Too in depth for a potted history for me I'm sorry, the church was in bed with Franco furthering it's tentacles of power  under the guise of religion........as usual, and Jose Escriva as a faithful servant was the vehicle in my estimation.  The correspondence between the two of them freely  mentioned on their site confirmed that. It was written when the Treaty of Rome  was established the precursor to the European Union in 1957 and activated in 1958.
Lluis Company's was devout Catholic but anti-fascist and paid for it with his life.  Ironically the now legitimately elected  leader, [as was Lluis Companys],  that speaks volumes  threatened  with the same fate.
A brief interview on *BBC World Service programme,- Witness Lluis Companys-Martyr of Catalan Nationalism may help to give you an insight.
Also.
* 75 years after execution, no reparation from Spanish government to democratically elected Catalan president.
That's just scratching the surface,  I hope you take it further for yourself