04 May 1938,
The Vatican slipped in favor of Franco, praising the “National Crusade”. At the beginning of the war of 36 he did not position himself, although the Francoists thought that they opposed the enemies of the Catholic Church, for Pope Pius XI was against the same war. In June 1938, relations with Franco were fully normalized and in 1953 Franco was awarded the Supreme Order of Christ for the services provided to the Church.
Source:
@Mugi_Vd (Twitter - 4 May 2021).