The “integralism is fascism” debate is a waste of time. There’s no need to cede the ground to the historically ideologized talking points of the left. The principles of justice and order stand on their own merits, as does the historical defense of the Church against her enemies.

Integralism, as irreformably articulated by the Magisterium, stands on its own merits, as do the pronouncements of the Church’s hierarchy on fraught historical questions like the Spanish Civil War.

It may be an amusing game to try to pry open the epistemic closure around the term “fascism,” but as these agonies prove time & again, the left has little concern with the truth of things, even with addressing the actual argument, either at the level of principle or of history.

When a disagreement results in Zmirakian reductiones ad Hitlerum, the conversation becomes pointless and the objectors, best ignored. This applies both to current events and to history. Maybe Twitter as a medium is the cause of this inability to converse, but here we are.

E.g., imagine thinking that the burden of proof lies against a crusade in opposition to the Spanish Republic, a regime that created more martyrs in 6 months than all the Roman emperors in 3 centuries. Especially when virtually all the Spanish Bishops, and Pius XII, condemned it.

More than that, imagine thinking that the issue is such that an accusation of “fasciscm” against those who agree with those Bishops and that Pope can decide the issue. This is a puerile and worthless line of discussion, though historically common among the left. Best to carry on.

For those who care about the Church’s view of the Spanish Civil War, I invite you to read Cardinal Gomá’s letter to José Antonio Aguirre (1937), the collective letter of the Spanish Episcopate to the Bishops of the world (1937), and Pius XII’s speech “Con inmenso gozo” (1939).