Vatican Prelate Plugs Passion Pic (Mel Gibson's ``The Passion'')

Drudge Report ^ | 9/10/03 | Matt Drudge

[nickcarraway]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX WED SEPT 10, 2003 11:56:25 ET XXXXX

**World Exclusive**

An influential Vatican cardinal is about to endorse Mel Gibson's PASSION, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The controversial Mel Gibson-directed drama about the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ will be praised -- unconditionally -- by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

The endorsement may pit the Vatican against the Anti-Defamation League, which expressed concerns that scenes depicting Jesus' crucifixion at the hands of Jews and others will fuel anti-Semitism.

“Gibson’s artistic choices make the film faithful to the meaning of the Gospels, as understood by the Church,” says Cardinal Hoyos in an interview set for release in Italy.

Developing...

[hoosierham]

I occasionally must work with a loud little man who claims to be an ordained minister, who emphatically states the Catholic Church financed Hitler and the Holocaust.

Of course, he is not real rational on other subjects, either. (Which may explain why no church has hired him as a pastor.)

[cyborg]

are you sure he doesn't have a short wave radio programme? :-/

[Lady In Blue]

Thanks very much! I can hardly wait for the video to come out.It will make great gifts.

[Lady In Blue]

Ryan, do you smell the stench of anti-Catholicism?

[Deathmonger]

Be educated or go away:

--Before he became Pope Pius XII, Cardinal Pacelli drafted the papal encyclical, MIT BRENNEDNDER SORGE, in which Pius XI denounced Nazi paganism and racism; the document was smuggled into Germany in March, 1937 and read from all Catholic pulpits, which infuriated the Nazis;


--It is well documented by Jewish scholars like Joseph Lichten of B'nai B"rith that Pius used the assets of the Vatican to ransom Jews from the Nazis and that the Vatican under Pius ran an extensive network of hide-outs. Even the Pope's summer residence, Castel Gondolfo, was used to hide fugitive Jews. The Pope, moreover, took personal repsonsibility for the children of deported Jews;


--Largely as a result of the Church's efforts, the Jews in Italy had a far higher survival rate under Nazi occupation than was the case in other countries; estimates of the number of Jews saved by the Vatican's efforts range up to several hundred thousand; this was one reason why the chief Rabbi of Rome converted to Catholicism at the end of the war;


--In appreciation of what Pius did for the Jews, the World Jewish Congress made a large cash gift to the Vatican in 1945; in the same year, Rabbi Herzog of Jerusalem sent a "special blessing" to the Pope "for his lifesaving efforts on behalf of the Jews during the Nazi occupation of Italy"; and when Pius died in 1958, Israel's Foreign Minister Golda Meir gave a him moving eulogy at the United Nations for the same reason;


--What was to be gained by Pius's getting up on a soap box and lashing out at the Nazis? Both the International Red Cross and the World Council of Churches came to the same conclusion as the Vatican: relief efforts for the Jews would be more effective if the agencies remained relatively quiet; yet, you never hear anybody attacking the Red Cross for its "silence" about the Holocaust;


--In 1942, the Catholic hierarchy of Amsterdam spoke out vigorously against the Nazi treatment of the Jews; the Nazi response was a redoubling of round-ups and deportations; by the end of the war, 90 percent of the Jews in Amsterdam were liquidated. Jewish relief officials were in complete agreement that a public attack by the Vatican against the Nazis would a) not have the slightest effect on Hitler and b) would seriously jeopardize the lives of Jews who were being hidden in convents, monasteries, etc.;


--Nevertheless, Pius's Christmas message in 1942 decried the fact that hundreds of thousands were being persecuted "solely because of their race or ancestory." The German ambassador to the Vatican complained that Pius was "clearly speaking on behalf of the Jews." A NEW YORK TIMES editorial on Christmas day, 1942 praised Pius as "a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent";

[ppaul]

Check out the September 15, 2003 edition of The New Yorker.

