Blessing
'Hitler's Pope'
It is a long standing tradition in
the Catholic - and other - churches to promote the names of those who are
favored by the church; those the church wishes to beatify following their
death. A number of years ago, following the death of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu,
Pope John Paul II beatified her as The Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
Beatification reflects a recognition
by the church of the unique relationship between the beatified person and The
Lord (those so honored are ascribed the title "Blessed"). Many popes
were beatified, commencing with Peter in the year 63 [or maybe Saint Linus -
the history of the church is somehow vague about that], Pope Adrian [or
Hadrian] III, who died in 885, and many more. Not all of them were pure.
St. Augustine testified about
himself in his book "Confessions" that his approach to the laws of
morality between men and women was "flexible" to say the least. The
honorable Medici family did not hesitate to kill and bribe, but holy they were.
Beatification of a human being is
not in recognition of one act. The Egyptian hermit Saint Abraham the Poor
(known also as Saint Abraham the Child) lived in sanctity all his life. Mother
Teresa dedicated all her life to the needy. Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was
the first American woman to be beatified in recognition for years of social
work with orphans.
For years the Catholic Church has
been considering the beatification of a man whose biography was titled by its
author John Cornwell as "Hitler's Pope." When the Church considers
the beatification of a pope who led the Christian World during the darkest of
all times, perhaps the church's advisers should also consider the real attitude
of Eugemio Pacelli or Pius the XII, as pope and as Germany's cardinal.
Did the advisers seek to understand
why, as cardinal (Secretary of State of the Vatican), Pius insisted on
cooperation with the Nazi party and the withdrawal of all support to the
Catholic political parties in Germany? Did they consider his demand that the
supporters of the same parties vote for the Nazi party?
Adolf Hitler knew that he had no
chance in reaching his goal to lead Germany if the Catholics did not support
him. In his book "Mein Kampf," which he wrote in Cell No. 9 of the
Landsberg Prison fortress following the Beer Hall Putch in Munich, Hitler
stated that a conflict with the Catholics would be a disaster for the party.
Alas, Pius, still the Secretary of State of the Vatican, thought it wise to
cooperate with the dictator and to sign the famous Concordat with Hitler in
1933.
Heinrich Brüning (Chancellor of
Germany between 1930-1932) understood Pius XII's approach, namely that Vatican
diplomacy is a tool to be considered. He did not appreciate democracy and
Parliamentarianism and favored a harsh concentration of government. In other
words, dictatorship.
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| Pope Pias XII |
Did the advisers to the Catholic
Church learn of the cardinal's behavior while still in Munich? Are they
familiar with the dreadful pictures of the Jews of Rome being marched by the
Gestapo under the window of Pius XII while he looked on in silence? Why did
Pius XII not cry out in protest about the Jews ordeal? Why did he never issue a
statement of support or sympathy?
And how is it that under Pius XII,
leading Nazis managed to escape justice under the umbrella of the Church while
also smuggling property robbed from victims of the Nazi regime?
It is by now well known that during
the course of 1942 the Vatican received information about the calamity in
Europe. Many historians will confirm that a protest by the Vatican would have
severely compromised the Nazis' efforts to annihilate the Jews.
Pius XII's silence is even more
stormy when considering his furious condemnation of communism in 1949 and his
decision to excommunicate from the Church every member in the communist party
worldwide.
If Pius XII really wanted, he could
have shattered the propaganda machine of Paul Joseph Goebbels, as he knew the
truth. But he did not do it. He kept his silence, a silence that helped guide
Catholics in Germany to believe that Hitler was right, that the propaganda
machine of the Third Reich was telling the truth.
Pius XII, as a priest, a cardinal
and a pope, was a cold politician who destroyed the strength of the Catholic
political parties in Germany, and at least in silence, cooperated with the
Nazis.
Do the people in the Vatican really
believe that a man with such a problematic past should "communicate
between man and God," as this is the sole reason for the beatification.
Does Pius resemble Mother Teresa? Abraham the Poor? He is more of a cruel
politician who surrounded himself with the strength of Catholicism in Germany
for his own benefits.
It could be that the reason for the
beatification of Pius XII is to demonstrate that the Church acted morally all
along, that the Church under Pius was a good church deserving recognition and
not condemnation. But such rewriting of history does not befit anyone who has
intellectual and historical integrity. I believe that Benedictus XIII holds the
truth and will not withdraw the stigma surrounding Pius XII.
Even if we assume that Pius XII was
just naive and politically blind, does he deserve credit for that? How many
streets are named in England after Nevil Chamberlain? Does the Vatican assume
that a man responsible for such a colossal failure as Pius XII deserves
recognition? I would reconsider.
Dr. Jaffe is a prominent Jerusalem attorney active in Israeli politics and
charities, and the head of The Great Synagogue of Jerusalem.
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