Free Republic

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

The word “hero” so often conjures up images of the brash and the bold. We may think of Audie Murphy’s WWII exploits, the Spartans at Thermopylae, or the doomed holdouts at the Alamo. But then there are the quiet heroes, people such as Oskar Schindler. Ever since Schindler’s List hit the silver screen in 1993, his clandestine efforts resulting in the rescue of almost 1,200 Jews from Nazi death camps have been well known. Yet that dark time birthed another quiet hero, one who saved as many as 860,000 Jewish lives. Today, however, few know of his accomplishments, few sing...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 EDITORIALS 28 29

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1 2 3 4 5 6

At home here on Long Island, he is Gary L. Krupp, medical equipment dealer, now retired after a career of ups and downs. He shares one car and a small house in a no-frills neighborhood with his wife, Meredith, and wryly describes himself as “an average schlemiel, just a Jewish kid from Queens.” At the Vatican, he is known as Commendatore Gary Krupp, Knight Commander of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great. For short, the Swiss Guard and cardinals address him as “Your Excellency.” It is a compelling tale in itself: ... he has emerged as the...

Catholic Church, looking for a bulwark against communism, supported what became genocidal regime of Nazi satellite Croatia. Photo courtesy of the United States Holocaust Museum The controversy over the canonization of Pope Pius XII concerns whether he spoke out enough against the slaughter of Jews during World War II. But that question is a red herring when trying to grasp the big picture of the Vatican's role during the war. The real question is whether the Vatican supported the world order, or at least aspects of it, that the Third Reich promised to bring, a world order in which dead...

Pope Benedict XVI should be welcomed when he visits Rome's main synagogue, but he should halt moves to beatify wartime pontiff Pius XII, criticized for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust, a former chief rabbi of Israel said Tuesday. Israel Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor and now chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, said Benedict's synagogue visit Sunday would be ''appreciated and blessed.'' But in an interview with Italy's Sky TG24 television, he said he was ''surprised'' by Benedict's decision last month to move the controversial World War II-era pope closer to sainthood. Benedict sparked outrage among some Jewish groups...

The controversy over Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II was recently reignited when... Riccardo Pacifici, president of Rome's Jewish community, told [Pope Benedict] : "The silence of Pius XII before the Shoah still hurts because something should have been done." [snip] To what extent, if any, does the evidence back up these allegations, which have been repeated since the early 1960s? On April 4, 1933, Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, the Vatican secretary of state, instructed the papal nuncio in Germany to see what he could do to oppose the Nazis. On behalf of Pope Pius XI, Cardinal Pacelli drafted...

Venerables John Paul II and Pius XII Rome, Italy, Jan 19, 2010 / 12:21 pm (CNA).- Some details of the case under investigation regarding a possible miracle attributed to Venerable Pope Pius XII have been made public.  The story features not just one former Pontiff, but two.On Tuesday morning, Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli published an article in Il Giornale describing at length the situation which "mysteriously involves" John Paul II.Tornielli reported that this case was brought to the attention of Benedict XVI shortly before he approved a measure on Dec. 19, 2009 venerating Pope Pius XII's life of "heroic...

Pope Defends Pius Against Critics ASSOCIATED PRESS January 17, 2010 ROME (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI defended his predecessor Pius XII against Jewish critics Sunday, telling the audience at a Rome synagogue that the Vatican worked quietly to save Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Many Jews object to Benedict moving Pius toward sainthood, contending the wartime pope didn't do enough to protect Jews from the Holocaust. The Vatican has maintained that Pius used behind-the-scenes diplomacy in a bid to save Jewish lives. While he didn't mention Pius by name, Benedict told Jewish leaders in the synagogue that...

Friday, January 8US Congressman Jeff Fortenberry of Lincoln, Nebraska (via satellite) on the health care reform bill that is about to be discussed in committee in Congress. Gary Krupp, founder and president of Pave the Way Foundation on new evidence of the heroic virtue of Pope Pius XII during World War II.  

Ten years ago, on a cold winter morning in New York City, the Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission, established to investigate Pope Pius XII’s response to the Holocaust, met for the first time to discuss its future work. I was the only Israeli historian among the six scholars (three Catholics and three Jews) designated by the Vatican and leading Jewish organizations to study this hotly contested issue. A little under two years later, the project was abandoned as a result of the Holy See’s unwillingness to release materials from its own archives that could help clarify issues that our team of scholars...

Does the world really need yet another Roman Catholic saint, particularly if that means canonizing one of the most controversial popes in history? By one count, there are already more than 10,000 saints and “beati,” or blessed, accumulated since Roman times, with at least three saints already assigned for every day of the year. That’s just one of several reasons why Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to proceed toward the canonization of Pius XII, the church’s World War II-era pope, was so surprising. Another two miracles to his name, and Pius will have cleared all the hurdles to sainthood, where he...

Asserting that the conclusions of the so-called "historical evidence" about World II-era Pope Pius XII's actions to save Jews presented to the Pope are seriously flawed, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on Pope Benedict XVI to reassess the issue in light of his decision to move Pius XII a step closer to sainthood. While Pope Benedict said that evidence presented by the Pave the Way Foundation at its September 2009 conference in Rome showed that Pius had "spared no effort in intervening" on behalf of the Jews, an examination by ADL demonstrated that conclusions of the "historical evidence" are...

A recent papal decree moved Pope Pius XII, among others, closer to sainthood -- returning to the forefront the controversy over his role in World War II and the Holocaust. Growing up Jewish in Queens, I never dreamt I would be defending the man I once believed to be a Nazi sympathizer and an anti-Semite. But my work since 2002 with my wife, Meredith, and the Pave the Way Foundation has led me to this point. We founded Pave the Way to identify and eliminate nontheological obstacles between religions. Thus, despite our early prejudices, we decided to investigate the papacy...

At this time, as the possible canonization of Pope Pius XII moves forward, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum repeats its call for the opening of all wartime material from the Vatican archives, so that scholars can finally begin the important work of examining and evaluating this crucial aspect of history. The response of Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) to the policies of the National Socialist regime - notably his failure to condemn publicly the genocide of the European Jews - has long been the topic of debate and controversy. At the time of the Holocaust, questions about Pius XII’s...