[ultima ratio]

The number of Jews rescued by Pius XII is estimated by scholars to be around 800,000. But even before he ordered all monasteries and convents to hide refugees, the Vatican was printing phony passports and ID's to help in rescue efforts. At one point Pius telephoned the president of Hungary and talked him into releasing hundreds of thousands of Jews who had been marked for deportation to death camps. A little known fact: he hid several thousand Jewish refugees in the basement of his Vatican palace--and refused to eat or drink anything they were not given to eat or drink. The man was a saint--but he has been mercilessly and cruelly slandered for half a decade by bigots who hate the Church.

[John Beresford Tipton]

I posted a picture of Rev. Guido Sarducci because it was funny. I meant no "statement" thereby. If you smell a stench I would recommend that you remove your head from where it appears to be jammed.

[jrherreid]

He's running for governor out here in California, ya know. Does separation of Church and State allow Fr. Sarducci to serve?

[John Beresford Tipton]

Unfortunately he did not get the necessary number of signatures in time; he was disqualified from the Governor's race.

This appears to be the work of the Holy Ghost to avoid a church/state crisis.

[aruanan]

Vatican Prelate Plugs Passion Pic (Mel Gibson's ``The Passion'')

Shouldn't they have written, "Pope's Prelate Plugs Passion Pic"?

[LibKill]

I wish he would release it on DVD as he wants it to be shown, I would not go see it in the theaters because of my hearing loss.

I'll bet money it will be on DVD. A good one with subtitles and everything. I will buy it.

There are two types of people who are afraid of this movie. Those who hate religion of any kind. Those who fear renewed persecution of Jews.

I have a little sympathy for those who fear persecution, but in the US they have little to worry about. In France they are already persecuted, and in the middle east.

[nickcarraway]

Shouldn't they have written, "Pope's Prelate Plugs Passion Pic"?

Maybe if Matt Drudge used to write for Variety!

[nickcarraway]

I have a friend who actually believed he was the gossip columnist for L'Osservatore Romano.

[Right to be Wrong]

Be educated or go away

You are mixing politics with real life. Your response is impressive and very well educated, as you would put it, but it lacks reality. I was born and lived in Italy during the WWII and believe me, my experiences and experiences of many thousand of other families who survived the war and the thereafter tells a different story. In their and my name I am asking you to tell me in which planet you live? You can't trust what is written in today's paper, and you go on quoting papers from 60 or more years ago? Politicians talk not what they think but what you want to hear. God Bless You. You need it!

[Ant_biter]

Certainly, I do not know all the events and plans of the military and Pres. Bush even I watch the news all the times. By the time I know something, everybody else knows.

The Vatican should not let ordinary people know that they were rescuing jews; otherwise the Nazi would have known it too.

[monkeyratt]

It seems that people are so worried about being politically correct that We are changing history to suit our needs. I guess that means we will never hear about the Witch burnings that Christians were responsible for? Yea, right. It is history and there is no reason it shouldn't be told the way it is written.

Has anyone ever read "1984"? Are we headed toward a society that alters history to keep the population pacified? Jesus was a Jew who was hated by many other Jews, especially those with power. The fact is that they wanted him gone. They did God's work and helped the Romans crucify him. That was the plan. No matter who you are that is the story. I, Personally, would like to thank the Jewish for their part in crucifying Christ. It is what God wanted them to do so that Christ would die for my sins.

[JesusIsLord]

That was the plan. No matter who you are that is the story. I, Personally, would like to thank the Jewish for their part in crucifying Christ. It is what God wanted them to do so that Christ would die for my sins.

It's been said that there is a world of difference between God knowing the future and Him orchestrating it. I hate to wax theological, but here goes: although God knows the future and what is to come, His knowing does not negate the fact that we are free moral agents and have the power of choice..

The Jew and Romans (the world) who crucified Christ chose to do so. Similarly, people today have the power to receive Jesus the Christ for our atonement or reject Him.