[84] established a good working relation with the local vehemently pro-Basque clerical entourage,[85] and spoke in defense of persecuted nationalist clergymen;[86] he also did his best to derail legal proceedings against those charged with subversive propaganda, like in a 1973 case of 4 priests from Portugalete.[87]

Hardly veiled conflict with Francoist Spain exploded in February 1974, when Añoveros issued a pastoral letter titled El Cristianismo, Mensaje de Salvación para los pueblo.[88] In general it referred papal teaching, but at one point and in an almost Aesopian language it called for Basque cultural freedom and a change in governmental policy on regional rights.[89] There is conflicting historiography on the issue;[90] some authors consider the wording miscalibrated,[91] others suggest it might have been intended as a test of officially declared good intentions.[92] The document, issued 2 months after ETA terrorists assassinated Carrero Blanco, triggered the gravest crisis between Spain and the Church.[93] The cabinet of Carlos Arias ordered Añoveros' house arrest and sent a plane to Bilbao to fly him out into exile, while some bishops threatened excommunication of Francoist officials in return.[94] Franco, aware of unofficial papal support for the bishop and asked for moderation by the primate González Martín,[95] has eventually overruled Arias and got the crisis defused while Añoveros was arranged to go on a long vacation.[96] Añoveros returned to Bilbao during final months of Francoism, though at that time he was already suffering from cardiac problems and since 1976 he used to spend long periods away on treatment.[97] In heat of the ongoing transición he tended to avoid political issues, though he used to meet new public officials;[98] his sermons and letters focused rather on the Church, stressing its holy nature and steering clear of social rationalizations.[99] In 1977 he was nominated Prince Assistant to the Pontifical Throne.[100] In 1978 he resigned due to poor health;[101] becoming bishop emeritus of the diocese.[102] From that moment onwards he departed from public life;[103] offered residence in Pamplona, on insistence of the locals he chose to stay in Bilbao.[104] Since 1984 he was in grave condition;[105] in 1985 he suffered a stroke and died due to pulmonary disease.[106]

Reception and legacy

In the late 1960s Añoveros acquired sort of a celebrity status; in the mid-1970s "caso Añoveros" became a major event discussed nationwide and far abroad,[107] earning him position of a political protagonist. However, following his resignation the media focus shifted away. At times and usually due to his health problems mentioned in the press as bishop emeritus, he is now referred to as "living in the shadow" during the 1980s;[108] it was rather his nephew, Jaime Garcia Añoveros, who at that time attracted more attention.[109] Añoveros' death was noted by all major Spanish media and acknowledged with highly sympathetic obituaries, which underlined his interest in social issues and highlighted the 1974 showdown.[110] It is also with reference to "caso Añoveros" that he was being occasionally noted by the press afterwards. Its 30th anniversary in 2014 produced some commemorative notes, all of them hailing the protagonist and crediting him for pro-democratic posture, social sensitivity, support for regional identities and endorsing a modern Church. He is generally counted among most progressive sections of the Spanish episcopate during late Francoism.[111] At times is referred to as a role model, juxtaposed against unprogressive sectors of present-day Spanish clergy,[112] though some authors consider him a conservative.[113] He is particularly appreciated within the Basque realm, where some media name him, along Mateo Múgica and José María Setién, the key or the most quoted bishop in the history of the national Church.[114] Remembered as "a good shepherd", Añoveros has even earned a poem in Basque.[115]

