The Role of Religion in the North American Intervention in Spain during the Second World War

This article explores transnational networks within confessional circles and their emerging influence on North American cultural diplomacy. The analysis enables a more accurate interpretation of the development of the Franco dictatorship during this international conflict as well as of the blurred borders between possibilism and dissidence. Some Falangists inclined towards the Nazi ideology regarded collaboration with the allies as an act of treason. However, both the Catholic hierarchy and the authoritarian regime not only tolerated but also discretely encouraged the development of networks between Spanish and North American Catholics as a viable way of guaranteeing institutional survival.