Posted on 12/19/2009 8:41:45 AM PST by Steelfish
Popes Move Closer to Sainthood
By RACHEL DONADIO December 19, 2009
ROME — Pope Benedict XVI moved two of his predecessors a step closer to sainthood on Saturday, confirming the “heroic virtues” of John Paul II and, in a surprise move, those of Pius XII, the pope during World War II.
Pope Benedict XVI was greeted by the members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints audience on Saturday at the Vatican. After John Paul’s death in April 2005, Benedict bypassed a traditional waiting period to put the much beloved pope on a fast-track to sainthood. At John Paul’s funeral, crowds at Saint Peter’s Square chanted “santo subito,” or “sainthood now.”
Pius XII, however, has been a point of contention between the Vatican and some Jewish groups, who say he did not do enough to stop the Holocaust. They have called on the Vatican to open the sealed archives from Pius’s papacy, from 1939 to 1958, for examination by scholars.
On Saturday, the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants called the decision on Pius “profoundly insensitive and thoughtless” and said it would cause “an inevitable blow” to interfaith relations.
“Pairing the announcement on Pius — who remained publicly silent during the Holocaust — with that on John Paul II, himself a victim of the Nazis, is a particularly disturbing and callous act,” the group added.
Benedict has said that Pius worked “secretly and silently” to help save Jews. Although a Vatican committee confirmed his “heroic virtues” in 2007, Benedict had asked for time for reflection, which many saw as a diplomatic effort aimed at calming polemics.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Your conclusion that he could have done more is supported by hindsight and probably knowledge that he didn’t have. He did the best he could since he was weighing unknown risk and also concerns we’re not privy to.
Re: canonization - since there’s a set protocol, I doubt you need to worry about ‘going that far’, whatever that means.
they loathe Christianity...especially the conservative kind....and they work overtime at it everywhere.
they make if very difficult for decent Jews...not quite as hard as being a decent black but close
You wrote:
“I think we have enough saints now,...”
I hope you mean ‘canonized saints’? Even then you’re comment makes no sense. Let’s say we have 10,000 more canonized saints by the end of 2010. How does that effect you?
“...and I think the saints should come from the “people” class.”
1) Pius XII and John Paul II were definitely popes of the people.
2) If you know of a layperson who should be canonized then go to your bishop and get the formal process going. The reason why clergy are often more easily canonized as saints is that they were known by many, many people while most lay people later canonized were not so well known.
Ditto.
That’s your opinion. Unfortunately, when the bishops did speak out against Hitler, the chief result was that more people were sent to the death camps.
Roosevelt, unfortunately, had an antisemitic streak. The most notorious instance has been novelized in Katherine Anne Porter’s Ship of Fools, when Roosevelt refused to allow Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler into the U.S.
Roosevelt and Churchill were perfectly well aware of the death camps, but they had other priorities. And both of them tended to be anti-Catholic as well as anti-semitic in any case. Churchill was only with difficulty prevented from bombing the Vatican during the Italian campaign.
It’s a one way street.
Hmmm...They won't beatify Pius XII..but they, in the U.S., certainly have beatified obamao...
Roosevelt, yes (though I suspect even he would have, albeit begrudgingly, supported saving the Jews, if for no other reason than to avoid ticking off his Jewish electorate back at home and thus avoid the possibility of losing the election during the war or even before then, had Wise actually told him instead of hid the information). I’m not entirely sure about Churchill, though. I heard the full version of his speech had him make clear that while there were Jews who were largely composed of the Reds, the Reds themselves were huge anti-semites, even pointedly stating that Trotsky’s Jewish heritage was the sole reason why he was not the dictator of the USSR, despite contributing massively towards the Communist efforts.
And yeah, the bishops had a bit of a reason to avoid talking. Especially if the reason amounted to laying low and ensuring more of their flock didn’t get killed. I have a bit more reason to forgive them for being silent over the likes of that sell-out Rabbi Wise. Even if I weren’t Catholic, I still would have said that.
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