Mgr Charles Vella
Pope is victim of prejudice
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Rome's synagogue stirred considerable controversy. It has not died out, though on the whole it was a success. The synagogue, situated along the river Tiber, and the Isola Tiberina, was declared by the Pope Paul IV as the Jewish ghetto. It was from here that the Nazis, in collaboration with Mussolini's Blackshirts, kidnapped Jews of all ages to the German death camps. Only 17 returned alive and five were present for the Pope's visit.
Though the meeting of the Pope with the Jewish community created a climate of fraternity, like his previous visit to the synagogue of Cologne and of New York, a dark cloud still looms over Benedict. The time has come to clear the air and to deepen Christian-Jewish relations through dialogue.
The hostility against the Pope's visit was not only due to the Church's silence about the extermination of millions of Jews, but the Vatican's decision on the "heroic virtues" and the possible beatification of Pope Pius XII.
Some very heavy accusations have been levelled at the pontificate of Pope Pacelli, known as 'Paston Angelicus'. Since 1963, when Rolf Hochhuth staged the play The Vicar, Pius XII has been labelled as 'Hitler's Pope', the 'Silent Pope', 'Adolf II' or the 'German Pope'. The very active years he spent in Germany as Vatican Nuncio made him pro-German.
Pope John Paul II did his utmost to reach out to, and befriend the Jews. He called them "our elder brothers", while Benedict just limited himself by calling them "brothers". John Paul II was the first to visit Rome's synagogue and sought reconciliation in front of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
Benedict has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor. The difference lies in the fact that whatever the Pope does or says falls under a magnifying glass. He does not come across as friendly, warm, open or simpatico in the same way as John Paul II.
I was very struck by an article in Corriere della Sera by the Jewish scholar Bernard-Henri Lévy, two days after the Pope's visit. The writer said: "We need to cast away the bad faith (malafede), and the misinformation about Benedict XVI.
"Since his election he has been under constant investigation as being 'ultraconservative' by the mass media (as if a Pope could be anything else but 'conservative'). Considerable insistence has been made through allusions, if not with caustic remarks, to the 'German Pope', or the 'post-Nazi in a cassock'. The texts of his talks, like the one when he visited Auschwitz in 2006, have been twisted."
Like Pius XII, Benedict has become "a victim of prejudice", writes the Jewish scholar. In his speech at Rome's synagogue Benedict XVI asked for reconciliation and condemned the long- standing "furore" of anti-Semitism, which also "included Catholics".
Pope Benedict recalled how Pope John XXII and the Vatican Council opened "a new era" with the Jews, through documents and continual dialogue. He mentioned the pilgrimages to the Holy Land of his predecessors, the diplomatic relations, the joint Catholic and Jewish Commission (which met again after the visit to the synagogue), the promise to open the Vatican archives to examine the papers of Pacelli's pontificate and the teaching of Vatican II, which are today irrevocable.
What stirred Jewish public opinion worldwide, was the Vatican's declaration on the beatification of Pius XII. The well-known Rabbi Laras even boycotted the Pope's visit. The objections of some Jewish groups are unjustified and a result of prejudice. As a prominent New York Rabbi stated, "This is an internal matter of the Vatican".
Benedict XVI recalled at the synagogue how Pius XII opened the doors of monasteries, convents churches and religious institutions to shelter Jews of all ages. The case of the Vatican and of Santa Marta convent in Florence, are outstanding examples. Many Jews, including the Israeli government, have often thanked Catholics for the risks they took in giving hospitality.
Lévy, in his article, mentioned the "silent Pius XII broadcasts on the Vatican radio (for example, on Christmas 1941 and 1942). On his death, homage was given by the Prime Minister, Golda Meir, who said, "during the 10 years of Nazi terror, while our people suffered a terrible martyrdom, the voice of the Pope rose to condemn these executioners".
