I thought I was going to fall down and faint when I heard about the Pope’s personal preacher comparing the critcism of the Catholic Church to the violence suffered by the Jews in the Holocaust. Now I realize he was quoting a letter from a Jewish friend; but none the less, it was irresponsible, inconsiderate and offensive; especially on Good Friday.
The Catholic Church aided Nazi’s in obtaining passports to escape Germany ( as well as trial, imprisonment and perhaps execution) after the Holocaust at the end ( and even during) World War II. The Catholic Church “hid” pedophile priests as they relocated them from parish to parish throughout the U.S. and even the world.
The plight suffered by the Jews in the Holocaust, as well as the 5 million plus additional victims of the Holocaust whether they be handicapped, old, deformed, gypsies, political prisoners, non aryans, jehovah’s witnesses, gays, etc. to name a few, simply cannot be compared with a world pointing their finger at a religious institution that has been hiding pedophiles and refusing to listen to the cries of the hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide for decades.
Are priests so removed from real life by not being married and having children that they simply cannot comprehend the harm done to a child when they are sexually molested? Dont they realize the children have been robbed of their innocence? Their purity? Their virginity? This boggles my mind, because these priests are part of a religion that not only holds life so dear they believe a condom interferes with it’s creation; this is a religion, a church which prohibits pre marital sex, fornication. So how can fornication forced upon a child by an adult, a priest none the less be ignored!?!?!! This forced fornication by the way is rape. These children were powerless. They looked up to these men as representatives of God- for some, the closest thing to God on earth. And doesnt the Pope state he is God’s representative on earth? Would God turn his back on children who cry out for justice day and night?!?
There are some that say the Pope must address these issues. There are some that say the Pope must answer to why he ignored more than one letter, when he was John Ratzenberg, regarding a priest who allegedly molested more than 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin. The Pope must address why priests who are accused of such crimes are simply forgiven and moved and are not given up to law enforcement authorities. And where is the outrage among Catholics!?!! There are some who say this Pope must step down. Some who believe this Pope’s anti semitism is clear; from his being taught as a member of the Hitler youth, to the honoring of a man who denies the Holocaust and now this, this comparison with the Holocaust.
What violent act/s have been brought upon the church or this pope!?! What violent act/acts have been brought upon the Priests who are pedophiles for that matter!?!! The only violence is upon the victims, the children, who in being sexually abused, were physically, mentally and emotionally abused. These priests robbed them of their souls, their hopes, often their faith in God. They brought in confusion about their sexuality; their ability to be intimate, to form strong emotional bonds, to have children of their own. In my mind, what these priests have done is worse than murder. And that is what the Holocaust was. A systematic murder, a mass ethnic cleansing of Europe by Adolf Hitler and his willing participants, his willing “Catholic” Nazi’s.
The church has apologized for not doing enough during the Holocaust- but it never apologized for remaining silent and turning it’s head. It never apologized for helping aid in anti semitism by teaching for centuries that the Jews murdered Jesus. (Who by the way wouldnt be anyone’s saviour had he not been crucified) The church hasnt apologized to the victims or their families for the betrayal or for the abuse, and now today, rather than apologize for their remarks, for their offensive comparison of the Catholic churchs’ being critized to the violence against the Jews in the Holocaust, during the week of Passover!
I say the Pope needs to speak to these issues or step down. I say the Catholics throughout the world need to cry out to their religious leaders to right this wrong. I say they must do this, or you all must stop putting money in their baskets. And speaking of money- the next time you’re at the Vatican, ask them to melt some of that gold to pay the victim’s for all the church has put them through, or at least by the people of Mexico and Calcutta condoms.
Leslie Marshall
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Wow! I just read one of your blogs.How incredible you are to take your stand for what is right.
Hitler sent a delegation headed by von Papen to Rome to negotiate a concordat between the Nazi State and the Vatican. Pope Pius XI remarked to the German envoys how pleased he was that “the German Government now had at its head a man uncompromisingly opposed to Communism,” and on July 20, 1933, at an elaborate ceremony in the Vatican, Cardinal Pacelli (who was soon to become Pope Pius XII) signed the concordat.
One historian writes: “The Concordat [with the Vatican] was a great victory for Hitler. It gave him the first moral support he had received from the outer world, and this from the most exalted source.” During the celebrations at the Vatican, Pacelli conferred on von Papen the high papal decoration of the Grand Cross of the Order of Pius. Winston Churchill, in his book The Gathering Storm, published in 1948, tells how von Papen further used “his reputation as a good Catholic” to gain church support for the Nazi takeover of Austria. In 1938, in honor of Hitler’s birthday, Cardinal Innitzer ordered that all Austrian churches fly the swastika flag, ring their bells, and pray for the Nazi dictator.
By the end of 1933 (proclaimed a “Holy Year” by Pope Pius XI), Vatican support had become a major factor in Hitler’s push for world domination.
However, popes have consistently refused to excommunicate the worst of war criminals, even when fellow Catholics have appealed for such action to be taken. For example, the Catholic Telegraph-Register of Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A., under the heading “Reared as Catholic but Violates Faith Says Cable to Pope,” reported: “An appeal has been made to Pius XII that Reichsfuehrer Adolph Hitler be excommunicated. . . . ‘Adolph Hitler,’ [the cable] read in part, ‘was born of Catholic parents, was baptized a Catholic, and was reared and educated as such.’” Yet Hitler was never excommunicated.
Sincerely,
Marilyn
Dear Leslie,Great article.But what you neglected to mention was that one of the biggest genocides of the war,In fact the biggest genocide per size of the population of the country was committed by the Catholic Church in that area.It was in Croatia. The movement was the Ustashe movement.And those were the ones who the Catholic Church helped to escape after the war was over.That genocide was so bad that the Germans even feared these people and asked Hitler to protect the Serbs who were the primary victims of this genocide.This is a possible reason for the current strife over there.Clearly the Catholic Church has much to answer for.