“the Nazis acted with the purported authority of the Church behind it? We really need to clean up the education system in this country, the ignorance of history is astounding.”
Yes, if you don’t know this, your educations is lacking.
The Nazis aptly co-opted the trapping of the Roman Catholic Church to push their agenda, much as the Nazis co-opted German pride, economic disaster, and many other things.
It’s not a slam on the Roman Church; it’s a comment on what the Nazis did.
The Nazis were a Satanic organiztion of murderous thugs, who took power in a majority Protestant country. The trappings of the Church were of no use to them and they persecuted the Church in every country they took over. Some Christians were attracted to the movement at first as a way to stop Communism, but they were fooled, and soon it was too late to do anything about it.
And the Lutheran Church as well.
Jewbacca:
The Church teaches that the Church is composed of two components:
1. A visible church, made up of individuals, consisting of the pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, other religious persons, and the laity.
2. The Church’s Spirit, referred to as the “Spotless Bride of Christ.”
Part (1) is human, fallible, and subject to the same corruption as the rest of the world, while Part (2) is not.
Unlike the schismatic (yes, you are schismatic, or at least very close to being) posters on this thread, His Holiness Pope John Paul II recognized this dichotomy, and specifically apologized for the temporal sins committed in the name of the Church against Jews and others during the Inquisition, in a letter called “The Church and Faults of the Past,” dated March 13, 2000, which (among many other things) specifically adopted Pope John Paul’s 1994 Apostolic Letter “Tertio Millennio Adveniente,” quoting it as follows:
“Hence it is appropriate that as the second millennium of Christianity draws to a close the Church should become ever more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and His Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of her faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal. Although she is holy because of her incorporation into Christ, the Church does not tire of doing penance. Before God and man, she always acknowledges as her own her sinful sons and daughters.”
Contrary to the historical-revisionist on this thread who ignorantly seek to minimize the wrongs committed by the Temporal Component of the Church (Component 1 above), His Holiness went on to specifically decry the treatment of our elder brothers, the Jews:
“The hostility and wariness of numerous Christians toward Jews over the course of time is a painful historic fact.”
As further explained by Fr. Brugues, the English spokesman at the Vatican to explain the apology: the apology above “was a reference to the Inquisition, which was marked by the torture and killing of people branded as heretics, and the enforced conversion of non-believers.” (Note the distinct lack of the pathetic attempt to wash our hands of these sins by passing off the Ethnic Cleansing of the Inquisition onto the Spanish Monarch — the Temporal Church and the Political Powers worked hand-in-hand, and to pretend otherwise is a sin.)
In sum, the statements of the schismatics on this thread (who probably consider themselves truer Catholics than John Paul) do not reflect the teaching or beliefs of Christ’s Holy Church, and should be disregarded.
Jewbacca, to repost, hopefully without spacing issues:
The Church teaches that the Church is composed of two components:
1. A visible church, made up of individuals, consisting of the pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, other religious persons, and the laity.
2. The Church’s Spirit, referred to as the “Spotless Bride of Christ.”
Part (1) is human, fallible, and subject to the same corruption as the rest of the world, while Part (2) is not.
Unlike the schismatic (yes, you are schismatic, or at least very close to being) posters on this thread, His Holiness Pope John Paul II recognized this dichotomy, and specifically apologized for the temporal sins committed in the name of the Church against Jews and others during the Inquisition, in a letter called “The Church and Faults of the Past,” dated March 13, 2000, which (among many other things) specifically adopted Pope John Paul’s 1994 Apostolic Letter “Tertio Millennio Adveniente,” quoting it as follows:
“Hence it is appropriate that as the second millennium of Christianity draws to a close the Church should become ever more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and His Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of her faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal. Although she is holy because of her incorporation into Christ, the Church does not tire of doing penance. Before God and man, she always acknowledges as her own her sinful sons and daughters.”
Contrary to the historical-revisionist on this thread who ignorantly seek to minimize the wrongs committed by the Temporal Component of the Church (Component 1 above), His Holiness went on to specifically decry the treatment of our elder brothers, the Jews:
“The hostility and wariness of numerous Christians toward Jews over the course of time is a painful historic fact.”
As further explained by Fr. Brugues, the English spokesman at the Vatican to explain the apology: the apology above “was a reference to the Inquisition, which was marked by the torture and killing of people branded as heretics, and the enforced conversion of non-believers.”
(Note the distinct lack of the pathetic attempt to wash our hands of these sins by passing off the Ethnic Cleansing of the Inquisition onto the Spanish Monarch — the Temporal Church and the Political Powers worked hand-in-hand, and to pretend otherwise is a sin.)
In sum, the statements of the schismatics on this thread (who probably consider themselves truer Catholics than John Paul) do not reflect the teaching or beliefs of Christ’s Holy Church, and should be disregarded.