Attempts to commemorate Añoveros in public space are relatively modest; he is honored by one street, a short backyard drive in Puerto Real near Cádiz. In 2015 the Bilbao diocese set up Fundación canónica autónoma de Centros Diocesanos Antonio Añoveros, intended to support local religious educational establishments.[116] He earned no scientific monograph so far, be it either a major volume or a review article, though "caso Añoveros" is treated at length in few works on the Francoist era.[117] Though overwhelmingly appreciated as contributing to democratic transformation of Spain, Añoveros did not escape some criticism. Within the Carlist realm already in 1974 he was considered a subversive progressist; a note by Traditionalist pundit Elías de Tejada ironically demanded that his call for honoring regional rights be met by restoring traditional Biscay regulations, which in turn would trigger fueros-based proceedings against Añoveros.[118] A present-day Traditionalist intellectual, José Miguel Gambra, lines up Añoveros, and especially his stress on individual and collective liberties, within the trend which contributed to de-Christianization of Spain.[119] Finally, some authors mention his name when referring to ambiguous stance of Basque hierarchs on nationalist violence, the position which raised concerns already at the time.[120] They note that across the 1970s the bishops have never explicitly condemned the ETA terror campaign; while often voicing enigmatically against unspecified violence, they relativized the phenomenon by seeking its root causes in lack of civil liberties and heavy-handed policing.[121]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. see Guillermo Añoveros Rivas entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here, also El Eco de Navarra 16 December 1997, available here
  2. Guillermo Añoveros Ribas entry, [in:] Geneanet genealogical service, available here
  3. Julio Añoveros Monasterio entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here
  4. see Monasterio entry, [in:] Antzinako genealogical service, available here, Eusebio Gorritxategi San Sebastián, El centenario del obispo incómodo, [in:] Diario Vasco 13 June 2009, available here
  5. Claudia Ataún Sanz entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here
  6. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  7. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  8. Josep Miquel Bausset, El "caso Añoveros", 40 años después, [in:] Religión Digital 23 February 2014, available here, Javier Dronda Martínez, Con Cristo o contra Cristo: religión y movilización antirepublicana en Navarra (1931–1936), Tafalla 2013,, p. 76
  9. ABC 25 October 1987, available here, ABC 18 February 1955, available here
  10. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009; it was by no means a typical decision. At that time the number of candidates to the Pamplona seminary decreased significantly, from 463 in 1930 to 370 in 1933, Dronda Martínez 2013, p. 60
  11. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, available here, Bishop Antonio Añoveros Ataún entry, [in:] Catholic Hierarchy service, available here
  12. Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service, available here
  13. El Siglo Futuro 18 January 1936, available here, ABC 18 February 1955, available here; he animated AC also during the war, Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis], Valencia 2009, p. 297
  14. he served as alférez in Gipuzkoan units, Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil Española (1936–1939), Madrid 2013,, p. 235, compare also account of María Isabel Ruiz de Ulíbarri, [in:] Fundación Ignacio Larramendi service, available here
  15. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  16. the most specific source mentions an unidentified "87 batallón de ametralladoras", ABC 18 February 1955, available here. Other are less detailed, see Diario Vasco 13 June 2009, available here, and refer generally to his role of a chaplain in Carlist units, see Jeremy MacClancy, The Decline of Carlism, Reno 2000,, p. 306. or in "batallón del Ejército de Franco", ABC 25 October 1987, available here
  17. Bausset 2014, José Antonio Hidalgo, La energia de un hombre bueno, [in:] Diario de Cádiz [date unclear], available here
