Ivan Rohloff reports that as far back as 1889, Pope Leo XIII set the stage for the Cursillo in his encyclical "Rerum Novarum." Leo urged the formation of a network of clerically led Catholic associations for social, benevolent, economic, and political purposes. His successors, Pope Pius X and Pius XI, wrote about Catholic Action. The [...]

The Concordat with Roma had a profound effect upon the Cursillo Movement. It left the movement in a position of being unable to confront the government and unable to take strong positions on political and social issues. Another edit of Franco's government that would have future influence on the Cursillistas (members of the Cursillo) occurred [...]

Pope Pius XI and his advisors were quite surprised at the fury of the anticlerical persecution. However, they had been watching the situation in Spain develop since 1931 and did expect conflict, but not with the anticlerical fury as described earlier in this work. The Holy See did make numerous protests, both public and private, [...]