Yes, it is a tough battle of perceptions. Many of the communist inspired messages on World War II worked their way into popular opinions. The Communists effectively labeled the Church pro Nazi and Fransisco Franco as a Fascist. When the exact opposite is true. The Pope hid 5000 Jews in his summer residence, while the Church throughout Europe resisted the evil of Nazis. Meanwhile, Franco, a devout Catholic, led the Catholic Carlists and Falangists against the Communists who were engaged in an all out war against the Catholic Church. - William Carroll wrote a great book on the Spanish Civil War entitled “The Last Crusade.”
“The Last Crusade” is a great book that should be read by any serious Catholic. While it focuses mostly on the first year of the war, it really tells the story our government would never tell us. It also explains the preference of many Europeans for fascism as opposed to Communism on the eve of WWII - they had seen the brutality and class warfare of the communists, and it terrified the middle and upper classes of Europe...