Through the 16th and 17th centuries Spain hugely increased its wealth and power through colonial conquest. Nevertheless, although under a single monarchy, Spain remained "a confederation of loosely connected States" with "no real political unity". The Catholic Church in Spain, upholding and upheld by the State and with the Inquisition enforcing religious orthodoxy, was much more important as a unifying factor. The power of the Church began to wane during the 18th century as the Bourbon monarchy sought a more centralised State. The 19th-century liberal governments continued the centralising process, but encountered increasing resistance in the regions and failed to "invent tradition" as a new focus for national feeling: an annual celebration on May 2 recalling national resistance to the Napoleonic invasion did not excite much national fervour, and the religious identity of Spain still predominated over the secular one when Franco came to power. "In comparison with France, the centralizing spirit of Spain was very mild" and even Franco did not succeed permanently in making Spain "a culturally homogeneous nation".