Religion, Rome and The Reich: The Vatican's other dirty secret

21 May 2006 01:01

Religion, Rome and The Reich: The Vatican's other dirty secret

Forget 'The Da Vinci Code', 'God's HQ on earth' has a real ghost in the cupboard - collusion with the Nazis. No wonder then, says Peter Stanford, that the church is hiding papers on the dealings of 'Hitler's Pope', Pius XII

Published: 21 May 2006

As The Da Vinci Code arrives in our cinemas with its lurid accusations of a church cover-up of Jesus's life as a family man, Roman Catholic leaders have been vocal in dismissing the film of Dan Brown's bestseller as unsuitable viewing for believers. Cardinal amongst its sins according to them is its suggestion that a church organisation, Opus Dei, would attempt to manipulate history to fit its beliefs. But that, it was charged last week, is precisely what the Vatican is doing in regard of a much more recent event, the Holocaust.

An unflattering spotlight fell on God's business address on Earth when the German Justice Minister, Brigitte Zypries, announced on Tuesday that her country is finally to open its huge archive of Nazi records on 17 million concentration camp inmates and slave labourers. Germany's belated move to answer the pleas for access to its archives by Holocaust survivors and their families now leaves only the Vatican standing all alone in denying them the chance to read what is in its wartime documents.

You might expect an organisation that - as the bishops have been busy pointing out last week to counter the picture of their church presented in The Da Vinci Code - is dedicated to truth, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation to have been among the first to offer access to its files. And its refusal to open its secret files has only increased suspicion that it has something it wants to cover up - principally evidence of the alleged pro-Nazi sympathies of wartime pope, Pius XII.

In the church's official annals, Pius, who died in 1958, is painted as a saintly shepherd who led his flock with great moral courage in difficult times. For many scholars, though, he is at worst the Devil incarnate, "Hitler's Pope", and at best a coward who refused to speak out against the extermination of Jews, gypsies and homosexuals in gas chambers, even when he had compelling evidence that it was happening, lest his words attract Nazi aggression.


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http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article549446.ece

apologizing for this. Anyone else remember that or am I delusional?

Only apologized for raising some Jewish children, who were orphaned as a result of Nazi persecutions, as Christians after the war was over.

From what I’ve read, they defend Pius XII and even put him on the road to Sainthood.

up and strongly fight one of the biggest evils in the last 80 years; what good is the church? IF the church will not strongly fight evil when it comes, what good is it?

Much less, collaboration...

the tip of the iceberg was the child abuse allegations. I'm fairly certain there is more to come and it won't be easy to hear about for some.

this really happened.

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

I have just finished reading a book about Musolini. Deals were made that gave the Catholic Church a lot of power even though Musolini was not religious and in his early days railed against the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church also shrugged at the Jewish liquidation in Italy.

the get their "souls."