-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.ccg.org/_domain/holocaustrevealed.org/Church/Vatican_Hiding.htm Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.ccg.org/_domain/holocaustrevealed.org/Church/Vatican_Hiding.h tm">What is the Vatican Hiding</A> ----- Much more at site. Om K ----- Related Links Home Badges of the Holocaust Camp List Holocaust Timeline Holocaust Memorium Christian Churches of God Original Catholic Church What Is The Vatican Hiding? The Vatican�s Complicity in Genocide in Fascist Croatia: The Suppressed Chapter of Holocaust History. by Barry Lituchy Fourteen years ago the U.S. Government de-classified the now famous "La Vista Report" of May 15, 1947, a top-secret U.S. Army Intelligence report documenting the Vatican�s role in aiding the escape of numerous high-ranking Nazi war criminals, among them Ante Pavelic, fascist leader of wartime Croatia; Franz Stangel, Commander of Treblinka; Eduard Roschmann, "the Butcher of Riga"; Klaus Barbie, "the Butcher of Lyon"; SS General Walter Rauff, inventor of the mobile gas truck; Adolf Eichmann, "architect of the Holocaust"; and tens of thousands of others. Writing about the document prior to its release, internationally renowned Nazi hunter Charles R. Allen Jr. noted that in light of the revelations contained in this and other classified documents about the role of the Vatican in the Holocaust it would be logical and proper that a commission of inquiry into these concerns including Jewish and Catholic scholars ought to be established to locate and examine all documentation in all relevant archives so that collectively they may determine what role both the Vatican and US Intelligence played in aiding and abetting the escape of some of history�s most notorious murderers. (1) Logical, that is, if one assumed that the Vatican truly wanted to get to the bottom of what really happened, and maybe even try to atone for some of the injustices it committed. But fourteen years after the fact, with the release of the Vatican�s official statement on "the mistakes" of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust, we now can see how overly optimistic that assumption was. The "La Vista Report" was documentary evidence that opened a window on a suppressed chapter of the Holocaust: the role of the Vatican in the Holocaust. The Vatican�s report "We Remember, a Reflection on the Shoah (Holocaust)," issued this past March makes it abundantly clear that the Catholic Church is determined to do all that it can to shut that window as tightly as it can, and to keep it shut forever. Forget the idea of a commission�the Vatican has no intention of opening its archives or admitting anything other than "...the errors and failures of those sons and daughters of the Church" who did not "give every possible assistance to those being persecuted, and in particular ... Jews." Far from suggesting that the Vatican did anything wrong, the document instead tries to portray the role of the Church during the Holocaust in a mostly positive light, insisting that "many" members of the Church did "give every possible assistance"�implying that those who didn�t were a minority, and going on to claim that the Vatican categorically condemned and opposed fascism and Nazism, making reference to pronouncements that at best are equivocal. It also claims that "Jewish communities and Jewish leaders expressed their thanks for all that had been done for them...," a cynical manipulation of a half-truth if there ever was one. And to top it all off the document tries to argue that fascism and genocide were incompatible with Catholic teachings: "...the work of a thoroughly neo-pagan regime. Its anti-Semitism had its roots outside of Christianity...." (2) Certainly, this was not the view of the tens of thousands of Catholic clergy all around the world who warmly embraced fascism and joined its ranks from Berlin to Detroit (Have they forgotten our own "dear" Father Coughlin?). What all of this amounts to is a staggering lie of gigantic proportions, a total whitewash of the crimes committed by the Catholic Church and the Papacy before, during and after the Holocaust. It is worthwhile that we now review some of the media response to this deliberate falsification of history before we examine some of the facts this most recent Vatican document conveniently "forgot" to mention. The Vatican document is the result of a sophisticated public relations campaign aimed at improving its image with both Jews and the American public by shirking responsibility for its crimes before, during and after the Holocaust while pinning all of the blame on others. This necessarily involves a deliberate falsification and suppression of the historical record. The New York Times was correct when it predicted that the document would try to put as much distance between itself and the Holocaust as possible. Even anti-Semitism is portrayed as the result of "wrong-headed Christian thinkers," not the papacy or its clergy.(3) As one CNN reporter put it, "the Pope has steered clear of blaming the church itself."(4) Thus, the Vatican�s "memory" is highly selective. The "errors" the Vatican is willing to recall are limited only to those of omission, not commission. In other words, the errors of the Church during the Holocaust are defined only as the silence or indifference of the Church in the face of crimes of genocide, a failure to speak out. The Vatican�and apparently many journalists�would like us to believe that this is the limit of wrongdoing. Defined out of the discussion are complicity in or support for these crimes�not to mention active participation in deportations, expropriations, forced conversions, and mass murder of a specific people, that is to say, genocide itself. As long as the role of the Vatican in the Holocaust is defined in this way, it safely avoids serious examination of the much worse crimes it did commit. We shall return to these matters presently. First, some credit should be paid to those who have openly criticized the Vatican for its mendacity. To its credit CNN presented an interview with Israel�s Chef Rabbi, Meir Lau, who was forthright in his condemnation of this atrociously retrograde document and who focused attention on the actual historical role of Pope Pius XII, whom he called "an accomplice to Nazi murderers."(5) There are many good reasons for this designation: Pius XII�s (then Eugenio Pacelli) efforts as Papal Nuncio in Germany were central to bringing Germany�s Catholic Center Party close to Nazism in the 1920�s, and then to cementing the agreement between the Vatican and Hitler known as the Concordat of 1933. Pacelli�s support for Hitlerism in its early stages is historical record, and preventing the disclosure of the full scope of this support is one of the reasons the Vatican will not open its archives from this period. Indeed, Pius XII brings us to the real heart of the matter, and Pope John Paul II�s response to the question of the wartime Pope�s culpability reveals the real design behind the Vatican�s report. John Paul II has consistently defended Pius XII, often in a truculent manner. The current Pope has made it clear that he will do his part to uphold the doctrine of Papal infallibility. One of his speeches during a trip to Germany in 1995 even contained a passage attacking all criticisms of Pius XII as "cheap polemics."(6) This kind of attack is part of a pre-emptive strategy aimed at creating an unreceptive climate for scholarship or discussion dealing with the role of the Vatican. Once again the Church finds itself fighting to prove that the world is flat. But more importantly it exposes the motives behind this recent report, which shares certain similarities with some interpretations of the Holocaust. By placing blame on wrong-headed individuals in the Church and denying any wrong doing by the Pope or Vatican, the Church is shifting responsibility from its leaders and from the institution itself to the rank and file followers, in effect side stepping all blame whatsoever. Thus, the Church really is completely innocent�it�s the sheep, not the shepherd who are responsible! The similarities with the manner in which the ruling elites in Germany prefer to interpret the Holocaust are quite striking. In Germany, authors like Daniel Goldhagen are all the rage because books like Hitler�s Willing Executioners blur responsibility for the rise of Nazism by taking the focus off of the capitalist and aristocratic elites and institutions who backed Hitler (many of which were left unscathed by the so-called de-Nazification of post-war Germany) and putting it on the popular culture and working masses instead. Not having their own Goldhagen to rely on, the Catholic Church has to hustle this cheap shell game itself. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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