Pope defends Pius against Jewish critics

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/europe/view/20100117pope_defends_pius_against_jewish_critics/srvc=home&position=recent

By Associated Press
Sunday, January 17, 2010 - Added 31m ago



ROME - In a synagogue visit haunted by history, Pope Benedict XVI and Jewish leaders sparred Sunday over the record of the World War II-era pope during the Holocaust and agreed on the need to strengthen Catholic-Jewish relations.

Both sides said the visit to the seat of the oldest Jewish community in the diaspora was an occasion to overcome what Benedict called "every misconception and prejudice."

Signs of the Jewish community’s tragic history were abundant, as the German-born Benedict stopped at a plaque marking where Roman Jews were rounded up by the Nazis in 1943 and at another marking the slaying of a 2-year-old boy in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on the synagogue in 1982. A handful of death-camp survivors wore striped scarves to symbolize the camp uniform.

Benedict defended his predecessor Pius XII against critics, telling the audience that the Vatican worked quietly to save Jews from the Nazis during World War II.

Many Jews object to Benedict moving Pius toward sainthood contending the wartime pope didn’t do enough to protect Jews from the Holocaust. The Vatican has maintained that Pius used behind-the-scenes diplomacy in a bid to save Jewish lives.

[DaveinMD]

1. of course he does

the current pope was a member of the Hitler Youth.

[Deep13]

2. Pope Nazi II defends Pope Nazi I. nt

[LLStarks]

3. Even as Jew, I find it unnecessary to compare popes to Nazis.

As far as I know, he was forced into the Hitler Youth and despised it.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Yes. He was adamantly against the Iraq War and is against capital punishment, etc.

he's still Cardinal Rat to me, the Dick Cheney of the Vatican, but the Nazi label is not helpful or accurate.

[Iggo]

6. And as far as I know, he joined willingly and loved it.

See how easy that is?

[Deep13]

8. Pius actively collaberated with the Nazis.

So for him, the label is accurate.

Members of the Hitler Youth swore an oath of personal loyalty to Adolf Hitler. As a secular person, I would give that a pass because it was under duress. Nevertheless the New Testament which Ratzinger purports to revere gives a grave warning against breaking oaths. To this day, no pope has excommunicated any high official of the Third Reich except for one who married a Protestant. Ratzinger continues to pursue his far right, absolutist agenda. So while he may not be a Nazi specifically, he's not too far away either.

It's a bit of hyperbole to call Ratzinger a Nazi, but not a very great one and given his record I do not think he is entitled to the benefit of the doubt.

[Captain Hilts]

4. That's not fair. nt

[msongs]

7. maybe Pius kept the nazis from looting the vatican - with his inaction nt

[MicaelS]

9. I imagine the Nazis told Pius to STFU, or....

He would suffer a stroke or die of some other "natural cause".