As no Afrikaans literary journal dared to publish it, Uys Krige's "Lied van die fascistiese bomwerpers" appeared in the "Forum", a Left-leaning literary journal published in English. Krige's poem elicited vehement condemnations from both extreme Afrikaner nationalists and from the Catholic Church in South Africa, which "protested vehemently" and called Krige's poem sacrilegious. Krige responded by asking whether South African Catholics approved of the destruction of what he considered the lawful Spanish Government or in the ongoing White Terror by the Nationalist side.