Continued Concern Over Pope Benedict And ‘Hitler’s Pope’
There is much concern and frustration over Pope Benedict and his desire to see Pope Pius XII, often known as ‘Hilter’s Pope’, be made a saint. The Anti-Defamation League released this comment over the rush that Benedict is taking on this matter, without complete examination of the archives.
“This apparent campaign of misinformation presented to Pope Benedict makes it all the more crucial for the Vatican to open its Holocaust-era archives to independent scholars and historians now,” said Abraham, H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor. “We reject the claim that the world and aging Holocaust survivors must wait another six years until all 16 million documents from Pope Pius’ papacy are catalogued by the Vatican. We note that Pope John Paul II opened a cache of Holocaust records from Pope Pius XII before the records of his entire papacy were catalogued. We request that Pope Benedict take the same courageous decision and order the relevant Holocaust era materials be opened now.”
History shows that Pius and the Catholic Church need a full examination about this matter.
How sure is it that Pius disassociated his catholic cult from Hitler and his agenda? In 1941, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of Vienna informed Pius of Jewish deportations in Vienna. Later that year, when asked by French Marshal Philippe Pétain if the Vatican objected to anti-Jewish laws, Pius responded that the church condemned anti-Semitism, but would not comment on specific rules. Similarly, when Pétain’s puppet government adopted the “Jewish statutes,” the Vichy ambassador to the Vatican, Léon Bérard, was told that the legislation did not conflict with Catholic teachings. Valerio Valeri, the nuncio to France was “embarrassed” when he learned of this publicly from Pétain and personally checked the information with Cardinal Secretary of State Maglione who confirmed the Vatican’s position. In October 1941 Harold Tittman, a U.S. delegate to the Vatican, asked the pope to condemn the atrocities against Jews; Pius replied that the Vatican wished to remain “neutral.” You cannot have a saint who remains neutral on slaughter of humans merely on their personal beliefs.
Alec
You might think that Catholics should explain ourselves to anti-Catholics. I do not.
Alex, I gather by your comments you haven’t investigated the issue in the slightest.
There is a duty to truth that we owe history. And as the Catholic Church has such power and money to act against the truth it is vital that those who care try to bring light to the subjects such as the actions of Pope Pius XII. To pretend that the Catholics should just act as they wish when so much of the world wants answers would be typical for sure of them, but the price to truth and justice would be a stain so large the Vatican could even recognize the wrongness of it. They know they need to dialouge on this, and we can only hope that by doing so some of them will recognize what the Roman Catholic Church did to the Jews in WWII. It was a moral crime, and Pope Pius XII was the center of it.
I do not understand why any non-Catholic is in the least interested in who is or is not declared a saint by the RC Church. Nor can I understand why the Vatician bothers explaining itself to non-Catholics.
Nor can I understand why the Vatician declares anyone a saint until he/she has been dead for, at least, 1,000 years.
Far too many non-Catholics are interfering in the internal affairs of the RC Church and are being encouraged to do so by the RC Church engaging in debate with them – about anything.
http://popepiusxiiandthejews.blogspot.com/ for details.