  18. the killing took place on 23 August 1936, and was the second largest mass execution in Navarre (after execution of 64 in Monreal), Fernando Mikelarena Peña, Sin piedad. Limpieza politica en Navarra, 1936. Responsables, colaboradores y ejecutores, Tafalla 2015,, p. 168
  19. Mikelarena Peña 2015, pp. 168–175, Martorell Pérez 2009, pp. 111–112, 297, Iñaki Egaña, Los crímenes de Franco en Euskal Herria, 1936–1940, Tafalla 2009,, p. 130
  20. ABC 15 November 1987, available here
  21. Mikelarena Peña 2015, p. 171
  22. Mikelarena Peña 2015, p. 172
  23. apart from priests and friars, each column was to be composed of an orchestra, a loudspeaker section, a requeté detachment, sanitary services, a radio broadcasting unit, technicians and other auxiliary sub-units, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 105
  24. Martorell Pérez 2009, pp. 105, 297
  25. Mikelarena Peña 2015, p. 391
  26. Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 75
  27. ABC 18 February 1955, available here; it was directed by Pablo Gurpide, Dronda Martínez 2013, pp. 125, 131–133
  28. Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service, available here
  29. ABC 18 February 1955
  30. Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service
  31. Javier Torralba, La cabalgata de reyes en 1945, [in:] Tafalla a pie service, available here
  32. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, available here
  33. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  34. e.g. capellán del Tiro de Pichón, Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service
  35. as Herrera Oria used to travel extensively, it was Añoveros often replacing him in Málaga, Cristian Cerón Torreblanca, Las relaciones iglesia-estado en Málaga durante el franquismo 1936–1975, [in:] Baetica. Estudios de Arte, Geografía e Historia 31 (2009), pp. 487
  36. Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service
  37. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  38. Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service
  39. Hidalgo 2009
  40. Dronda Martínez 2013, p. 76
  41. as viceconsiliario diocesano, El Siglo Futuro 18 January 1936, available here
  42. ABC 18 February 1955, available here, Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  43. ABC 18 February 1955
  44. La Vanguardia 3 December 1962, available here
  45. La Vanguardia 10 February 1955, available here. According to some sources the Cadiz and Ceuta appointement involved some admin gimmicks on part of the Church in order to dodge Franco’s right to get involved in the process, Joe Foweraker, Making Democracy in Spain: Grass-Roots Struggle in the South, 1955–1975, London 2003,, p. 103
  46. Evangelista Vilanova, Los "vota" de los obispos españoles después del anuncio del Concilio Vaticano II (1959), [in:] Revista Catalana de Teologia 15 (1990), p. 391
  47. Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service
  48. Juan María Laboa Gallego, Los obispos españoles en el Concilio, [in:] Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia 14 (2005), pp. 29–50
  49. Antonio Añoveros y Ataun entry, [in:] Diocesis Malaga service
  50. Monika Selle, Latein und Volkssprache im Gottesdienst. Die Aussagen des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils über die Liturgiesprache, [PhD thesis Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München 2001], pp. 231, 241–242 256, 265, 294, 377, James I. Tucek, Council Takes Historic Votes to Bring Vernacular to the Mass, [in:] Catholic News Service 9 October 2013, available here
  51. Tucek 2013
  52. Richard Tatzreiter, "Kollegialität" der Presbyter. Systematische, spirituelle und praktisch orientierte Überlegungen zum ekklesiologisch reflektierten Begriff des "einen Presbyteriums" ausgehend von den Texten des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils [PhD thesis Universität Wien 2008], pp. 65, 74, La Vanguardia 10 October 1963, available here
  53. Juan María Laboa Gallego, Los obispos españoles en el Concilio, [in:] Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia 14 (2005), p 43
  54. Relationship to Non-Christian Religions, [in:] Metamporphose service, available here
