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Pope hints at sainthood for Pius despite Holocaust accusations



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Published Date: 10 October 2008
By Nick Pisa
In Rome
POPE Benedict XVI yesterday praised a controversial predecessor, Pius XII, while celebrating a commemorative mass on the 50th anniversary of the wartime pope's death.
Benedict told more than 270 bishops, in Rome for a synod on the Bible, that Pius saved the "largest possible number of Jews" by acting in silence to "avert the worst". He also noted that Pius had been recognised after the war by Jewish leaders, inclu
ding Golda Meir, and gave his strongest indication that Pius would be made a saint.

Benedict said: "I am praying that Pius's progress towards sainthood will continue happily." But he gave no indication as to when he would sign a decree on the "heroic virtues" of Pius – an essential part of the process.

The Vatican's saint-making department, the Causes for the Congregation of Saints, unanimously voted in favour of recognising those virtues in May last year, but Pope Benedict has yet to sign the relevant decree.

Some observers have said the delay is a sign of German-born Benedict's belief that more reflection is needed and many historians have said that although Pius did what he could during the war, he could have done more.

Yesterday in an editorial Paolo Mieli, editor of the Corriere Della Sera newspaper, called Pius "a great pope (who was] equal to the situation" he was faced with and he added that attempts to portray him as "mute or supine in the face of the Nazis were mad".

However, earlier this week the first Jew to address a synod, Rabbi Shear Cohen of Haifa, said he might not have come to Rome if he had known Pius was to be celebrated, too.

He spoke out against the move to canonise Pius and added that Jews cannot "forgive and forget" that he did not speak out enough about the Holocaust. Pius was put on the road to sainthood in 1965, but progress has been slow because of accusations that he remained silent in the face of the Nazi bid to exterminate Jews.

In 1942, Pius condemned extermination "by reason of nationality or race", but did not use the words Nazi or Jew. Supporters claim that if he had been totally explicit, the Nazi reaction would have been to try to wipe out Jews even faster.



The full article contains 388 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 10 October 2008 12:27 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

El_Kabooko,

Sacramento 10/10/2008 01:03:01
We live in an imperfect world yet some demand perfection!

It's easy for scholars who demonize Pius XII, along with their dislike for the Catholic church, to sit back and arm chair quarterback historical events and "what if's!"

The simple truth is that Pius XII primary responsiblity was preserving the church while covertly helping out where he could. If Hitler won the war, I believe he knew that the Third Reich would collapse sooner or later, just like all evil empires. For him to chuck all caution to the wind would have guarenteed that the church would have been distroyed, it's clergy killed, and all religon exterminated. He had a first hand examples in Russia for the prior 20 years.

If you watch "the Scarlet and the Black," you would understand what was going on. It paints a true picture of what he was facing.

Personally, it may be wise to wait longer for any Sainthood for Pius XII; however, if miracles can be attributed to him, and his intercession on our behalf, then he should be deamed a saint. (Pardon any spelling mistakes, but I don't have access to Word right now, plus this Wi-Fi connection is weak!)
2

SCULLION1,

Canada 10/10/2008 01:40:43
SCULLION1
(I was told to do this to prevent trolls. We'll see.)
As a cardinal, Pius got into bed with the Nazis because they promised to pay for Catholic education in Germany.
Although it was before I was born, the fascist hordes tried to destroy my homeland and the rest of Europe and the pope said not a word.
Pius should have at least martyred himself for Italian Jews, then maybe he would deserve sainthood. But he played politics and no doubt enjoyed the renewed authority given to his priests in Spain, Germany and Italy. His silence won't be forgotten.
3

thatscottishman,

10/10/2008 01:51:28
2 SCULLION1

Have you tried garlic?
4

Guga II,

Rockall 10/10/2008 02:30:51
#2 Scullion.

Totally agree.
5

,

10/10/2008 06:48:53
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
6

Jim A,

10/10/2008 06:59:42
#5 Postmark, So what are you trying to say mate ;-)no don't hold back, get it off your chest pal.
7

Postmark-55,

China, 10/10/2008 07:14:04
#6 Jim A,
Hi Jim, how's life treating you these days?
Sorry about beating around the bush, next time I'll try to be more direct about my feelings regarding those lovely Catholics.;>)
8

Media 1,

cape town 10/10/2008 07:29:16
If we are totally honest with ourselves we must admit that the pope back then was in a precarious position. I suppose he could have spoken out against the Hitler regime, but what would that have helped? By keeping quiet he was able to preserve the church for future generations to enjoy.

