Posted on 01/24/2010 1:32:01 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o
The controversy over Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II was recently reignited when... Riccardo Pacifici, president of Rome's Jewish community, told [Pope Benedict] : "The silence of Pius XII before the Shoah still hurts because something should have been done." [snip]
To what extent, if any, does the evidence back up these allegations, which have been repeated since the early 1960s?
On April 4, 1933, Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, the Vatican secretary of state, instructed the papal nuncio in Germany to see what he could do to oppose the Nazis.
On behalf of Pope Pius XI, Cardinal Pacelli drafted an encyclical, entitled "Mit brennender Sorge" ("With Burning Anxiety"), that condemned Nazi doctrines and persecution of the Catholic Church. The encyclical was smuggled into Germany and read from Catholic pulpits on March 21, 1937.
[snip] March 26, 1937, Hans Dieckhoff, an official in the German foreign ministry, wrote that the "encyclical contains attacks of the severest nature upon the German government, calls upon Catholic citizens to rebel against the authority of the state, and therefore signifies an attempt to endanger internal peace."
[snip] On March 4, Joseph Goebbels, the German propaganda minister, wrote: "the Fuehrer... is considering whether we should abrogate the concordat with Rome in light of Pacelli's election as pope."
[snip] After studying Pius XII's 1942 Christmas message, the Reich Central Security Office concluded: "In a manner never known before the pope has repudiated the National Socialist New European Order ... Here he is virtually accusing the German people of injustice toward the Jews and makes himself the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals."
[snip] Perhaps only in a backward world such as ours would the one man who did more than any other wartime leader to help Jews and other Nazi victims, receive the greatest condemnation.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Nice to see this.
Move along...no story here. < /sarcasm>
Guess who defend this Pope Hareetz newspaper one top leftist newspaper in Israel
That tell you something
The kindest thing that can be said about Pope Pius XII, was that he was a mediocrity. And that is if you are in a generous mood.
It looks as if it’s a guest writer rather than one of their regular reporters, but it’s still a good sign that they invited him to write this or agreed to publish it.
I think that religious Jews and Catholics can come to an understanding on issues like this one. It’s the leftist secularists who have been pushing this nonsense about Pope Pius XII, in order to undermine both Catholics and religious Jews. They want to drive wedges between the various religious groups—Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish—in order to weaken them. It’s the usual left-wing propaganda technique. Keep repeating a lie; divide and conquer.
I read article on Hareetz wire just now LOL!
When it seems that there is a concerted effort to divide the Judeo-Chrisian world, the question becomes, “Who benefits?”
I can think of a large militant religious group that would benefit by weakening any/all of the Jews, Catholics and Protestants. And the secular socialists/communists, as well...
Reading the Holy Scriptures, we know how the story ends, but we are certainly stronger, united, and can together help protect the innocents.
As your comment suggests, “who benefits” and who is responsible for doing it may be two separate groups. It is the left wing secularists who are working so hard to divide Catholics from Jews and Protestants, Catholics, and Jews from one another, because they THINK they will profit from the diminishment of religion in our country and in the West.
That is a false hope, of course. A western world without religion would quickly decay and fall to pieces. And the most obvious beneficiaries of that collapse, who would come in and pick up the pieces, are the Muslims.
We see the left cozying up to the jihadists constantly, because they hate their own country and its traditional values. They little realize what the consequences would be if they succeeded. They would be the first to go.
Yes, opposed by some mediocrities:
"The election of Cardinal Pacelli is not accepted with favor in Germany because he was always opposed to Nazism." The day after Pius XII's election (March 3, 1939) in the Nazi newspaper, Berliner Morganpost
And supported by other mediocrities:
"Above all, we acknowledge the Supreme Pontiff and the religious men and women who, executing the directives of the Holy Father, recognized the persecuted as their brothers and, with great abnegation, hastened to help them, disregarding the terrible dangers to which they were exposed." September 1945, Dr. Joseph Nathan, representing the Italian Hebrew Commission.
"We share in the grief of humanity. …When fearful martyrdom came to our people, the voice of the Pope was raised for its victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out about great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace." Golda Meir, in 1958, at the death of Pope Pius XII
and
"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing truth. …The Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom." Albert Einstein, in Time magazine (December 23, 1940)
Good points. Thanks for clarifying my fuzzier remarks.
Right now, the secular socialists/communists are making temporary truce with the Moslems, having partially understood the statement, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” without realizing that “friend” has a strictly situational meaning.
The fact that he lived through the entire Second World War living like a king is all I need to know.
If he had been jailed I would have been his STRONGEST supporter. He wasn’t and I have no respect for him.
I am not sure this is worth debating as you won’t be changing my mind, nor will I change yours.
Perhaps need is not the proper verb here.
Ping test.
You wrote:
“The kindest thing that can be said about Pope Pius XII, was that he was a mediocrity.”
Saving thousands of Jews is not mediocrity. Perhaps your life is mediocrity. Mine most certainly is compared to all the things Pius XII did. No one who knows anything about Pius XII can call him a mediocrity.
Certainly the Jews didn’t think Pius XII was a mediocrity: http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/PIUS12GS.HTM
John has a long mustache
Do you know what a mediocrity is? In terms of Popes, Pius XII was a mediocrity. That is not so bad as you might think.
You wrote:
“The fact that he lived through the entire Second World War living like a king is all I need to know.”
You need to know more. He gave up his house to shelter Jews - hundreds of them. Did you know that? Or would you file that under “want to Know” and therefore think it useless info?
“I am not sure this is worth debating as you won’t be changing my mind, nor will I change yours.”
The difference is we actually know what we’re talking about because we’ve all done research. Your attitude is that you only “need” to know a few things. Maybe the issue isn’t changing your mind. Maybe the issue is opening it.
You wrote:
“Do you know what a mediocrity is?”
Yeah, I may be looking at his posts right now.
“In terms of Popes, Pius XII was a mediocrity.”
According to what standard? He published great and important encyclicals, saved up to 860,000 Jews, was beloved by the world’s Christians, and respected by non-Catholics for his service to God and man. How does that make him mediocre as a pope?
“That is not so bad as you might think.”
You’re not making any sense.
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