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Joe Xuereb
Feb 15th 2010, 16:14
The Catholic faith exhorts us to forgive (and forget?). However, I have worked out my own flawless formula for this forgiveness business. If someone does me wrong I will have to get an acknowledgement of that wrongdoing. And then, only then, might I be able to forgive(?) and move on (I do not aspire to sainthood by flagellating myself, thank you very much). If I do not seek, and get, an admission of wrongdoing and an apology (who cares? at this juncture), then the malfattore (wrong-doer) will believe his/her slate is always squeaky clean and ready for the next attack on me, and again, and again. And worst of all, feeling nothing but contempt towards me, and my self-respect/esteem ever in shreds. What am I? a worm? Quoting the Monseigneur: 'John Paul II.was.the.first.to. visit.Rome's.synagogue.and.sought. reconciliation.in.front.of.the.Wailing.Wall.in.Jerusalem'. Unfortunately, no amount of encore visits to wailing walls in Jerusalem or even Jericho, and entreaties for reconciliation will wash unless there is an open admission of wrong-doing. To cite just one example: the 'salvation' of Jewish children, placed with RC institutions/families/whatever and the Church's reluctance to return them to their legitimate Jewish parents, thus relinquishing the newly-acquired RC lambs.
renald williams
Feb 14th 2010, 16:46
Just for info... may we neither judge nor imitate...
During Pope Pius XII support was given to...
Von Papen, Vatican official, who was Hitler’s political ally.
Tiso, Jesuit priest ,who wascalled martyr of religion, he was Slovakia’s dictator, Hitler’s ally and sent Jews to Auschwitz .
Priests, who tought in Christian temples, that all Jews were perfid.
Bishops, who tought their parish people, that to feed a hungry Jew was a mortal sin.
Ante Pavelic, Croatia’s dictator, who murdered Jews or sent them to concentration camps, as excommunicated human beings.
Franciscan priests, who murdered Jews, like Priest Filipovitch, commander of Jasenovac concentration camp.
Bishop Alois Udal and Priest Bruni Ventinelli, who gave Vatican passports, to concentration camp commanders, like Josef Mengele.
Those who opposed American BLACK soldiers, to act as security guards in Rome....
Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi
Feb 14th 2010, 16:09
Pope Pius XII is a controversial figure, he certainly was a first class enabler, for example,
even as Cardinal, Pacelli's actions regarding Hitler were controversial. Hitler took power on January 30, 1933. On July 20 that same year, Pacelli and German diplomat Franz Von Papen signed a concordat that granted freedom of practice to the Roman Catholic Church. In return, the Church agreed to separate religion from politics. This diminished the influence of the Catholic Center Party and the Catholic Labor unions. The concordat was generally viewed as a diplomatic victory for Hitler.And without Hitler installing Pavelic in power in Croatia in 1941, there would have been no Serbian-Jewish holocaust in Croatia, Bosnia and Krajina. The masters of Hitler were the same masters of Pavelic ,the Roman catholic hierarchy ruled by Pope Pius XII overseen by Superior General Ledochowski .In late August 1942, after more than 200,000 Ukrainian Jews had been killed, Ukrainian Metropolitan Andrej Septyckyj wrote a long letter to the Pope, referring to the German government as a regime of terror and corruption, more diabolical than that of the Bolsheviks. The Pope replied by quoting verses from Psalms and advising Septyckyj to "bear adversity with serene patience."
William P Flynn
Feb 14th 2010, 12:08
What was Golda Meir thinking of? The word Jew never passed PiusXII's lips once from 1939 to 1945. Previously it only passed his lips in derogatory terms; for example describing the Communists as "Jewish -looking".
At the height of the Holocaust in 1941 and 1942, he entertained and regaled at the Vatican, fascist leaders like Ante Pavelic of Croatia.
Pius XII will for ever deservedly be under the Unjust Column at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel. He is the embodiment of the Catholic Hierarchy's collaboration with all the Fascist dictators of Europe from Franco to Hitler.
Such support continued post-war in what was termed by the allies as the "rat -lines" of escaping Nazis and fascists being spirited to Catholic countries where they were ensconced via the diplomatic efforts of the Vatican.
Benedict is his own worse enemy and the press is always watching out for his next clanger. The fact he sounds like Colonel Klink doesn't help him either.
From my reading, Benedict and Pacelli would have got on famously as contemporaries.