That said, the church itself has its own debt to pay to society. If we are going to denounce the Hitler regime for its obvious ills then we must strive for consistency by denoucing the Catholic Church for its crimes against humanity. Time may heal wounds, but it doesnt erase history. The Hitler regime was brutal, the Catholic Church was just as brutal! Lets be consistent and remember what we are dealing with here.

The problem the church has in the modern era is trying to balance the lies of the past. If you remember, it was only in 1992 that the RCC officially recognised Galileo's findings regarding the Earth and the centre of the universe. Had they recognised this science 300 years before it would have been fatal for them, so lies, deceit and cover up are an all important part of this institutions existence. To denouce past popes who were involved in mass murder would be to acknowledge that they are not infallible, thus the entire foundation of the church would be severely compromised.

Once an organisation relies on lies, deceit and cover up - it will always rely on it.

Consistency please - the Hitler regime and the RCC are essentially one and the same, they just dispensed their hatred in different ways.
9

Richardinho,

10/10/2008 07:43:45
Can't believe this one escaped the eyes of the Hootsmon censors.
Just wait till the bigot-trolls all come out of their caves-it's gonna be carnage!
10

carrottop,

Dumfries 10/10/2008 07:48:52
Last Saturday evening I prayed for sunshine for Sunday and the sun shone, can I be a saint too.
11

Richardinho,

10/10/2008 07:55:43
Elsewhere on this site there's a story about how the British supported Stalin, one of the largest mass murderers in history.
A little about pots and kettles perchance?
12

Guga II,

Rockall 10/10/2008 08:37:16
#11.

More garbage. We supported Russia, our ally in the fight against Hitler, as well you know. That is entirely different to a man who is supposedly a leader of a particular religion and who did not stand up to be counted but, instead, used the situation to better his churches finances.

13

Jim A,

10/10/2008 08:52:55
#7 Postmark, doin just fine here mate, how's you? and your wife, is the bump still doing ok and growing well? Well I have to say not all the Catholics are brainwashed, I married one though not one you'll find who has any kind words for her church. I think it stems back to her school days when her and the other pupils were terrorized by nutcase nuns. Man some of the stories about her school days are pretty scary. Had that been my kid I'd have been round there showing them the errors of their ways. I asked her why her parents never complained about some of the treatment, simple answer, they are good old fashioned (brainwashed) devout catholics who never critized the church, it's schools or it's ways.
14

Boy Wonder,

10/10/2008 09:07:02
Saints?? Do people still believe in this rot?? All it really is a salve to the conscience. I thought the public understood that by now.

Centuries ago, we created demi-gods out of ancestral heroes to intercede with the gods for us ... then along came the Jews who made them angels. Followed by the Christians who made them saints.

Most religions have a quasi-divine class of beings we would call saints. Ant it all merely superstitious flummery designed to keep us under the tyranny of religion!

Hig time we were done with all of it!!
15

Ted Crilly,

Craggy Island 10/10/2008 09:11:57
There were no questions asked about Pius XII until the play "The Deputy" was first performed in Berlin in 1963.

It's author, Rolf Hochhuth, was an East German in the pay of the KGB.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1400670.ece

Pius XII was right not to condemn the holocaust in explicitly harsh terms. In the one country where the Catholic Bishops did - the Netherlands - the Nazis responded by intensifying their persecution of the Jews. A greater percentage of Jews were deported and murdered from the Netherlands than from any other western country.

From the end of the war until the mid-60's, Pius XII was universally respected for his efforts to help Jews during WWII, including by such prominent Jewsish people as Golda Meier and Albert Einstein.
16

Maximus,

Roberton 10/10/2008 09:12:16
#10, Yes - we are all called to be saints.
17

Ted Crilly,

Craggy Island 10/10/2008 09:16:45
Golda Meier, Prime Minister of Israel, on the death of Pius XII, 1958:

"We share in the grief of humanity. When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the pope was raised for its victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out about great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace."
18

Maximus,

Roberton 10/10/2008 09:18:29
#16, Well said - shame most of the bloggers on this site, including an earlier rant from some calling themselves Jaws, aren't aware of all the facts.

