MADRID, Spain -- Spanish priests, monks and nuns on Friday asked forgiveness for past cruelties, in line with similar apologies being made by Roman Catholic Church authorities ahead of 2000, a holy year.
"There are shadows in our past and our present," said Jesus Maria Lecea, president of the Conference of Spanish Religious Workers that represents 72,000 male and female religious workers.Speaking after the group's annual meeting in Madrid, Lecea apologized for those who acted "as accomplices in oppressive and dictatorial systems."
He drew particular attention to "those religious workers who worked closely with the Inquisition and the monks who were soldiers." He also asked forgiveness for "machismo against nuns."
The apology by Spanish religious workers follows recent requests for pardon from Pope John Paul II for historical wrongdoing.
The pope has apologized for crimes committed by Catholics against Protestants during the counter Reformation, for involvement in the slave trade and for insufficient resistance to the Holocaust.