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This is an extension of beating up on a dead Pope which appears to be all
the rage these days at least by the holocausted among us. So here is the
issue, why would the Pope condemn Nazism and when?
The Pope was the first to condemn communism when it took over Russia and
declared itself atheist and proved it by murdering Catholics. They murdered
Christians in general but Russia was 99% Catholic so that was close enough.
Along comes Hitler and Nazism in Germany in 1933. It was openly the enemy of
communism. A few months after taking power it purged communists from
political life in Germany. So no reason to condemn Nazism at that point.
The Pope has no responsibility nor obligation towards Jews save as one of
the many unsaved peoples in the world and only because they are unsaved,
i.e. not Christians. His obligation is to convert them. I did not write the
job description.
So comes the fall of 1939 and both Russia and Germany invade Poland. Who is
the Pope to condemn? Both maybe but history has shown Russia murdered twenty
million Catholics in the Russian empire and was likely to murder Catholics
in Poland. Against that Germany has murdered none. If there was anyone to
condemn it was Russia.
So England and France declare war on Germany and Germany is soon joined by
Italy. The Pope does not have a dog in that fight. About an equal number of
Catholics and an equal number of Christians are going to try to kill each
other. Religion is a terrible basis for deciding the good guy. So there is
no compelling reason for the Pope to take sides.
Next come June 1941 and war breaks out between Germany and Russia. Now there
is a problem for the Pope. Godless communism which murders Catholics by the
millions or Nazis who may have agnostic leadership but do not make it a
political or persecution issue. So there is the Pope going from a neutrality
among Christian and Catholic countries to being faced with a belligerent it
has already condemned. There is no clear choice but events make it worse.
In July 1941 Christian Britain makes an alliance with atheist Russia. Now
who does the Pope endorse? The Axis which has tens of millions of unmolested
Catholics and Christians or the Allies which has murdered tens of millions
of Catholics? You may be Solomon but the Pope was not and silence was the
best option.
If the Pope had condemned Nazism then it would have been an endorsement of
communism which was not possible. If Nazism approved against communism then
the Allies would certainly have accidentally bombed the Vatican. If the Pope
had followed policy and excommunicated Catholics who in any manner helped
communism it would have split the Allies along religious lines. This is a
classic no-win situation. There was nothing for the Pope to say at any time
given the political realities.
But today the Pope is damned because he did not say something to save the
Jews. Forget he saved so many Jews that Time magazine praised him. Forget he
saved so many Jews the Chief Rabbi of Rome converted to Catholicism. Damn him
for not single-handedly saving all Jews in all of Europe.
Other than a general statement regarding all mankind the Pope has no brief
but for Roman Catholics. There are policy level interests in Catholics of
the non-Roman variety and beyond that Christians in general. Beyond that
there is only all the rest. Among all the rest are Jews and Muslims and
Hindu and Shinto and animists and all the many other rests.
But because he did not pronounce some magic words that would have done more
harm than good, from endorsing communism to splitting the Allies, the Pope
must be condemned.
And only the ignorant would do so and imagine they could have done better.
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