Replies

"Why for him and not for Hitler?"

Excommunication was not necessary for Hitler because he has long since renounced his Catholicism and abandoned the Church. At no time time did Hitler claim to be acting on behalf of or in compliance with the Church. His public actions further reinforced his position. Unlike Hitler, Luther continued to claim to be Catholic and had to be publicly thrown out.

"His public actions further reinforced his position. Unlike Hitler, Luther continued to claim to be Catholic and had to be publicly thrown out."

They certainly appeared to get along fine. I don't see any disagreement here.

Hitler and Pope Pious

Again

With Goebbels, no less.

Now, I am not one of those who opine Pious should have done X or Y. He was in a hard place.

I also don't have a position regarding whether Hitler was Roman Catholic or not. It seems immaterial. There are bad people from every religion.

I do, however, disagree with your position that Hitler and the Nazis distanced themselves from the Roman Catholic Church.

The Reichskonkordat is the concordat between the Holy See and Germany, guaranteeing the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It was signed on July 20, 1933 by Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of Pope Pius XI and President Paul von Hindenburg respectively. As a bilateral treaty, it is still valid today.

The Nazis certainly used the trappings and authority of the RCC to their advantage and purported to act with its authority.

If Luther, who wrote a book got ecommunicated, Hitler was certainly "worthy" of such condemnation, as well.

Excommunication was not necessary for Hitler because he has long since renounced his Catholicism and abandoned the Church. At no time time did Hitler claim to be acting on behalf of or in compliance with the Church. His public actions further reinforced his position. Unlike Hitler, Luther continued to claim to be Catholic and had to be publicly thrown out.

"I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so," Hitler told Gerhard Engel, one of his generals, in 1941.
-- from the thread The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany: an exhaustive survey of John Toland's biography of Hitler,
quoting Gerhard Engel's 1974 work Heeresadjutant bei Hitler

Hitler, like Judas was a Catholic - a sinner and criminal but unquestionably Catholic. Of course so is Joe Biden and Michael Moore.
-- FReeper narses, October 04, 2009

And re your latin-only tagline: Pope Clement suppressed, and later dissolved, the Knights Templar. IMO bad news for someone who wishes for them to rise again.