Posted on 03/14/2013 5:44:44 PM PDT by haffast
There are an estimated 2 billion Christians in the world led by a variety of religious leaders from Patriarchs to Metropolitans, and for many Protestant denominations, the World Council of Churches. Yet for World Jewry, there is but one Christian leader who has counted the most: The pope.
In the tumultuous 20th Century what popes said and did not say to and about Jews impacted directly on the destiny of the Jewish people.
In 1904, Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism asked Pope Pius X to endorse the Jewish people’s return to the Holy Land. “We are unable to favor this movement. We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem but we could never sanctionit”, the Pontiff replied.
In the 1930s, as the horrors of Nazism began to unfold, Pius XI increasingly denounced its racist ideology and anti-Semitism: In 1937, his encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge" condemned the Nazi ideology of racism and totalitarianism and before his death in 1938, Pius XI said this:
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This is a good piece, except for its failure to commend Pope Pius XII for all he did to save Jews in Italy. I fear that Rabbi Cooper is neglecting this because of all the lies that heve been told about Pope Pius XII, He DID comdemm the Nazis although because of all the Catholic churches and clergy in Germany and Austria, he was not as vocal as his predecessor. It should be remembered, however, that the extermination of the Jews took place after the Nazis had total control over the German population and after many clergy an nuns had been imprisoned and executed.
To those seeking the truth, what a better witness than the testimony of Albert Einstein, the great Jewish physicist, who had first hand experience of the horrors of Nazism? In 1944 he said: “Being a lover of freedom, when the Nazi revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, but the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of newspapers, but they, like the universities were silenced in a few short weeks. Then I looked to individual writers…they too were mute. Only the Church,” Einstein concluded, “stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth…I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel great affection and admiration…and am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly.”
The relationship of trust and collaboration during WW II between the Holy See, the Jewish organizations, the Allies’ intelligence services and their governments, including the anti-Nazi German Generals, is well proven and documented. However, there is not the slightest thread of evidence to substantiate the preposterous and vicious allegations raised against Pius XII and the Catholic Church of collaboration or sympathizing with the Nazis.
Did the Church do enough to save the Jews? As usual those who do the less complain the most and those who do the most always think they could have done even more. When Michael O’Carroll, author of the scholar book “Pius XII: Greatness Dishonoured” related in the Foreword that in 1957 he met Dr. Isaac Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel, and he told him with emotion of an audience he had with the Pope and how they discussed the prophet Ezechiel. “My blessing to him” said the saintly old man, and O’Carroll promised to be the bearer of the message of his goodwill. When O’Carroll gave the message to Pius XII he added “I think Jews everywhere are grateful for what you did for them during the war.” “I wish I could have done more” was the Pope’s reply.
On February 28, 1945, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Isaac Herzog, sent a letter of gratitude to the
Apostolic Nuncio in Rumania, Msgr. Andrea Cassulo, stating that: “The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion which form the very foundations of civilization, are doing for us unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living prove of divine Providence in this world.” (31)
Rabbi Herzog’s heartfelt words should suffice to forever end the slanderous attacks to the memory of the great protector of the Jews, Pius XII and the Catholic Church.
Now that's an interesting comment, considering the fact that even the Old Grey Lady editorialized in the late 30s that Pius XII was the ONLY religious leader speaking out courageously against Hitler and the Nazis. And unlike the ADL, Pope Pius XII actually sheltered Jews at his summer house at Castel Gandolfo.
New York Times praises Pius XII’s Christmas Messages in 1941 and 1942
On Christmas Day 1941, the editorial of the New York Times, commenting on Pius XII’s Christmas Message, said: “The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas…as we realize that he is about the only ruler left on the Continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all…In calling for a ‘real new order’ based on ‘liberty, justice and love,’ to be attained only by a ‘return to social and international principles capable of creating a barrier against the abuse of liberty and the abuse of power”. “The Pope,” said the NYT, “put himself squarely against Hitlerism, he left no doubt that the Nazi aims are also irreconcilable with his own conception of a Christian peace.”
On Christmas Day 1942, the New York Times editorialized on Pius XII’s Christmas Message and again praised the Pope for his moral leadership. “This Christmas,” said de NYT, “more than ever he (Pius XII) is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent. The Pulpit whence he speaks is more than ever like the rock on which the Church was founded, a tiny island lashed and surrounded by a sea of war… (Pius XII) condemns as heresy the new form of national state which subordinates every thing to itself, he declared that whoever wants peace must protect against ‘arbitrary attacks’ the ‘juridical safety of individuals. The Pope assailed the violent occupation of territory, the exile and persecution of human beings for no other reason than race or political opinion.” The address also contained the first formal enunciation of human rights made by a Pope.
Pope Pius XII, said the NYT, “expresses as passionately as any leader on our side of the war aims of the struggle for freedom when he says that those who aim at building a new world order must fight for free choice of government and religious order. They must refuse that the state should make of individuals a herd of whom the state disposes as if they were a lifeless thing.”
Another cheap shot at Papa Pacelli.
Thank you
PLUS, the Chief RAbbi in Rome convertedto Catholicism because of what the Pope did during the war!!
And this is a slander on Pope Pius who saved hundreds of thousands of Jews.
Great read, deserves it’s own thread, why don’t you post it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.