Algemeiner: Pope Pius XII, the head of the Catholic Church during World War II, engaged in secret negotiations with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler through an intermediary, in the hope of reconciling the Church with the Third Reich, a new book has revealed.
The significant new revelations about Pius’ relationship with the Nazi regime contained in “The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini and Hitler,” by the American historian David Kertzer, are based on research in the wartime archives of the Vatican, which were first made available to scholars in March 2020. Scathingly described by critics as “Hitler’s Pope,” Pius has been condemned by many historians for downplaying, overlooking and even enabling the Nazi genocide of the Jews.
According to Kertzer, Hitler and his lieutenants saw an opening to improve relations with the Vatican following the death in 1939 of the pontiff’s predecessor, Pius XI — who had issued an encyclical condemning Nazi ideology, much to the annoyance of Berlin.
“Hitler now saw a chance to improve relations with the Vatican, or in any case to keep the new pope from openly criticizing his regime,” Kertzer wrote, in an excerpt from the book published by The Atlantic magazine.
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As a go-between, Hitler turned to Prince Philipp von Hessen, a German aristocrat and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria. An enthusiastic Nazi, the prince held his first meeting at The Vatican with Pope Pius on May 11, 1939 — four months before the Nazis sparked the war with the invasion of Poland.
Opinion: I attended Catholic schools grade K thru High school. A picture of Pius XII was on the wall in every grade. Therefore, I found it interesting when the archives of 17 million pages on this pope were opened to study in 2020.
Article: “Pius XII and Adolf Hitler had no affection for each other,” Kertzer observed. “Yet each man had his own reasons for initiating these talks. The pope placed the highest priority on reaching a deal with the Nazi regime to end the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in the Third Reich and in the lands that it conquered. For his part, Hitler saw an opportunity to end the papal criticism that had become such an irritant under the previous pope.”
Hitler’s concerns that The Vatican would criticize his antisemitic persecution was apparently unwarranted. “There is no indication that the pope ever brought up the Nazis’ campaign against Europe’s Jews as an issue,” Kertzer wrote. As for the Nazi leader’s worry that Catholic clergy would intervene in politics, Pius assured him that this would not be the case.
In his conversations, the pope never raised any concerns about the Nazis’ anti-Jewish campaign,” Kertzer wrote.
While the Catholic Magisterium has defended Pius since his death in 1958, the issue of anti-Semitism in the papacy has been an open secret since Replacement Theology crept into the early church. God is finished with the Jew and transferred all the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant to the church, they said.
The Church Father Tertullian (155 – 240 AD) had a particularly intense personal dislike towards the Jews and argued that the Gentiles had been chosen by God to replace the Jews, because they were ‘worthier and more honorable‘.
(Saint) Jerome identified Jews with Judas Iscariot and the immoral use of money (“Judas is cursed, that in Judas the Jews may be accursed… their prayers turn into sins”). Jerome’s homiletical assaults.
(Saint) Augustine “Judaism, since Christ, is a corruption; indeed, Judas is the image of the Jewish people: their understanding of Scripture is carnal; they bear the guilt for the death of the Savior, for through their fathers they have killed Christ.”
Fast Forward 1000 years:
1478 Pope Sixtus IV: Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella requested a papal bull establishing an inquisition in Spain. Pope Sixtus IV granted a bull permitting the monarchs to select and appoint two or three priests over forty years of age to act as inquisitors.
1520 Martin Luther, Catholic priest: “Accordingly, it must and dare not be considered a trifling matter but a most serious one to seek counsel against this and to save our souls from the Jews, that is, from the devil and from eternal death.”
1846 Pope Pius IX: “The Jews — eternal insolent children, obstinate, dirty, thieves, liars, ignoramuses, pests and the scourge of those near and far . . . managed to lay their hands on . . . all public wealth . . . and virtually alone they took control not only of all the money.”
1878 Pope Leo XIII: “‘The Jewish race, the deicide people, wandering throughout the world, brings with it everywhere the pestiferous breath of treason.”
Today, Pope Francis has not only defended the “status quo” in Jerusalem in relation to Donald Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem …
… but Francis has made it a top priority to bring Muslim leaders, dedicated anti-Semites, into brotherhood with the church
Anti-Semitism in the church age included Protestant denominations, Spain, Russia, Germany and the US Congress:
- Replacement Theology: 2-5th century – AD God changed His mind and transferred the blessings of Abraham to the church
- Blood Libel: 12th-14th – Jews accused of using blood of Arab children to make Matzoh
- Spanish Inquisition: 15th century – Convert to Catholicism or die
- Reformation: 16th-17th century – Protestant/Catholic churches continue Replacement Theology
- Covenant Theology: 18th century – Protestant shift ‘the church is Israel’
- Pogroms: 18-19th century Russia – government sanctioned murder of Jews
- Nazism: 20th century “Final Solution” – 6 million Jews are murdered
- EU Boycott Divest Sanction: 21st century against products made in Israeli settlements
- US Democrat Party: 21st century House of Representatives condones anti-Semitic tropes against Israel
