Posted on 04/22/2009 5:50:48 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Pope Pius XII, who led the Roman Catholic Church during the Second World War, told leading bishops that if he was ever captured by the Nazis his resignation would take immediate effect and that the Church leadership would move to another country.
The bishops are believed to have planned to travel to a neutral country, most likely Portugal, where they would elect a new Pope, reports The Telegraph.
It is known that Hitler considered kidnapping the Pope, but Pius XII's considerations only came to light when records were found in the secret Vatican archives by Peter Gumpel, a Jesuit priest responsible for researching whether the wartime pope should be made a saint.
According to Gumpel, “Pius said 'if they want to arrest me they will have to drag me from the Vatican' … the person who would leave the [Vatican] under these conditions would not be Pius XII but Eugenio Pacelli [the Pope’s name before his election]."
Gumpel said, “It would have been disastrous if the Church had been left without an authoritative leader".
"Pius wouldn't leave voluntarily. He had been invited repeatedly to go to Portugal or Spain or the United States but he felt he could not leave his diocese under these severe and tragic circumstances."
On 6 September 1943, just after Italy signed an armistice with the Allies, German forces occupied Rome.
SS General Karl Otto Wolff was ordered to "occupy as soon as possible the Vatican, secure the archives and art treasures and transfer the Pope, together with the Curia so that they cannot fall into the hands of the Allies and exert a political influence."
The plan was never carried out, however, as, General Wolff believed the action would alienate Catholics across the world, according to some historians.
Pope Pius XII has been seen as a controversial figure, with some historians claiming that he was anti-semitic and was supportive of the Nazi regime. However, as more documents and evidence have come to light, the role of the Pope and of the Church in saving Jews from the Nazis has become more recognised.
Some historians argue that the reason Hitler wanted to capture the Pope was because he was concerned Pius XII would continue speaking against the way the Nazis treated the Jews.
We have people right here in America who wish harm on the Pope.
That the nazis would consider kidnapping a Pope is not surprising at all.
Wow!
Nothing like taking the steam out of a kidnapping.
Is there a biblical reference for this? I believe David, Abraham and many other of God’s prophets were imprisoned, yet remained God’s voice on earth. To me, it seems pretty black and white .... you either trust in the Lord, or you don’t.
“Is there a biblical reference for this? I believe David, Abraham and many other of God’s prophets were imprisoned, yet remained God’s voice on earth.”
To call the pope “God's voice on earth” perhaps inflates just what the pope is.
The pope is the human governor of the Church on earth. He governs in the stead of Jesus Christ, as a steward. We pray that God gives him grace and the Holy Spirit to help him in his vocation, but beyond that help given by God, the pope is just an ordinary sinner.
It is true that the Holy Spirit protects him from teaching error in an authoritative manner to the universal Church, but that's something of a negative charism. The promise of the Holy Spirit is that he won't teach what is untrue authoritatively and universally. The promise is not that he will teach what is true. The promise is not that he might not err in his capacity as a private theologian. And the promise is certainly not that he is “God's voice on earth.”
He is merely the first minister of God's government on earth.
Like any first minister of any government, should he become incapacitated, it isn't unreasonable that he would step down from his office.
sitetest
I'm on my third yearly reading of the bible and I'm going to say that neither David nor Abraham were ever imprisoned. David was of course on the run for many years after he was annointed king of Israel. King Saul was extremely jealous and wanted him dead so David and his men had to stay on the move and hide out in caves.
Quite so. Although many of the prophets - Elijah, Amos, Isaiah - were hounded, exiled, or variously in trouble, the only one I can think of being “imprisoned” was Jeremiah.
I stand corrected.
However, we do have these folk who saw some jail time:
Daniel, Joseph, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, James, John (James and John were imprisoned and put to death by King Herod), Peter, Paul and Silas.
I am unaware of any of these prophets, who upon being imprisoned, declared that they were not prophets while in captivity. Now, I can understand where the church could say that any edict issued by a captive (or turtured or otherwise incapacited Pope) would be ineffectual.
Which Joseph is that?
“So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the jail, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail. But The Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.” (Genesis 39:20-21 NASB)
I don’t see it this way...they didn’t want Hitler to use the Pope for propaganda purposes is the more likely reason.
Oh, ok, Joseph the son of Jacob.
Yes, first his brothers sold him into slavery. Then he was imprisoned in Egypt after being falsely accused of messing with his master’s wife, Mrs. Potipher. She had the hots for him but he spurned her so she accused him of advances.
He spent several years there until he was brought to Pharoh to interpret his dreams.
But...but.....I thought Pope Pius loved the Nazis.
Pharaoh
I understand the intentions, but I also understand that the bible issues commandments. Isnt’ there a story about Peter denying Christ 3x before the rooster crows? Isnt’ there a warning about what will happen to us during our judgement, if we deny Christ? Generally speaking, the bible takes a dim view on this sort of thing.
Biblically speaking, there are no Biblical precidents for this sort of action; and most certainly no precident for setting a SOP on this sort of event. Prisons in biblical times were far move harsh and violent than what we have in modern times.
The Pope wasn’t talking about “denying Christ” in any way, shape or form. He was talking about resigning his office so as to deny Hitler the prize of having the Pope of Rome as his prisoner.
Popes can abdicate and some have because of age and illness.
The office of "Pope" is different from the office of "Prophet". While being "Pope" may at times require "prophetic" action, the job is best summed up as "teach, rule, and sanctify". While Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli can easily teach, sanctify, and even prophesy from captivity within a Nazi prison, "ruling" as Pope Pius XII would be effectively impossible. Furthermore, by resigning the office of Pope, he would deny the Nazi enemy the victory of having "imprisoned the Pope". It was a clever move that somewhat pulled the Nazis teeth.
This is pretty old news, I think I heard the same info at least four years ago.
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