Thursday, May 31, 2012

Hitler, Nazis and the Catholic Church

Some memorable quotes by Jews during and after World War II regarding the Nazis and the Catholic Church


Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I had never any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom.
Albert Einstein. Quoted in Time Magazine, December 23, 1940.

We share in the grief of humanity [at the death of Pius XII]…. When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace.
Golda Meir (Former Israeli Prime Minister)


No keener rebuke has come to Nazism than from Pope Pius XI and his successor, Pope Pius XII.
Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary of America

In the most difficult hours of which we Jews of Romania have passed through, the generous assistance of the Holy See…was decisive and salutary. It is not easy for us to find the right words to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the supreme pontiff, who offered a large sum to relieve the sufferings of deported Jews…. The Jews of Romania will never forget these facts of historic importance.
Rabbi Alexander Safran, chief rabbi of Romania

The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion, which form the very foundation of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in this world.
Rabbi Isaac Herzog, chief rabbi of Israel

I told [Pope Pius XII] that my first duty was to thank him, and through him the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public for all they had done in the various countries to rescue Jews…. We are deeply grateful to the Catholic Church.
Moshe Sharett (who later became Israel’s first foreign minister and second prime minister)


Some memorable quotes from the New York Times (1935 - 1944) regarding the animosity felt between the Catholic Church and the Nazis.

• "NAZIS WARNED IN LOURDES": reporting the protest in 1935 of then Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) against "superstitions of race and blood." When Pacelli was elected Pope on March 2, 1939, the Times reported "nearly general applause around the world," except in Germany.

• "POPE CONDEMNS DICTATORS, TREATY VIOLATORS, RACISM": three-column front-page headline reporting the Pope’s first encyclical, October 28, 1939.

• "VATICAN DENOUNCES ATROCITIES IN POLAND; GERMANS CALLED EVEN WORSE THAN RUSSIANS" (January 23, 1940).

• "JEWS’ RIGHTS DEFENDED": reporting the Pope’s "burning words to [Nazi Foreign Minister] Ribbentrop in defense of the Jews in Germany and Poland" (March 14, 1940).

• "Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas. . . . The Pope put himself squarely against Nazism" (December 25, 1941).
• "The papacy is throwing the whole weight of its publicizing facilities into an exposé" of Nazi atrocities. (through Vatican radio): January 24, 1942.

• "POPE IS SAID TO PLEAD FOR JEWS LISTED FOR REMOVAL FROM FRANCE" (August 6, 1942). And on August 27: "VICHY SEIZES JEWS; POPE PIUS IGNORED."

• "This Christmas [1942] more than ever [the Pope] is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent": editorial on the Pope’s reference to "the hundreds of thousands who, . . . solely because of their nation or race, have been condemned to death or progressive extinction."
• On August 21, 1944, Pulitzer Prize laureate Anne O’Hare McCormick wrote in the Times that the Pope had given "first priority" to saving Jews.

• "Under the Pope’s direction the Holy See did an exemplary job of sheltering and championing the victims of the Nazi-Fascist regime. . . . None [in Rome] doubts that the general feeling of the Roman Curia was anti-Fascist and very strongly anti-Nazi": Times reporter Herbert L. Matthews, October 15, 1944.


Did Pope Pius XII Help the Jews? Yes of course.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Living Saint Jailed

The Catholic Leader. Published: 13 May 2012 By: Peter Bugden

BRISBANE pro-life activist Graham Preston was arrested at his home on May 2 to spend eight months behind bars.

Mr Preston was arrested on charges relating to unpaid fines incurred as a result of his sit-in "rescue" actions outside abortion clinics.

He has refused to pay the fines on principle.

In previous interviews with The Catholic Leader the father of seven has said that, having spent more than a total of eight months in custody on four different occasions since he started his protest actions in 2002, "jail is no longer an unknown quantity to me".

Mr Preston, a member of Protect Life, said his conscience would not let him pay the fines, which had resulted from trying to block mothers from entering an abortion clinic to have abortions.

"My actions were completely non-violent and I believe have achieved the desired result," he said.

"For example, one of the women who worked at an abortion clinic said on oath in one court case that potential clients who came to the abortion clinic on the days I was there hadn't gone through with their appointments.

"Neither had they made new appointments.

"No doubt the witness said this to make me look bad, but I was delighted to hear my actions had this impact."

Mr Preston said his wife and seven children were supportive o0f his decision not to pay the fines although his imprisonment would be "a big challenge for them all".

He sees his situation as just "another step on the way to trying to do what any person would if they say somebody was about to be killed".

Sourced from The Catholic Leader.

Protect Life web-site.