Posted on 06/16/2005 4:56:23 PM PDT by Jane_N
San Francisco, Jun. 15, 2005 (CNA) - A ruling this week by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an earlier decision that Holocaust survivors can continue their claims against the Vatican for the restitution of funds plundered from former Yugoslavia during the Second World War.
The majority of the victims of genocide in Croatia during World War II were Orthodox Christian Serbs. More than 500,000 of them were liquidated by the Croatian Ustasha, with the backing of some Catholic clerics. These funds have been referred to as the Ustasha or Croatian treasury.
According to a report by Matt Abbott, the San Francisco court denied a Vatican petition for reconsideration and a request for an extraordinary en banc hearing. It also issued an amended opinion which indicated the Italian Peace Treaty of 1947 did not preclude the lawsuit because the Vatican was not a signatory to the treaty.
Will Al Gore please tell the 9th Circus Court of Appearances that they have no controlling legal authority?
The Ustaša authorities established numerous concentration camps in Croatia between 1941 and 1945. These camps were used to isolate and murder Serbs, Jews, Roma, Muslims, and other non-Catholic minorities, as well as Croatian political and religious opponents of the regime.
Like I said, the liberal METHODISTS did this divesting of all things financial with Israel. The Pope had no way of knowing they would do such a thing.
It is just that he is asking a liberal WCC leader, a Methodist for help.
He probably will find out about the REAL United Methodist CHURCH, when they don't actuallly do ANYTHING to help him.
I know he must have meant well.
Apparently so.
I do not believe any money is going anywhere. Just facts are going to come out.... That may be enough. You see?
Oh, now I get your point. You can be sort of inscrutible at times. I've said this before -- you're a wily old fella. ;-)
No fool like a old fool... thanks for proving it.
For the most part muslims were also nazis during WWII in Yugoslavia. What was it two divisions of NAZI SS out of Bosnia and Kosovo? I know Croatia put together at least one SS division as well.
Ping.
The Vatican has in its possession large amounts of Judaica obtained under duress.
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During his recent visit to Italy, the President of Israel, Moshe Katzav, asked the Prime Minister of the Vatican, Cardinal Angelo Sudano, to prepare a list of all the Temple treasures, vessels and Judaica that are being held by the Vatican. The President asked for the Vatican's co-operation on this issue which is sensitive to Israel.
http://www.cephas-library.com/prophecy_temple_artifacts_list_demand.html
The Israel Government, through its Institute of Manuscripts, published a report written by two prominent Professors, Aloni and Loewenberg, showing that the largest part of the 800 works originated in a part of Germany where they were seized after a pogrom. One of the Catholic rulers in Germany presented them to the Vatican.
http://www.manfredlehmann.com/sieg430.html
That is very interesting tp know. Are things still being returned?
I don't think things are being returned.
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The pope had met the previous chief rabbis during his pilgrimage to Israel in 2000, a visit he called one of the highlights of his papacy.
No pope has reached out to Jews and Muslims as has the 83-year-old pontiff, who grew up in a heavily Jewish town in Poland. John Paul has visited a synagogue in Rome and a mosque in Damascus, Syria, making him the first pope to visit Jewish and Muslim houses of worship.
Before leaving Israel, the rabbis said they would ask to search Vatican storerooms for artifacts such as the huge golden menora that stood in the temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
But Metzger said Friday they didn't mention the menora.
"We left it to his discretion to find an object that would be important to us," Metzger said. "We don't know if it exists, but if it does and they decide to give it to us there will be no greater joy for us."
They were shown manuscripts written by Moses Maimonides and asked that they be lent to Israel.
When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 70 CE, they took huge amounts of booty home. Legend has it that religious articles from the Temple, including the menora, were among them.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1074329038208
As usual I want MORE people to ponder the holocaust and its cause and its effect.
I had a close friend who hid in caves, fields and cellars in Hungary to survive the Nazis. He lost almost everybody in his family and he lost his youth. He was a terrific soul and a wonderful friend to me for many years.
His story and that of 2 Polish Catholic POWs who were in a nazi concentration camp after the fall of Warsaw... have touched my life deeply. I was just a young fellow when I met the 2 former POWs and they were still bearing the looks of the horrors they had experienced during WWII... when I met them at a farm in Pennsylvania right after the war.
Ya know what? I am not surprised at all!
So, there may be treasures in the Vatican basements?
If there are, they should be returned, of course.
Perhaps there could be an independent study group formed-up and with the Vatican's approval, a search could be made for such things as Torahs and so forth.
Somehow, I do think the Vatican would co-operate with that.
Of course, all sides now kill Jews and Gypsies.
I guess I'm a little thick at times.
There is a problem here involving the Vatican, some Catholic clerics and groups of people persecuted in WW2 by the Nazis and Croatians who were assisted in some way in the persecution by these Catholic clerics.
Representatives of the persecuted people want to bring charges against the Catholic Church for what these Nazi-collaborating priests were alleged to have done.
For some reason, they have selected the American courts as a forum for their suit.
The offenses were not done by Americans or on American soil, nor were Americans directly or indirectly involved.
The U.S. ninth circuit court says o.k. - bring on the suit.
Court officials paid with U.S. tax dollars, using facilities paid for with U.S. dollars, hear a case which in no way directly or indirectly involves us.
What does the Constitution say about this? Does it give U.S. federal courts jurisdiction in cases like this?
What kind of precedent does this set? Will we then have Hutsis suiting Tutsis or vice versa in U.S. Courts, or Basques suing Spanirds etc??
And what about enforcement of any court decisions? Do U.S. Courts have the right to seize assets of a third party in the U.S. in a case involving an incident in which the U.S. has had no direct part?
Am I missing something here?
It is an enormous place and there are many tunnels( supposedly) under it.
I have no way of knowing for sure, but it seems to me, on the face of the matter, If there was some sort of investigative group formed ONCE and for all , just to lay matters to rest... that should solve ANY problems.
Geraldo Rivera could head the team.
agree?
That's not true. They ruled, in Idaho v. Horiuchi, that Idaho could prosecute the FBI sniper that that killed Vickie Weaver from ambush.
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