Posted on 06/25/2013 7:12:18 AM PDT by marshmallow
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A Jewish leader expressed concern to Pope Francis on Monday over attempts to make a saint of World War Two-era Pope Pius XII, who has been accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust.
Francis made no mention of his wartime predecessor during his talks with members of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), but the pontiff repeated the Roman Catholic Church's condemnation of anti-Semitism.
"The Jewish community continues to be concerned about efforts to canonize Pope Pius XII while innumerable documents pertaining to the history of the Church and the Jewish people during the dark years of the Holocaust still remain closed to outside scholarly investigation," IJCIC chairman Lawrence Schiffman told the pope.
The issue of whether the Vatican and the Church under Pius did all they could to help Jews has dogged Catholic-Jewish relations for decades. Pius became pontiff in 1939, the year World War Two broke out, and reigned until 1958.
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I thought a ‘saint’ had to be proven to have performed a miracle ... not be a popular person.
Pius XII helped Jews to escape the Holocaust. The only complaints about him is that he wasn’t outspoken enough against the Nazi regime. If he had been, however, he would have had less influence and would not have saved as many Jews. I wonder why they don’t complain as much about George Soros, who actually helped the Nazis to round up Jews. According to them, he was just doing what anyone would do to survive, being a Jew himself.
If he had been more outspoken, more Jews would have been killed summarily in response, and the Axis might’ve marched on Vatican City.
Pius certainly provided more assistance during the holocaust than Christians got from other folks during the Roman persecution.
Per sainthood though, keep in mind that Pius’ actions when Hitler was on the scene was not saintly, nor was it collaboration.
It was pragmatic.
He did what he could without going too far because he knew Catholics would likely be a target if he aggravated Hitler.
He took as primary role, protection of Catholics, sort of his job.
“not be a popular person.”
Or even a particulary good person. St. Paul was a pretty foul guy, self-admitted. Aside from his horrid acts pre-Christ, you can tell he was difficult to be around from his letters, and probably pretty foul.
It’s those crappy people that God uses that prove the miracle.*+
* Note I am NOT joining the chorus sayign Pius XII was a Nazi-collaborator or whatever. Just noting that such acts are irrelevant.
+ FWIW, I don’t believe Pious was collaborator. I do believe he looked the other way to some limited degree, but I think he pretty much had to do so, being powerless politically and practically to stop Hiter and Musolini in a straightforward manner, so he didn’t rock the boat and went about quietly saving Jews and Christians without getting himself and everyone at the Vatican murdered. Difficult times, and he was in a very difficult spot, so I am not going to second-guess him.
It will be very interesting to see how the Pope responds to this. This is a Church matter. Deciding who is canonized as a saint is between God and the Church. No one should be telling the Pope who should or shouldn’t be a saint.
I thought a lot of archival info was going to be released or made available. I agree with the concerns that he should not be made a Saint with a capital S until people get a good look at all the evidence.
Ha! Old Teddy Kennedy is on a fast track to sainthood... why he is the godfather of socialized medicine and open borders. Old Teddy Kennedy is the future saint of 'social just-us'. Mommy Nancy won't be far behind in saint selections. God elected saints regardless of what Rome claims.
Doesn’t the jews have enough to worry about ,rather than intrude on the Catholic Church.
They seem to have more to say than I, and I am a Catholic for seven Decadws
“Or even a particulary good person”
He should be a good person (at least at the end), but not necessarily a “nice” person.
Sure, forget about the authority that Christ gave the Church prior to His ascension.
Many people think they can tell the Church what to do and get in arms when the Church asserts that only the Pope can.
Odd, isn’t it that the same ones who attack papal infalliability believe in their own infalliability.
“God elected saints”
[[scripture citation needed]]
Perhaps the Catholic Church should reply to the Jews, “It’s not always about you”.
It’s “a jew”. Not “the jews”.
Just curious, did any Jewish person in Germany or Italy save as many Jews during the Holocaust as did the Pope?
I’m guessing it’s possible in Italy, where Rome has had a large Jewish community for ages, and there would have been somewhat more freedom of action than under Hitler. In Germany I’m sure Jews didn’t have enough freedom to help their own.
However, I’m not aware of anyone in Germany or Italy who saved more.
Many times Hitler railed to his generals about wanting to go in and take over the Vatican.
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