  55. Pawel Milcarek, Wprowadzenie do lektury Nostra aetate, [in:] Academia service, available here
  56. claiming the common good was not compatible with dissemination of error, Laboa Gallego 2005, p. 42, Paweł Milcarek, Wprowadzenie do lektury Dignitatis humanae, [in:] Academia service, available here
  57. The Catholic NorthWest Progress 24 September 1965, available here, Laboa Gallego 2005, p. 47
  58. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  59. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  60. in Cadiz his key concerns are listed as "el seminario, la conciencia social, la alfabetización y la vivienda", La Hsistoria, [in:] Catedral de Cádiz service, available here
  61. Cristian Cerón Torreblanca, Las relaciones iglesia-estado en Málaga durante el franquismo 1936–1975, [in:] Baetica. Estudios de Arte, Geografía e Historia 31 (2009), pp. 481–4
  62. Francisco Javier Torres Barranco, Los movimientos obreros especializados de Acción Católica de la Diócesis de Cádiz: JOC y HOAC. Una aproximación histórica y apostólica, [in:] Trocadero: Revista de historia moderna y contemporanea 27 (2015), pp. 101–121. Añoveros was noted for chiding Falangist unions as undemocratic, at the same time praising Catholic groups as acting "with heroic courage at times in hostile environments", Patrick J. Sullivan, Catholic Social Thought on Labor-Management Issues, 1960–1980, available here
  63. Añoveros organized the national congresses of HOAC in Cadiz and hosted independent 1 May celebrations at the religious premises, see Torres Barranco 2015, pp. 111–112, Foweraker 2003, p. 103
  64. he became renowned for declining a generous grant for renovation of the destitute Cádiz Cathedral, claiming that in the city with so many social needs it would have been immoral, Bausset 2014. He was last noted as leading marriage ceremonies of local aristocrats in 1959 see ABC 23 October 1959, available here
  65. e.g. criticizing many absentee owners of large estates, who were held partially responsible for some of the abject conditions in which the lease-holding peasants lived. He was especially critical of a lack of dialogue between the agricultural workers and their employers, with many campesinos abandoning their rights in fear of reprisals. Approving of laws on social justice, he declared it more important to live according to the grave obligations of conscience. Compare Juan Cejudo, Mi experiencia con un obispo excepcional: Antonio Añoveros, [in:] Redes Cristianas 27 June 2009, available here, Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  66. La Vanguardia 6 August 1966, available here
  67. compare Granollers Comunidad Cristiana 13 October 1968; he was quoted saying that "en sana doctrina .sindical es difícil admitir que la declaración del episcopado coincide en lo fundamental con las directrices y programas del actual desarroUo sindical"
  68. Mónica Moreno Seco, La presse catholique sous le franquisme: le Boletín HOAC (1959–1975), [in:] El Argonauta Español 01 (2004), available here
  69. Foweraker 2003, p. 103
  70. compare his recommendation that the Church "debe estar muy cerca de los oprimidos", La Vanguardia 22 March 1969, available here
  71. compare La Vanguardia 14 October 1966, available here, or La Vanguardia 22 March 1969, available here
  72. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009, Laboa Gallego 2005, p. 45, La Vanguardia 3 January 1970, available here
  73. Hidalgo 2009
  74. Cejudo 2009
  75. "obispo-paroco", José Antonio Hernandez, Añoveros, [in:] Redes Cristianas service 21 June 2009, available here
  76. Hernandez 2009, José Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World, Chicago 1994,, p. 83, Said Amir Arjomand, The Political Dimensions of Religion, New York 1993,, p. 111, also the Añoveros obituary in La Vanguardia 25 October 1987, available here
  77. Cejudo 2009
  78. Julián Casanova, Iglesia católica, Estado y conflictos sociales y culturales en la historia de España del siglo XX, [in:] La historia y sus sentidos blog, available here, Julián Casanova, Carlos Gil Andrés, Twentieth-Century Spain: A History, Cambridge 2014,, p. 283
