Posted on 12/31/2004 12:55:30 PM PST by Almab
Pope Pius XII told French churches not to return Jewish war babies By Israel Insider staff and partners December 31, 2004
The Vatican instructed the Catholic church in France not to return baptized Jewish children to their families after the Holocaust, according to a letter dated November 20, 1946, published Tuesday in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
Many such children had been placed by Jewish parents in the Church's care to protect them from deportation by the German. After the war, the Pope instructed that they should be returned to surviving parents only if they had not been baptized.
A letter containing these instructions was sent by the Papal Holy Office to Angelo Roncalli -- who later became Pope John XXIII -- who was at the time Pius' representative in Paris. Roncalli had a reputation for favoring Jews during his previous service as the Holy See's envoy to Istanbul. In Paris he helped many Jews escape to the Jewish State in formation. He reportedly disobeyed Vatican instructions by helping to return Jewish minors to their families.
Roncalli's methods in defying the papal orders are not detailed in the diaries. However, one of the first things he did when he became pope in 1960 was to place a repudiation of anti-Semitism on the agenda of the Second Vatican Council.
"Please note that this decision has been approved by the Holy Father," the Vatican letter emphasizes, referring to Pope Pius XII.
Pius sought to restrict the number of children the church returned to their families by, among other things, ordering that baptized children "may not be entrusted to institutions that are not in a position to guarantee them a Christian upbringing."
According to Pope Pius, Jewish orphans were to be treated as "fair game" for the Church to convert. "Regarding those children who no longer have parents and for whom the Church has been responsible, it is not advisable that they be abandoned by the Church itself or entrusted to persons who have no rights whatsoever over them ? unless they are able to take responsibility over themselves. This obviously applies to children who have not been baptized."
On July 19, 1946, he sent a letter to the chief rabbi in Israel, Isaac Herzog (father of Israeli president Haim Herzog), in which he gives him permission "to use his [Roncalli's] authority so these children can return to their original environment."
Amos Luzzato, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, reacting to the revelation, said that "The documents indicate that the Vatican completely ignored the Holocaust and murder of Jews. There is a sticking to theological arguments as though this were an ordinary situation, when in practice these children were not entrusted to churches to convert to Christianity but to save them from murder."
The publication of the letter to Roncalli is expected to make it difficult for the Vatican to ignore accusations that Pius did little to combat Nazi persecution of Jews and even helped Nazi war criminals to evade justice. They may hamper the campaign by current Pope John Paul II to lay the groundwork for beatifying Pius XII.
Ping
Dubious source. And I say this as a critic of the Vatican.
"Regarding those children who no longer have parents and for whom the Church has been responsible, it is not advisable that they be abandoned by the Church itself or entrusted to persons who have no rights whatsoever over them ? unless they are able to take responsibility over themselves. This obviously applies to children who have not been baptized."
I don't see what the problem is. Having saved the lives of these children, the Pope was concerned for their welfare, both for their worldly care and for their souls. This means much more than the meaningless platitudes and fatuous "apologies" of later Popes.
Hitler's Pope?
Adolf Hitler made the observation that "[Pius] is the only human being who has always contradicted me and who has never obeyed me."
Guess Hitler didn't reduce the Jewish population enough to satisfy him.
Why bring up Bullsheet like this? It was 60 years ago. You wait till Christmas holidays to drag up some crap on a dead Pope.
You scraped this off the sides of your garbage can.
Newbie. What do you get out of posting articles like this? Inquiring minds want to know.
This is a dubious source but, if true, what do you mean you "don't see what the problem is?" You don't see the problem in not returning children to their parents or families? If you think that a Catholic should have a right to a kid over the kid's parents and family, just because the family's Jewish, than that is sick. Denying Holocaust survivors the right to raise their children because they are Jews is awful.
I'll take Ms. Meir's word of yours any day. Now knock off the slander.
Read the article. We're talking about orphans, i.e., their parents are, technically speaking, dead. Hitler's the one who wanted to unite them with their parents. The Pope was looking out for orphaned Catholic children. If you have a problem with that, so be it. I don't.
"Pius sought to restrict the number of children the church returned to their families by, among other things, ordering that baptized children "may not be entrusted to institutions that are not in a position to guarantee them a Christian upbringing."
Who do you think has more right to care for a child... his brother, uncle or grandfather ... or his foster home while his parents, brother, uncle or grandfather were being systimatically tortured and murdered.
Hell yeah I have a problem with not returning children to their families just because the families are Jewish. Seems like Pope John XXIII had a problem with it to. What the hell is your beef? That Catholic foster parents should raise kids forever just because their families were unjustly hauled away and tortured?
She may not have had certain details.
"Catholic foster parents should raise kids forever just because their families were unjustly hauled away and tortured?"
Not "just because their families were unjustly hauled away and tortured", but because their families are dead. Under those circumstances, yes, I would prefer that those children be raised by Catholic foster parents. If that offends you, tough.
Another thread same topic different source.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1310176/posts?page=26
Returning troll, banned.
.
“For he who lives more lives than one,
More deaths than one must die.”
Perhaps. Or maybe she avoided certain literature written by people with an axe to grind, there are so many.....in other religions, not to mention the Communists.
“For he who lives more lives than one,
More deaths than one must die.”
Amen.
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