Posted on 04/29/2009 7:47:03 AM PDT by NYer
One of my former co-workers was Sephardic Jew. Her parents entrusted her to a Cathoic religious order in Italy to hide her from the Nazis. She told me that throughout the entire time she lived in the convent, the sisters took her aside each day and taught her the Jewish faith. She was surrounded by Catholic images but learned her own faith during her confinement.
I believe this to be true with most Jewish refugee children back then. As for the infants, who can say? Everyone lived in fear at the time. To safeguard 'appearances', no doubt those Catholic families went through the formal process of Baptism and taking the infant to Mass. This was 70 years ago!
Dan Brown? Actually, French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger was a Jewish convert. The cardinal, who converted to Catholicism from Judaism as a teenager, was the Vatican representative at the 2005 commemoration in Poland of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where his Jewish mother died. The first time he visited Auschwitz was in 1983, when he accompanied Pope John Paul II there.
During the January 2005 commemoration, Cardinal Lustiger said, "The silence of Auschwitz-Birkenau's victims impels us to uphold and order the upholding of the dignity of each human being."
In May 2006, the cardinal accompanied Pope Benedict to Auschwitz and described the visit as "one of the most important moments" of his life. The cardinal passed away in August 2007 at the age of 80.
Saint Peter and most of the other early popes were born Jews.
It is not an obligation. It is worth considering and is often wise to reveal that, but obligation it is not. For example, to reveal such fact to an emotionally unstable, depressed person might do real damage; other circumstances may exist when the disclosure should not be done in the best interest of the crypto-Jew.
Some list that named future popes, something like that.
I seem to recall that it said if a Jew became Pope after a certain time, it would signal the end of the Church.
I have no dog in this fight, I was just curious if it was a well known fact/fictional/tin-foil deal.
So if a Catholic saved Foxman’s life, what’s the source of his anti-Catholic bigotry?
-A8
I agree. And what, is it better that these children should have perished? Not to mention that some of them may indeed have been informed of their heritage long ago and chose to keep their own privacy.
Him and everyone trying to help him and the many others who were basically smuggled out and rescued from death.
bkmk
Still, it does seem like a slap in the face.
Yes, I agree, me, too. I’m suspecting that some of the mothers may also have done just that, and I’m guessing as well that many who knew their children were being smuggled out would have agreed that it was best to assume another identity for their own safety, in all that entailed.
“So if a Catholic saved Foxmans life, whats the source of his anti-Catholic bigotry?”
Satan?
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