Protestant View

The Vatican's "apology" in connection with the Holocaust

THROUGHOUT World War Two, Pope Pius XII never denounced the Nazi persecution and slaughter of Jews. The Holocaust document, We Remember, a reflection on the Shoah, recently released by the Vatican, is its apology on behalf of unnamed individual Roman Catholics for failing to do enough to stop the extermination by the Nazis of millions of Jews during the Second World War.

However, it refuses to put any blame on the Roman Catholic system, and it exonerates Pope Pius XII. Cardinal Cassidy, head of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews, described the document as an "act of repentance". The fact that it is a sham repentance is confirmed by his further statement that "Pius XII does not have a case to answer".

Even some Roman Catholics are unhappy with the document. One of them, in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, asks: "Did the Pope have an unconditional duty to condemn the attempted genocide of the Jews? Because of the appalling character of this crime, and the involvement in it of many people who had been baptised as Catholics, the answer must surely be yes. . . The failure to utter such a condemnation was seriously sinful, and the lack of an apology for this sin makes the Vatican's statement inadequate and even insulting."

Another letter was from Rev. Professor William C. Frend, Cambridge, who was a member of the Psychological Warfare Branch in 1944 and met many Vatican officials during that time. He says that they "made plain to me that the Pope's main objective [during the war] was to safeguard the position of the German Catholic population which he regarded as an essential element in any future settlement of Europe. Therefore he was not prepared to do anything that would place German Catholics in jeopardy by denouncing Nazi crimes against the Jews or, indeed, invasions of other countries."

This Vatican document is yet another manifestation of the deceit of Rome. She continues to be what she has always been adept at twisting the facts of history and hiding her iniquitous policies and practices.

THE "apology" of the Irish Christian Brothers

THE Belfast News Letter reports that dozens of men abused by Roman Catholic priests have come forward for help since the Roman Order, the Irish Christian Brothers, has issued an apology for years of sexual, and other, abuse of boys in its care. The apology follows a number of prosecutions of members of the Order, and contrasts sharply with its previous denials of such abuse.

The telling comment of one victim was that after leaving their care he went to Liverpool, endured the war-time air raids, had his home destroyed, and slept on the streets or in air raid shelters, and that it was all preferable to being a boy in a Christian Brothers' school.

Suffice it to say that the great amount of sexual immorality among Roman priests provides further clear evidence that the whole system is rotten. The day will surely come when the cry shall be heard concerning it, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen" (Revelation 18:2).

Winning's apparent condoning of theft and fraud

WE were not too surprised that Cardinal Winning, head of the Roman Church in Scotland, has stated that "the poor guy who defrauds the Government of £10 a week is nothing to the accountant who defrauds the Bank of England of millions". True, there are degrees of sin, but no sin is to be condoned. He said at the same time, "If your children are going to be hungry - if you get to the stage of extreme hunger - anybody's property becomes yours, because you have a right to survive. You can break into a bread van and steal a loaf. It would not be immoral to do that". We have every sympathy with the person whose children may be hungry, but advising them to steal is not the solution.

It seems that Winning is giving a new commandment: "Thou shalt not steal, except it be £10 per week from the Government, or bread for your hungry children." The Church of Rome poses as the great upholder of morality, but once again it gives itself away as a purveyor of double standards.

-Editor

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