It is perhaps also intersting to note that Rabbi David G. Dalin's counters John Cromwell's 'Hitler's Pope' book. In fact it has been noted that even John Cromwell himself has changed his views.

This link may help ... http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=2429
19

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:19:58
The New York Times commenting on Pius XII Christmas message of 1942:

"This Christmas more than ever Pope Pius XII is a lonely voice crying out in the silence of a continent. The pulpit whence he speaks is more than ever like the Rock in which the Church was founded, a tiny island lashed and surrounded by a sea of war... When a leader hound impartially to nations on both sides condemns as heresy the new form of national state which subordinates everything to itself; when he declares that whoever wants peace must protect against ’arbitrary attacks’ the ‘juridical safety of individual’; when he assails violent occupation of territory, the exile and persecution of human beings for no reason other than race or political opinion; when he says that people must fight for a just and decent peace, a ‘total peace’— the ‘impartial’ judgment is like a verdict in our high court of justice."
20

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:22:41
Nazi Foreign Minister, Jaochim von Ribbentrop at the Nuremburg war trials:

"I do not recollect [how many] at the moment, but I know we had a whole deskful of protests from the Vatican. There were very many we did not even read or reply to."

21

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:24:39
Dr Raphael Cantoni, of Italy's Jewish Assistance Committee:

"The Church and the papacy have saved Jews as much and insofar as they could Christians. Six million of my co-religionists have been murdered by the Nazis... but there would have been many more victims had it not been for the efficacious intervention of Pius XII."
22

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:28:04
The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Emilio Zolli, who converted to Catholicism (taking the baptismal name, "Eugenio" after Pius XII) after the war:

"No hero in all history was more militant, more fought against, none more heroic than Pius XII in pursuing the work of true charity, and this on behalf of all the suffering children of God."
23

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:29:21
Albert Einstein, speaking in Time magazine December 23rd 1940:

"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth."
24

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:31:39
Some wartime newspaper reports:

Jewish Advocate, Boston, Jan. 26, 1940:
"Vatican Radio denounces Nazi acts in Poland"

The New York Times, Christmas Day,1941:
"The voice of Pius XII is the only voice in the silence and darkness that developed in Europe this Christmas ... He is the only ruler left on the continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all."

Canadian Jewish Chronicle, Sept. 4, 1942:

"Laval spurns pope; 25,000 Jews in France arrested for deportation."

Jewish Chronicle, London, Oct. 29, 1943:
"Jewish hostages in Rome: Vatican protests."
25

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:34:44
Rabbi David Dalin, former Professor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America:

"We have much documentation, which shows that in no way did he remain silent. What is more, he spoke out loudly against Hitler and almost everyone saw him as an opponent of the Nazi regime. During the German occupation of Rome, Pius XII secretly instructed the Catholic clergy to use all means to save as many human lives as possible."

26

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 09:35:47
Rabbi Dalin, speaking in 2001:

"In Rome alone, 155 convents and monasteries gave refuge to some 5,000 Jews. For nine months, 60 Jews lived with the Jesuits at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and many others were hidden in the basement of the Biblical Institute. Following Pius XII's instructions, risking their own lives, many priests and monks made possible the salvation of hundreds of Jewish lives."

27

The Equaliser,

10/10/2008 09:45:58
Who really cares who Pope Benedict praises. Thankfully the majority of people in the modern world have the ability to think for themselves and can see through the machinations of religions such as Catholiscm.

It is laughable that people are expected to believe that the Pope and other mere mortals of the Saint making dept of The Vatican.com have the right to grant some special supernatural power to a another long dead person of their ilk.

Religion for who's benefit?

28

Maximus,

Roberton 10/10/2008 11:55:27
#28, You are free to think what you want, as I am. But as Ted Crilly and many others are doing is pointing to the facts. Something many on this blog appear to be unaware of.
29

Curious Yellow,

Edinburgh 10/10/2008 11:58:33
#28 - methinks you have the wrong end of the stick entirely mate. The pope and other mere mortals don't "grant some special supernatural power to a another long dead person." The point is that the "supernatural power" has been demonstrated to their satisfaction - i.e. it was there first!
30

Guga II,

Rockall 10/10/2008 12:12:20
#20 to #27.

I assume your are "Father" Ted.
31

Vincent-W,

10/10/2008 12:52:14
Guga,

Have you read the 1932 concordat? I suggest you do!

