Posted on 03/08/2009 5:04:58 AM PDT by GonzoII
announced on Friday that he had discovered a message from Pius XII that ordered monasteries to give refuge to Jews.
.- The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See on Friday said that Pope Benedict XVI will not visit Israels Holocaust Museum which accuses Pope Pius XII of inaction on the Holocaust. The news comes as a researcherDuring the Popes May 8-15 trip, the pontiff will attend a memorial ceremony at the Yad Vasdhem site but will not visit the museum itself, Ambassador Mordechai Levi told the Italian news agency ANSA. Instead, the Pope, accompanied by Israeli President Shimon Peres, will light a remembrance fire and make a speech.
A caption of a Pope Pius XII exhibit at the museum reads:
Even when reports about the murder of Jews reached the Vatican, the pope did not protest, either verbally or in writing. In December 1942, [Pius XII] abstained from signing the Allied declaration condemning the extermination of the Jews. When Jews were deported from Rome to Auschwitz, the pope did not intervene.
"The pope maintained his neutral position throughout the war, with the exception of appeals to the rulers of Hungary and Slovakia toward its end. His silence and the absence of guidelines obliged churchmen throughout Europe to decide on their own how to react."
Despite Pope Pius XIIs wartime actions which saved many Jews from Nazi persecution, he has been persistently attacked by some critics who adopt the same line of attack as the caption in Yad Vashem.
The Holy Sees representative to Israel has objected to the caption, as have other Catholics. Ambassador Levis comments came after reports that the exhibit caption might be changed.
A debate at Yad Vashem will reportedly take place on Sunday and Monday. The gathering will look at Pius XII in light of the latest historical evidence.
Organizers said the conference will see if there is something new or something which has to be completely revised because of new research, ANSA reports.
Recently, Fr. Peter Gumpel, the promoter of Pope Pius XIIs cause of beatification, revealed a note by Pope Pius XII from the archives of a Roman monastery which directly ordered monasteries to shelter persecuted Jews.
The Holy Father wishes to save his children, the Jews as well, and orders that the Monasteries provide hospitality to these persecuted people, the November 1943 note reads.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, Fr. Gumpel said there are numerous oral testimonies from priests, nuns and others about the Popes actions during World War II, but Pius XIIs detractors often demand written evidence.
Fr. Gumpel argued that it would have been dangerous to commit such orders to paper in a time of war and hostility.
He said the rediscovered note could be useful in countering those who persistently denigrate Pius XII and attack the Catholic Church.
Yad Vashems controversial caption appeared in 2005 when a new museum was unveiled. In 2007, Vatican Ambassador to Israel Archbishop Antonio Franco refused to attend the annual Holocaust remembrance ceremony at Yad Vashem because of the caption.
.............so all those abortion supporting Americans are already excommunicated? Why are the priests giving them communion and the bishops letting it go?
Ignorance, fear, hubris, sloth, love of transient things, the same reasons for any sin I suppose.
Was waiting for you to teach us more about automatic excommunication when the church apparently doesn’t believe in it anymore.
The Church teaches against murder, theft, lying and a host of other sins and yet people, including Priests and Bishops continue to sin. Don’t let lack of instruction, poor enforcement or lax observation of Church teaching deceive you into thinking that the real effects of ignoring same are not felt, eventually, when it counts the most.
Not deceived by any of it. Wondering about the church’s duplicitous behavior.
And how many of those who attended mass were refused communion? Who was stricken from the rolls of Church membership? Which Nazis were not given a Catholic funeral if their families asked for it?
By contrast, the Church's condemnations of Communism were clear and unequivocal, for example (from Godman p105,):
"the entire teaching of Communism about human society is incompatible with the true Christ; they say that Communism and Christianity are at odds and irreconcilable: no one can be, at one and the same time, an upright Catholic and a sincere Communist..." --1934.
And voices within the Church were just as unequivocal against Nazism, for example, head of the Fulda, Germany, Bishops Conference, Cardinal Bertram, in 1936 warned (Godman p110):
"In leading positions of the National Socialist Party the spirit of Bolshevism as hatred against Christianity, and especially against the Catholic Church, is so acute that I have repeatedly remonstrated with the government that the publications and illustrations of the official journals of Nazi organizations are worse and more disgusting than they have been Russia. The spirit of the leadership is similar to the sounds of official organs."
But despite such warnings, the Church was not as aggressive against Nazism. My analogy is this: where the Vatican threw Communists out of school, at worst it gave Nazis a rap on the knuckles, and too often simply ignored their bad-boy misbehaviors.
It was even suggested in 1938 that Adolf Hitler himself should be officially excommunicated. But who do you suppose the suggestion came from? It was from formerly one of Hitler's strongest opponents, but soon to become his hapless ally: the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini.
Of course, the Vatican did nothing of the sort in 1938, or any year after.
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