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Title: | Why Pius wasn`t pious | |||
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| Regarding the role of His Holiness Pope Pius XII, you may be interested in the responses received by a very saintly and distinguished rabbi. Rabbi Michael Dov Ber Weissmandl, who was to lose his wife and all his children in the Shoah, tried desperately to save Jewish lives. During the Nazi explulsions of Jews from Slovakia in 1942, Rabbi Weissmandl asked Bishop Karl Kmetko to intercede. The Bishop responded: "...there you will not die from hunger or the plague; there they will slaughter all of you together, from the aged to the infants and the women on one day! And you deserve this punishment. The only piece of advice I have for you is to come over to our religion, and then I will do what I can to annul the decree." A later appeal by Rabbi Weissmandl was addressed to the papal nuncio in Bratislava, Msgr Giuseppe Burzio. On being asked to intervene on behalf of some 20,000 Jews, already rounded up and awaiting their final transport, the Pope`s ambassador first objected that, the day being Sunday, he was unable to deal with secular matters. Weissmandel pleaded that the "innocent blood of thousands of children" was at stake. The nuncio replied: "There is no such thing as `the innocent blood` of Jewish children! All Jewish blood is guilty, and the Jews must die because that is their punishment for that sin.." Had Pope Pius XII`s pronouncements about the Jews been less enigmatic, had he declared that anyone involved in the murder of Jews would be guilty of mortal sin, then possibly many hundreds of thousands lives would have been saved. It has been argued that His Holiness would have placed his own life in danger had he made such a dramatic statement. If he had been prepared to risk martyrdom for the sake of humanity and righteousness, then Pope Pius XII might indeed have been an admirable candidate for sainthood. I hope it isn`t heretical to say that Rabbi Weissmandl is rather nearer my idea of what a saint should be. The Chief Rabbi of Haifa is a delightful and understanding man. If you have info. to send him, why not write to him? RH Sources: Dr Jeffrey Satinover "The Truth Behind the Bible Code" pp 74-75, quoting from A. Fuchs, "The Unheeded Cry", Brooklyn, NY, Mesorah, 1986 |
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