  79. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, Bishop Antonio Añoveros Ataún entry, [in:] Catholic Hierarchy service
  80. La Vanguardia 18 December 1971, available here, see also Francesco Protonotari, Nuova antologia, Roma 1976, p. 467. Already his Cadiz appointment was tricky and required gimmicks, Foweraker 2003, p. 103
  81. Xabier Hualde Amunárriz, La Iglesia vasca durante el franquismo (1939–1975) según los diplomáticos franceses, [in:] Trabajos y ensayos 8 (2008), p. 12-13
  82. Juan Manuel González Sáez, Geografía eclesial y construcción de la indentidad nacinalista: la revindicación de pa provincia eclesiástica vasca durente el tardofranquismo y la transición, [in:] Historia Contemporánea 46 (2012), p. 322, José Andrés-Gallego, Antón M. Pazos, La Iglesia en la España contemporánea, vol. 2, Madrid 1999,, p. 206
  83. Pablo Martín de Santa Olalla Saludes, El obispo que estuvo a punto de ser procesado: Antonio Palenzuela y la "cárcel concordataria" de Zamora, [in:] Hispania sacra 61/123 (2009), pp. 357–358
  84. Hualde Amunárriz 2008, pp. 12–13
  85. principally with vicar-general José Angel Ubieta López and director of the Bilbao seminary Juan María Uriarte Goiricelaya, Los cuatro pastores, [in:] Cambio 16 13 April 1981
  86. compare Vicente Cárcel Ortí, La cárcel "concordataria" de Zamora y el "caso Añoveros", [in:] Revista Española de Derecho Canónico 54 (1997), pp. 37–93, Saludes 2009, pp. 358–359
  87. La Vanguardia 17 June 1973, available here; compare also his personal letter to Carrero Blanco of December 1972, reading "la palabras de VE estimo que no han contribuido a sembrar la paz y evitar enfrentamientos entre los distintos grupos del pueblo cristiano. Y en verdad no creo que sea el camino de fomentar la pacífica convivencia de los españoles", quoted after Pedro Ontoso, Los servicios secretos de Carrero Blanco espiaron a la Iglesia vasca, [in:] El Correo 4 March 2015, available here
  88. distributed across 750 parishes of the diocese; full text and relarted documents see ACNDP 03/1974
  89. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
  90. a fairly detailed description in José Reig Cruañes, Opinión pública y comunicación política en la transición democrática, esp. section 3.2.2.5, El caso Añoveros y la crisis de legitimidad, [PhD Thesis Universidad de Alicante 1999], pp. 344–352. Almost every work dealing with late Francoism notes the episode, though usually with little detail and analysis, see e.g. Paul Preston, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain, London 2003,, p. 44-45, Víctor Pérez Díaz, The Return of Civil Society: The Emergence of Democratic Spain, New York 1993,, p. 169, Cristina Palomares, The Quest for Survival After Franco: Moderate Francoism and the Slow Journey to the Polls, 1964–1977, Sussex 2005,, pp. 24–25, William James Callahan, The Catholic Church in Spain, 1875–1998, Lansing 2009, ISBN, p. 544, Stanley G. Payne, Spanish Catholicism: An Historical Overview, Madison 1984,, p. 205, Stanley Black, Spain Since 1939: From Margins to Centre Stage, London 2009,, pp. 70–71, Laura Desfor Edles, Symbol and Ritual in the New Spain: The Transition to Democracy After Franco, Cambridge 1998,, p. 37, Stanley G. Payne, Jesús Palacios, Franco: A Personal and Political Biography, Madison 2014,, p. 471, Nigel Townson, Spain Transformed: The Franco Dictatorship, 1959–1975, New York 2007,, p. 188, Feliciano Blázquez Carmona, La traición de los clérigos en la España de Franco: crónica de una intolerancia, 1936–1975, Madrid 1991,, p. 194
  91. one author refers to "imprudencia por parte de obispo", see Rafael Gomez Perez, El franquismo y la Iglesia, Madrid 1996,, p. 160; another one refers to "inoportuno affaire", – Luis Sanchez de Movellán, El inoportuno affaire Añoveros, [in:] El mundo financiero 21 October 2014, available here
  92. or even as a deliberate provocation, Victoria Prego. Así se hizo la Transición, Madrid 1996,, pp. 102–105. Indeed Añoveros remained pretty defiant if not provocative on the issue, e.g. he frequently declared that "los vascos estamos tan irreconciliados como en 1939", and when called upon to Madrid he showed up in the Basque beret, Hilari Raguer, Añoveros en Montserrat, [in:] Montserrat 26 July 2009, available here
