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The opposition to moving Pope Pius XII close to sainthood

"Benedict XVI’s decree of heroic virtue on behalf of Pius XII may serve the Church," says Deborah Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History and Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. "But it does not serve history. Indeed: it is a denial of history. And it is an act of aggression against the Jewish people."

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Posted by nmclaughlin on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 9:37 am

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Get A Clue

January 6, 2010 - 6:31 am EST

What a silly fight no matter how one looks at it.

nemo0037

January 6, 2010 - 12:56 pm EST

For outsiders, it is silly. But the symbolism that holds meaning for Christians and Jews regarding the period of the Holocaust is important to a rather large number of people, and worth discussing.

My guess is that Pius was, just like in the Uganda story, not aware of the extremes to which centuries of Catholic anti-semitic rhetoric could be taken. The best you could say for him in regards to his relationship with the Fascists is that he turned a blind eye to the danger signs. What that period of his life says about his "faith," I couldn't say. But it does seem rather bad form for a German Pope (who was in the Hitler Youth) to be involved in this move.

This will eventually blow over. Until sainthood is actually discussed.

Get A Clue

January 7, 2010 - 6:32 am EST

I completely agree, nemo. I'm not suggesting we should be ignorant of history of even of the significance of the overt acts of a specific organized religion. But at the end of the day you have one group of magic-believing people attempting to tell another group of magic-believing people how they should practice their magic. And eventually respoting to killing them for it. (Or in this case, allowing others to do the killing while looking away.) All that hate in the name of someone's myths. So sad.