A specter is haunting Europe, and this time it is fascism. The rise of far-right parties, nostalgic for European fascist dictators—such as Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco—has led to a resurgence of historical revisionism and the whitewashing of dictatorships. In France, a mass held this November in honor of Marshal Pétain, the French head of state during the Vichy regime and a collaborator with the Nazis during the occupation, has caused a political earthquake. In Spain, the message of the right wing, and especially that of the far-right Vox party, which downplays Francoism and the thousands executed, the torture, and the exile, has borne fruit. The CIS (Spanish Center for Sociological Research) recently published a survey revealing that two out of ten young Spaniards believe the dictatorship was positive. Just a few days earlier, the former king published a statement in France. his memoir in which he praised the dictator without reservations and argued that "almost forty years of our history cannot be erased as if nothing happened."

The mass called in Paris to honor Francisco Franco and the founder of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the dictator's death, will not take place. The organizing body, the Franco-Hispanic Circle (CFH), a far-right, pro-fascist association and admirer of the Falange, decided to cancel it due to "media pressure exerted on places of worship," according to a statement. The news had generated surprise and outrage in France, where most of the major newspapers had reported on the events. The Communist Party had even called for the event to be prevented. "This mass must be banned," the leader of the communists in Paris, Ian Brossat, had written in X.

In France, the country where thousands of Republicans went into exile after the Spanish Civil War, there are also those nostalgic for Francoism. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Francisco Franco's death this Thursday, the Notre-Dame de la Consolation chapel, located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, very close to the Spanish embassy, will host a mass on November 26th in homage to Franco and the founder of the Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. After the religious service, a fraternal luncheon will be held for all participants.