  93. Pablo Martín de Santa Olalla Saludes, Los gobiernos de Arias Navarro y la Iglesia (1974–1975), [in:] Miscelánea Comillas: Revista de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales 139 (2013), p. 298
  94. Bausset 2014, Saludes 2013, p. 297
  95. ABC 26 February 2012, available here
  96. Bausset 2014, William J. Callahan, The Spanish Church: Change and Continuity, [in:] Nigel Townson (ed.), Spain Transformed: The Franco Dictatorship, 1959–1975, London 1998,, p. 188
  97. ABC 24 April 1976, available here
  98. ABC 10 November 1976, available here
  99. ABC 21 July 1976, available here
  100. ABC 5 November 1977, available here
  101. he developed Parkinson and cardiac diseases, Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  102. Antonio Añoveros Ataun entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, Bishop Antonio Añoveros Ataún entry, [in:] Catholic Hierarchy
  103. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  104. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  105. ABC 24 August 1985, available here
  106. Gorritxategi San Sebastián 2009
  107. compare Jornal do Brasil 2 March 74, available here
  108. ABC 27 July 1983, available here
  109. see e.g. ABC 16 March 2000, available here. Jaime Garcia Añoveros was the son of María Luisa Añoveros Ataún, the sister of Antonio, compare María Luisa Añoveros Ataún entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here
  110. ABC 31 December 1987, available here, La Vanguardia 25 October 1987, available here
  111. Bausset 2014, Felix Garcia Olano, Cuarenta años del „caso Añoveros", [in:] deia.com service 03.19.14, available here, O caso Añoveros, [in:] La Voz de Galicia 19 July 2014, available here, Imágenes de la Transición: El caso Añoveros, [in:] Siro service 19 July 2014, available here
  112. see e.g. a note discussing alleged spirit of Añoveros against the conservative turn of the Cádiz hierarchy of the 2010s, Fernando Santiago Muñoz, Nostalgia de Añoveros, [in:] Diario de Cadiz 15 May 2013, available here
  113. both in public discourse and scholarly debate, for the former compare Carles Navales, Elsa, Elsa, Elsa, [in:] El Periódico del Llobregat 14 July 1984, for the latter see Xosé Chao Rego, Iglesia y franquismo: 40 años de nacional-catolicismo (1936–1976), Madrid 2007,, p. 388
  114. José María Setién, [in:] Euskonews 17 October 2008, available here
  115. Joseba I. Legarza, Artzain one gogoratzen, see here
  116. see the diocesis' Boletín Oficial/Aldizkari nagusia 7-8/2015, available here
  117. perhaps the most detailed account in Reig Cruañes 1999
  118. Francisco Elías de Tejada, Suplica la promoción y aprobación de una ley de privilegio a favor del obispo Añoveros, [in:] ¿Qué Pasa? 30 March 1974, quoted after Hispanismo service, available here
  119. José Miguel Gambra, El postconcilio y la decristianización de España, [in:] Fuente "Tradición Católica". Revista de la Fraternidad Sacerdotal San Pío X en España 206 (2006), pp. 1–8, available here
  120. "Hasta ahora, ni el cardenal Tarancón, en su calidad de Presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal Española, ni el doctor Argayo, ni monseñor Añoveros, ni los otros obispos, han dado doctrina sobre el anticristiamismo profundo e irreconciliable de la ETA", Manuel Ribera, Homilías y Telegramas inservibles, [in:] El Alcazar 19 October 1976, available here
  121. ETA violence was for the first time explicitly condemned by the Basque bishops in 1981. According to the author, Añoveros and Setien "coincidieron en defender las revindicaciones de ETA al tiempo que condenaban la violencia"; the former noted on 18 May 1975 that "violence can be eradicated only by doing away with its causes". The spirit of episcopal communication started to change in the early 1980s. The process climaxed in 2000, when the then bishop of Bilbao Ricardo Blazquez asked the victims of ETA terror to forgive the Basque hierarchy the lack of sufficiently clear stand, ABC 22 January 2001, available here

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