Posted on 09/06/2001 11:18:20 PM PDT by patent
5-Sep-2001 -- EWTN News Brief CIA ARCHIVES SHOW PIUS XII SAVED JEWS, ACTIVELY OPPOSED NAZISVATICAN, (CWNews.com) - Secret archives of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) confirm that Pope Pius XII was actively involved in opposition to the Nazi regime and efforts to save Jewish lives, an Italian newspaper has revealed. Citing documents from the World War II archives of the OSS, which would later become the CIA, Corriere della Sera has reported that Pope Pius XII summoned the German foreign minister and demanded a halt to the deportation of Jews as soon as he became aware of the Nazi policy. From that point forward, the Italian daily said, the Vatican steadily and openly opposed Hitler's efforts. The CIA archives, which were opened to historians' scrutiny earlier this year, remark that in his Christmas message of 1942, Pope Pius XII asked for help for "those hundreds of thousands of people who-- for no fault of their own, but because of their race or nationality-- are condemned to death or gradual extinction." Even earlier, in January 1940, Polish Catholic radio had reported that "Jews and Poles are shut up in ghettoes where they are isolated and inadequate for their survival." The American documents show that in July 1942, the papal nuncio in France met with leaders of the Vichy government, expressing the disapproval of the Holy See over the French government's decision to conclude an alliance with the Nazi regime. The archives also show systematic German efforts to silence the Jesuit order in the south of Germany. A Jesuit provincial, in a document written just after the liberation of Germany from the Nazi regime, reported that the German government had demanded a list of all Jesuit priests, so that they could be rounded up and sent to concentration camps. The provincial, who was imprisoned himself when he refused to obey that order, added that the Jesuits behind bars helped to provide the Vatican with an accurate understanding of conditions in the concentration camps. |
patent
It's hard to understand those who condemn Pius, given the many testimonies in his favor by the wartime Jews he helped to save. Nevertheless, books and articles that ignore his documented acts in defense of Italian Jews and denounce him for not having opposed Hitler vocally enough are at an all-time high -- and have been selling quite well, here, in Israel, and in Europe where they really ought to know better.
The phenomenon has even visited my own household. My wife is Jewish, and has repeated the anti-Pius slanders to me as if they were verified facts. Worse, she refuses to listen to any evidence that contradicts her opinion, no matter what the source might be. It's made for some strained relations.
Why the anti-Catholic animus among so many Jews? With all their deserved attainments, their altitude in the news and entertainment media, their influence over public policy, and their unquestioned physical security here in America, can they really believe that Catholics are a threat to them? Or is there something else at work, some dark and evil force that I'm not aware of?
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
With all due respect, Jews are not a monolith
Yes, physical security, but I wonder if it isn't just a matter of time. Anyway, IMHO Catholics will be about the last people that we Jews have to worry about.
As I recall, the one he referred to was a NYT editorial on Christmas Eve, 1942. In it, the Times said that Pope Pius was standing alone in opposing Hitler and defending Jews in Europe.
There are many good Catholic organizations out there fighting poverty, homelessness, and the secularization of everything in our culture. I told my husband the other night that I didn't understand why people as unselfless as Mother Teresa weren't higher on the list of admired people in the world (I know she is for me). I don't begrudge people who have worked hard and sacrificed to make it big, but there are a lot of them who think that their money makes them worthy of our admiration, not their good works or giving a little something back to humanity.
Right now I am looking for a good book on Pius XII that doesn't paint him as a Nazi collaborator, as I love history and everything I've read about him (except in Church literature) depicts him as such. Maybe someone could point me in the right direction, for I would love to get my hands on something positive about this man.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
The anti-Catholic Jewish bigots will have to find another bogeyman to spit at too.
Are the anti-Catholic people generally from the same group as the anti-Jew people, or are we talking about two different breeds altogether?Like any other group (e.g., Catholics) anti-Catholics aren’t exactly a monolithic group. You do find some who are both anti-Catholic and anti-Jew. Others, such as a couple (though clearly not all) Protestant groups are very anti-Catholic but in a strange sort of way are pro-Jew. They seem to think we need to keep a couple Jews alive until the end times so that they can convert to Christianity to (as they read it) fulfill the end times prophesies.
Others are just plain anti-religion, so whether it’s a serious Catholic or serious Jew, they hate them.
For the most part, IMHO, the leading anti-Catholics on this issue, Pope Pius XII, are all liberal Catholics who hate the papacy. If you look at the major recent books being trumpeted they are all by self-hating Catholics who are trying to destroy the hierarchical nature of the Church so that they can claim to still be Catholic, but hold all manner of heretical views. While some Jews, to their great discredit, have gotten involved in the Pius controversies, most seem to have realized that this is an internal Catholic squabble that they should have little to do with. Many have spoken up for Pius, but they don’t get quite the same press coverage.
patent +AMDG
No opportunity to proclaim victimhood can ever be allowed to pass.
Right now I am looking for a good book on Pius XII that doesn't paint him as a Nazi collaborator,Consider Rychlak's Hitler, the War and the Pope. I think there is also a book by Dr. John Gumpel, S.J.
patent +AMDG
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