"Pius XII's pontificate began on the eve of World War II. In the 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, drafted by Pope Pius XII when he was still a cardinal,[121] Pope Pius XI warned Catholics that anti-Semitism is incompatible with Christianity.[122] Read from the pulpits of all German Catholic churches, it described Hitler as an insane and arrogant prophet and was the first official denunciation of Nazism made by any major organization."
32

Ted Crilly,

10/10/2008 12:57:07
#31,

Yes I am, and before you say anything, that money was just resting in my account.
33

Postmark-55,

China, 10/10/2008 14:23:09
#13 Jim A,
Hi Jim, sorry to get back to you so late, I was called back in to work, these things happen from time to time. Life is great though and the wife is doing fine thank you, and yes the bump is definitely getting much bigger. We should have an addition to the family sometime this January, but we're not sure of the date.
I feel sorry for your wife that she had to go through that kind of upbringing, but that seemed to be par for the course those days. I guess it still is for some folk, but hopefully not too much any more.
Now let's just hope that we don't have a total meltdown of the economy eh, I don't think any corner of the world is immune to that, eventhough mainland China is faring pretty well right now, but that ripple effect is bound to come here sooner or later, I hope that I'm wrong about that though. Whether it's government or religion though, they play with lives and just take you for all you have eh? Nothing but effen crooks, damn Jim, it ain't right but continues to happen.
I haven't seen that happen here in China though, we do have a sound and caring government in place and they've had a rough year here in 2008, worst winter in 50 years, monster of an earthquake and now the milk scandal but they're holding it all together and I hope that they can continue to do so.
34

,

10/10/2008 15:46:04
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
35

James Donald,

Newbridge 10/10/2008 18:50:12
#34 Postmark-55,Red China - Don't they have Facebook or Bebo in the workers' paradise?
36

santa cova,

London 10/10/2008 20:54:34
Angello Roncalli,later to become Pope John xxiii,saved thousands of Jews from the gas chambers. He adopted the method of baptising Jews into the Catholic faith.However when the war ended he returned the baptismal certs to the chief Rabbi in Rome,with instructions to have the certs destroyed,thus reversing the system.
37

santa cova,

10/10/2008 21:02:47
#8 Media 1 Your anti Catholic rants are well known to all of us who read these threads.Scotland as a nation has moved on. We are a multi-faith society,most of us believing in a live and let live way of life.Just in case you havent heard,the new secretary of state for Scotland is a Catholic.I bet that little bit of news has you beating your 17th century brain aginst the nearest wall. lol! Thats if you have a brain. heee heeee heeeee.
38

Media 1,

cape town 10/10/2008 22:21:29
santa cova

Your accusations about me being anti catholic just wont cut it - because this has nothing to do with me!

Whether a person is viewed as anti catholic or not is irrelivant, the bottom line is whether or not the church lied about Galileo's findings. Did the church in days gone by behave in a manner that can be described as inhumane?

You can accuse anyone you like for being anti catholic, but please remember that the organisation you are defending has at certain times in its history been anti-human!

And that is my point - people cannot forgive the Hitler regime for what they did and in showing consistency we should not be forgiving the RCC either.
39

Postmark-55,

China, 11/10/2008 01:16:59
#36 James Donald,
We have facebook, what's your point, you getting friendly with me?
40

James Donald,

Newbridge 11/10/2008 02:43:37
#40 Postmark-55,Red China - "We have facebook, what's your point, you getting friendly with me?" - As if. That'll be the day I sign the Internationale, that is to say, never. I just wondered why you use this site for chit chat rather than comments on the story (and by comments I do not mean your demented rants at the Catholic Church).
41

Postmark-55,

China, 11/10/2008 03:15:46
#41 James Donald,
As I have told you many times before, I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night. If I use this site to chat then at least my identity stays intact, as will everyone else's. That includes yours.
BY the way, everything I've said about the Catholic Church has been true, I never realized you're a member.
42

James Donald,

Newbridge 11/10/2008 04:32:05
#42 Postmark-55,Red China - "If I use this site to chat then at least my identity stays intact, as will everyone else's" - So everyone has to put up with the mundane details of your private life. Ho, hum.
Everything you have said about the Catholic Church is vitriol and bile but that is to be expected from a Communist.
I am a Protestant and I have never been a member of the Catholic Church - hope you are not going to start making up stories about me again with information from invisible friends.

 

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