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(#9) The Payment Plan
In many cases even when a family could afford to buy a child they couldn't pay for it all up front so a payment plan was established. When Juan Luis Moreno's father confessed on his deathbed that Moreno had been purchased from a priest he realized that his annual family trips to Zaragoza weren't vacations - they were a contractual obligation. Moreno told the BBC that his adoptive father knew exactly what he was doing and that the church didn't even try to hide its scam. "My dad was given a choice: boy or girl. They put it bluntly: This was a market for babies." Moreno said that his adoptive father claims that the going price for a child at the time was twice the price of their family home.
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(#2) It All Began In Post-War Spain
Following the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) General Francisco Franco became the head of the rebel Nationalist government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Under his rule Spain became a hermit nation similar to that of modern day North Korea. Anyone who fought against the Nationalists during the war or who held opposing viewpoints were punished - this includes anyone who wanted to have a child. These people were known as "undesirables" and Franco believed that anyone with an opposing viewpoint or who lived beneath a specific wage line wasn't fit to raise a child. The task of taking babies away from single mothers and families who didn't fit into Franco's idea of ideal citizens was given to a network of Catholic priests and nuns who did their jobs efficiently and without asking any questions.
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(#7) Priests Were Helping People Fake Pregnancies
When you think of the Catholic church stealing children and selling them to the highest bidder, you might imagine a nun running down a hallway with a baby, freshly ripped from its mother, and handing it off to the highest bidder. Well, that definitely happened a few times, but in many cases the church prepped parents for their child and helped them fake a pregnancy to keep friends and family from asking questions.
Speaking to the BBC, an 89-year-old woman named Ines Perez admitted that a priest helped her work out a fake pregnancy before she received a baby girl in 1969. She said, "The priest gave me padding to wear on my stomach."
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(#10) No One Is Going To Get In Trouble For This
Despite believing that what they were doing was for the greater good of the Spanish people, General Franco and his regime knew it was wrong. After Franco's death a series of amnesty laws were passed so that any crimes that took place while he was in power would never be examined in a court of law. Some prosecutors have decided to look into the thefts on a case-by-case basis, but that's easier said than done. While there are some cases to go through, many children who were kidnapped and sold to families have decided not to come forward for fear their adoptive parents are seen as criminals. One person, a nun named Sister Maria Gomez, was brought to court for kidnapping but she refused to speak in court.
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(#1) The Accused Didn't Face Charges Until 2018
Even though victims Juan Luis Moreno and Antonio Barroso brought the issue to light in 2011, it wasn't until August 2018 that alleged perpetrators faced charges. Inés Madrigal, born in 1969 at San Ramon clinic in Madrid, claims a doctor kidnapped her and gave her away without her biological mother's permission. On August 14, 2018, her accused kidnapper, obstetrician Eduardo Vela, stood trial and denied the allegations, telling a three-judge panel that he "never gave a girl to anybody." In 2012, Madrigal's adoptive mother (who passed in 2016) told CNN Vela gave her the baby.
The judges charged Vela with the illegal detention of a minor and forging a public document. Prosecutors are pushing for an 11-year jail sentence. Vela still denies "stealing" Madrigal and is pursuing a full acquittal.
Over 2,000 people filed stolen children suits with prosecutors.
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(#8) How To Sneak A Baby Out Of A Maternity Ward
Even though the Catholic church was working in tandem with Spain's government it still shouldn't have been so easy to steal a bunch of babies. Many priests and nuns who carried out the thefts went through a ridiculous series of steps to ensure that they weren't caught. Priests and nuns would first falsify a birth certificate stating that the child had been born to the family who was paying for the baby, and then they would usually concoct a lie about why they were handing off such a small child before pushing the family out of the hospital - thus decreasing the risk of anyone being caught. One woman who received a baby from the Catholic church claims that she was told her adopted child was born premature, but that in reality it had probably just been born moments before. She claims that the doctor told her to put the baby in her car "between two hot water bottles."
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About This Tool
Since the 1940s, a “massive baby theft case” has erupted in Spain. The Franco dictatorship has conspired with the Catholic group to systematically kidnap and sell a large number of newborn babies. After Franco's death, this profit-driven human trafficking system still operated until the end of the 1980s. These abducted children are called "Spanish orphans."
According to incomplete statistics, a total of nearly 300,000 people were trafficked at the time. The Spanish government has always regarded this crime as "forbidden", and only in recent years has it begun to recognize some victims. The random tool introduced 11 details about the Catholic Church stolen more than 300,000 babies.
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