Failing The Ultimate Test
January 17 is the date that Pope Benedict XVI has set aside to visit Rome's main synagogue. It is the date that Pope Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, who sincerely and honourable attempted to mend relations with world Jewry and Israel, established as a commemoration date in reflection of attacks against Rome's Jewish ghetto in 1793, in a promotion of Judeo-Christian reflection.
(It is also, coincidentally, the date that the Government of Canada recognized in its commemoration of a great humanitarian figure of the Second World War, in proclaiming that date to be Raoul Wallenberg Day in Canada. The date, in 1945, that this courageous Swede was arrested by Russian troops invading Hungary at the war's conclusion. Where over 100,000 Hungarian Jews were saved from mass murder thanks to Mr. Wallenberg.)
Where John Paul II initiated accommodating and forward-looking recognition of the linkage between Judaism and its holy scriptures with that of later Christianity, and sought to expunge anti-Semitism from the Holy Roman Catholic Church, his successor appears to have gone out of his way on a number of occasions to turn back the clock.
Chief among the moves - discounting the return of the Latin mass that sought the conversion of Jews, and the welcoming back to the flock of the anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson, and his ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X, the sect that Pope John Paul II excommunicated in 1988 - is the forwarding of canonization of Pope Pius XII, the "Nazi pope".
After the bestowal of the "venerable" title, sainthood would not be far behind. The president of Italy's assembly of rabbis, Giuseppe Laras preferred not to welcome Pope Benedict to the
Great Synagogue of Rome, while Rome's Chief Rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni and top Jewish representatives are pleased to host him. Welcoming the potential for further dialogue.
Many take the Catholic Church's assertion that Pius XII, pope from 1939 to 1958, saved many Jews - sheltered in Catholic institutions - at face value. That his silence was one of prudence, saving many more Jews from Nazi wrath, and just incidentally the institution of the Holy Church itself. This war-time pope had the moral responsibility to act decisively against a great evil.
He chose instead to do nothing. He might have taken the courage and strength of his moral position within the world to act, in full knowledge of his position and the support he had of over a billion of his followers who could literally bring down the wrath of God on the heads of the Nazis. He could have excommunicated Hitler and his henchmen. He could have condemned them publicly. He chose to do neither.
Those whom the Holy Church shielded were mostly Jews who had converted or who agreed to convert to Christianity. The Jewish children whose parents placed them trustingly in the hands of Church institutions were then sheltered and raised as Catholics, sometimes never knowing their true heritage. The Church refuses to release documentation to interested stakeholders.
Now, Pope Benedict, to appease his detractors, has decided to raise Pope Pius XII to sainthood on the basis of his piety, his Christian virtues in word and deed, his exhibitions of faith, hope and charity, bespeaking his activities and his conscience. Dismal, dismal failure. But in celebration of his asceticism and spirituality, Eucharistic devotion, and past diplomacy, his legacy in the Church fares well.
The caution and prudence he displayed in interacting with the German authorities during World War II, are not to be interpreted as indifference to the state of imperishable values cherishing and protecting life. That he spoke no word of condemnation when Rome was occupied and its Jews rounded up and sent to Auschwitz to their immediate death was unfortunate, but forgivable.
For he forgave himself: "Where the Pope wants to cry out loud and strong, it is expectation and silence that are unhappily often imposed upon him; where he would act and give assistance, it is patience and waiting [that are imposed]" he wrote in hearty and pious agreement with his frugality of action. He acted thus to avoid a 'greater evil'.
That particular Vicar of Christ timidly and miserably failed his test. And this one?
(It is also, coincidentally, the date that the Government of Canada recognized in its commemoration of a great humanitarian figure of the Second World War, in proclaiming that date to be Raoul Wallenberg Day in Canada. The date, in 1945, that this courageous Swede was arrested by Russian troops invading Hungary at the war's conclusion. Where over 100,000 Hungarian Jews were saved from mass murder thanks to Mr. Wallenberg.)
Where John Paul II initiated accommodating and forward-looking recognition of the linkage between Judaism and its holy scriptures with that of later Christianity, and sought to expunge anti-Semitism from the Holy Roman Catholic Church, his successor appears to have gone out of his way on a number of occasions to turn back the clock.
Chief among the moves - discounting the return of the Latin mass that sought the conversion of Jews, and the welcoming back to the flock of the anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson, and his ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X, the sect that Pope John Paul II excommunicated in 1988 - is the forwarding of canonization of Pope Pius XII, the "Nazi pope".
After the bestowal of the "venerable" title, sainthood would not be far behind. The president of Italy's assembly of rabbis, Giuseppe Laras preferred not to welcome Pope Benedict to the
Great Synagogue of Rome, while Rome's Chief Rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni and top Jewish representatives are pleased to host him. Welcoming the potential for further dialogue.
Many take the Catholic Church's assertion that Pius XII, pope from 1939 to 1958, saved many Jews - sheltered in Catholic institutions - at face value. That his silence was one of prudence, saving many more Jews from Nazi wrath, and just incidentally the institution of the Holy Church itself. This war-time pope had the moral responsibility to act decisively against a great evil.
He chose instead to do nothing. He might have taken the courage and strength of his moral position within the world to act, in full knowledge of his position and the support he had of over a billion of his followers who could literally bring down the wrath of God on the heads of the Nazis. He could have excommunicated Hitler and his henchmen. He could have condemned them publicly. He chose to do neither.
Those whom the Holy Church shielded were mostly Jews who had converted or who agreed to convert to Christianity. The Jewish children whose parents placed them trustingly in the hands of Church institutions were then sheltered and raised as Catholics, sometimes never knowing their true heritage. The Church refuses to release documentation to interested stakeholders.
Now, Pope Benedict, to appease his detractors, has decided to raise Pope Pius XII to sainthood on the basis of his piety, his Christian virtues in word and deed, his exhibitions of faith, hope and charity, bespeaking his activities and his conscience. Dismal, dismal failure. But in celebration of his asceticism and spirituality, Eucharistic devotion, and past diplomacy, his legacy in the Church fares well.
The caution and prudence he displayed in interacting with the German authorities during World War II, are not to be interpreted as indifference to the state of imperishable values cherishing and protecting life. That he spoke no word of condemnation when Rome was occupied and its Jews rounded up and sent to Auschwitz to their immediate death was unfortunate, but forgivable.
For he forgave himself: "Where the Pope wants to cry out loud and strong, it is expectation and silence that are unhappily often imposed upon him; where he would act and give assistance, it is patience and waiting [that are imposed]" he wrote in hearty and pious agreement with his frugality of action. He acted thus to avoid a 'greater evil'.
That particular Vicar of Christ timidly and miserably failed his test. And this one?
Labels: Anti-Semitism, Human Relations, Justice, Realities
posted by Pieface | 6:38 PM
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