Pius XII, njc

[vince]

Joseph Francis wrote:

Of course, I don't agree with this at all. This book
amounts to not only inaccuracy but also libel (if a
dead person can be libelled?).
It seems to be a fashion at the moment to write
anti-catholic books. As one of the reviews on the site
states -

Oh come on,  The old "they are picking on me defense."

Cornwell [the writer] does tell a compelling--and
critical--story. But "Hitler's Pope" pretends to have
the scholarly backup it just doesn't have. Frequently,
Cornwell quotes without even naming sources. Even when
he does name sources, they are often second and third
hand.

Untrue. And much material came from the Vatican archives. It is an impressive piece of scholarship.

What makes Cornwell's book disturbing is that he
maintians his argument that the Catholic Church was
cowardly in failing to criticize the fascist
governments of the Second World War, but then recounts
the enormous risk that Pius XII made in his role in
the assasination attempt against Hitler. Is this
really Hitler's Pope?

Pius was in no way involved in the Admiral Cannaris conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, in no way. In no way. As well, the book does not suggest cowardice of the Church but rather Pius' lack of concern at best and tacit approval of measures against the Jews - not including the gas chambers, but by that time the road had been paved - because of Pius believed that fascism was a great defense against communism.
Lest us not forget who negotiated and signed the concordat with the Nazis.

See my last post with links .

If you want to play links games, I have a wall full of books that I can give the links to. I have been studying the role of all of the Church - Roman, Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, in Holocaust since 1972.

I hardly think that prominent Jewish leaders would
have thanked the Pope and even converted to Catholicsm
(Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli became a Catholic
in 1944 after being so impressed with Pius work during
the war), if the Pope had been "Hitler's Pope".

So in the world of diplomacy there is a kiss-ass honorary awards given back and forth as part of the game. I sure Henry Kissinger has a closet full of awards, too. And because the Vatican has kept secret its archives, the depth of the involvement of Pius was not fully realized.

There were many people of faith who resisted Holocaust and many paid with their lives. Pius is no way resisted anything but what he saw as encroachments on his papal power, the main concern of his pontificate.

As long as we deny the past and deny responsibility, we fool ourselves and dishonor the dead.

Vince