It is interesting as to why the Catholic church seems to always back not just the wrong horse but the very personification of the much talked of and feared Satan.
During WWII it sided often with the demonic Nazis, and not satisfied in doing so to the detriment of the Jews etc., it provided succor to the Nazi killers on the run.
On April 20, 1939, Archbishop Orsenigo celebrated Hitler's birthday. The celebrations, initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) became a tradition. Each April 20, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin was to send "warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany" and added with "fervent prayers which the Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven on their altars."
The Vatican quarreled with both Hitler and Mussolini on race, but hardly out of concern for the welfare of Jews. Throughout this period the Church seldom opposed anti-Jewish persecutions and rarely denounced governments for discriminatory practices; when it did so, it usually admonished governments to act with "justice and charity", disapproving only of violent excesses or the most extravagant forms of oppression.
Church policy toward Jews during the war can be seen in this historical perspective. For the first few years persecution seems to have caused few ripples at the Vatican and awakened no more interest or sympathy than in the 1930s. Church diplomats continued to speak in favor of "justice and charity", but were largely unconcerned about the persecution of Jews by Nazi or collaborator governments. A striking illustration comes from the autumn of 1941, when the French Ambassador to the Holy See, Léon Berard, sent an extensive report to Vichy on the Vatican's views. According to this diplomat the Holy See was not interested in the French antisemitic laws and worried only that they might undermine Church jurisdiction or involve occasional breaches of "justice and charity". So far as the French were concerned, the Vatican essentially gave them a green light to legislate as they chose against Jews in keeping with Nazi policy.
In June 1941, when the Vichy French government introduced ‘Jewish laws' closely modeled upon the Nuremberg Laws, the Pope responded to appeals from French bishops by stating that such laws were not in conflict with Catholic teaching. Later efforts by the British, Americans and Poles to persuade the Vatican to publish a specific condemnation of Nazi extermination of the Jews fell on deaf ears. The Pope, came the reply, could only issue a general condemnation of wartime atrocities." "A strong and openly voiced papal line might have silenced those Catholic bishops throughout Europe who actively and fervently collaborated with their Nazi masters.
Years later it became public knowledge that war criminals like Klaus Barbie, Adolf Eichmann, Heinrich Mueller, Franz Stangl and a whole list of other top war criminals escaped war torn Europe via the Catholic Church's so called “Ratline”. Ratlines were systems of escape routes for Nazis and other fascistshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascists fleeing Europe to escape justice for their war crimes at the end of World War IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II. These escape routes mainly led toward safe havens particularly in South America.
Most of these men escaped through the work of one man, a Roman Catholic Bishop named Alois Hudal, Rector of the Pontificio Santa Maria dell’ Anima. "During the war Hudal served as Commissioner or the Episcopate for German speaking Catholics in Italy, as well as Father Confessor to Rome’s German community." Hudal harbored anti-Semitic feelings and his pro Nazi stance was well known throughout the Catholic community. During Hitler’s rule, Bishop Hudal often spoke about the unity between the Catholic Church and the Nazi government.
He explained that in his eyes:
When the valiant Sri Lanka Army took great efforts to free the Madhu church from the band of killers without any major damage to the church premises, what did the Catholic church do? It rushed the sacred statue for safekeeping into LTTE held territory. In fact after the Army not only freed the area from the vermin that infested it and even repaired the buildings and cleaned up the place not a word of thanks came their way by simple courtesy and gratitude from the Catholic clergy.
This leads to the average man in the streets coming to the conclusion that there is collusion between some people in the church and the terrorists. The arrest of several clergymen for terror related activities such as hiding explosives and smuggling material to support the terror campaign adds credence to this. That is not to say there are no patriots among the Catholic clergy. Just like people of the stature of the late Fr. Marcelline Jayakody, Rev. Fr. Dr. Don Peter etc. who not only showed their love for all things native but gave pride of place to Sri Lanka's culture which is primarily of Buddhist tradition, there are many patriots unfortunately their voices have been stifled.
It is time the Catholic church turned a reflective eye inwards and realize not only the wrong signals their actions are sending but even more the irreparable damage they are doing to the church establishment and to inter faith relations.
My father, his brothers and I, though very devout Buddhists, were all educated at Catholic schools and have always held the Catholic church in high esteem. However a few bad eggs can undo centuries of rapport and good relations built with hard work and outreach. Please let us not see all that good work undone by a few who forget that religion and not politics is their brief.
During WWII it sided often with the demonic Nazis, and not satisfied in doing so to the detriment of the Jews etc., it provided succor to the Nazi killers on the run.
On April 20, 1939, Archbishop Orsenigo celebrated Hitler's birthday. The celebrations, initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) became a tradition. Each April 20, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin was to send "warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany" and added with "fervent prayers which the Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven on their altars."
