José Manuel Gallegos Rocafull (b. Cádiz, August 21, 1895 - d. Mexico, 1963)[1] was a Spanish priest, canon of the Cathedral of Cordoba, theologian and philosopher.
Residing in the House Conciliar de Madrid, he met the future cardinal, Vicente Enrique y Tarancon, a key figure in the Spanish transition to democracy.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, he resided in Madrid, having recently completed his doctorate in philosophy under the direction of José Ortega y Gasset.
As a member of Catholic Action, he remained steadfastly loyal to the government of the Second Republic and quickly began a remarkable work of the legal defense against the rebels.
He also criticized the killing of priests, but defended the innocence of the Popular Front and the Republican administration of those crimes, which he attributed always popular uncontrolled reactions during the first months of the war: When seeing the violence committed against persons or property devoted to worship, they persist in attributing the Popular Front Government Persecuted deliberate policy, seems to forget that in the Basque Country, where the enthusiasm to fight the rebels is incomparable However, priests and religious respect and enjoy the most absolute freedom, and worship continues with the diligence and devotion that are there to traditional ... Diario ABC, Madrid, edition of February 5, 1937 That same year (1937) he was suspended a divinis by Bishop Adolfo Pérez Muñoz.