The Vatican quarreled with both Hitler and Mussolini on race, but hardly out of concern for the welfare of Jews. Throughout this period the Church seldom opposed anti-Jewish persecutions and rarely denounced governments for discriminatory practices; when it did so, it usually admonished governments to act with "justice and charity", disapproving only of violent excesses or the most extravagant forms of oppression.
Church policy toward Jews during the war can be seen in this historical perspective. For the first few years persecution seems to have caused few ripples at the Vatican and awakened no more interest or sympathy than in the 1930s. Church diplomats continued to speak in favor of "justice and charity", but were largely unconcerned about the persecution of Jews by Nazi or collaborator governments. A striking illustration comes from the autumn of 1941, when the French Ambassador to the Holy See, Léon Berard, sent an extensive report to Vichy on the Vatican's views. According to this diplomat the Holy See was not interested in the French antisemitic laws and worried only that they might undermine Church jurisdiction or involve occasional breaches of "justice and charity". So far as the French were concerned, the Vatican essentially gave them a green light to legislate as they chose against Jews in keeping with Nazi policy.
In June 1941, when the Vichy French government introduced ‘Jewish laws' closely modeled upon the Nuremberg Laws, the Pope responded to appeals from French bishops by stating that such laws were not in conflict with Catholic teaching. Later efforts by the British, Americans and Poles to persuade the Vatican to publish a specific condemnation of Nazi extermination of the Jews fell on deaf ears. The Pope, came the reply, could only issue a general condemnation of wartime atrocities." "A strong and openly voiced papal line might have silenced those Catholic bishops throughout Europe who actively and fervently collaborated with their Nazi masters.
Years later it became public knowledge that war criminals like Klaus Barbie, Adolf Eichmann, Heinrich Mueller, Franz Stangl and a whole list of other top war criminals escaped war torn Europe via the Catholic Church's so called “Ratline”. Ratlines were systems of escape routes for Nazis and other fascistshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascists fleeing Europe to escape justice for their war crimes at the end of World War IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II. These escape routes mainly led toward safe havens particularly in South America.
Most of these men escaped through the work of one man, a Roman Catholic Bishop named Alois Hudal, Rector of the Pontificio Santa Maria dell’ Anima. "During the war Hudal served as Commissioner or the Episcopate for German speaking Catholics in Italy, as well as Father Confessor to Rome’s German community." Hudal harbored anti-Semitic feelings and his pro Nazi stance was well known throughout the Catholic community. During Hitler’s rule, Bishop Hudal often spoke about the unity between the Catholic Church and the Nazi government.
He explained that in his eyes:
"The Allies' War against Germany was not a crusade, but the rivalry of economic complexes for whose victory they had been fighting. This so-called business ... used catchwords like democracy, race, religious liberty and Christianity as a bait for the masses. All these experiences were the reason why I felt duty bound after 1945 to devote my whole charitable work mainly to former National Socialists and Fascists, especially to so-called 'war criminals'."
Once again we are faced with similar conduct by the local representatives of the Vatican Church by way of tacit support and at times active support for the murderous band of killers better know as the LTTE led by the megalomaniac Prabakharan. The Catholic church is blind to the atrocities inflicted on innocent civilians of all races by way of indiscriminate bomb attacks against civilian population centers and transport. When the valiant Sri Lanka Army took great efforts to free the Madhu church from the band of killers without any major damage to the church premises, what did the Catholic church do? It rushed the sacred statue for safekeeping into LTTE held territory. In fact after the Army not only freed the area from the vermin that infested it and even repaired the buildings and cleaned up the place not a word of thanks came their way by simple courtesy and gratitude from the Catholic clergy.
This leads to the average man in the streets coming to the conclusion that there is collusion between some people in the church and the terrorists. The arrest of several clergymen for terror related activities such as hiding explosives and smuggling material to support the terror campaign adds credence to this. That is not to say there are no patriots among the Catholic clergy. Just like people of the stature of the late Fr. Marcelline Jayakody, Rev. Fr. Dr. Don Peter etc. who not only showed their love for all things native but gave pride of place to Sri Lanka's culture which is primarily of Buddhist tradition, there are many patriots unfortunately their voices have been stifled.
It is time the Catholic church turned a reflective eye inwards and realize not only the wrong signals their actions are sending but even more the irreparable damage they are doing to the church establishment and to inter faith relations.
My father, his brothers and I, though very devout Buddhists, were all educated at Catholic schools and have always held the Catholic church in high esteem. However a few bad eggs can undo centuries of rapport and good relations built with hard work and outreach. Please let us not see all that good work undone by a few who forget that religion and not politics is their brief.
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