Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.
- GK Chesterton
Friday, February 5, 2010
Pius XII
This post is intended to be a message to Ray Grosswirth because he doesn't allow comments on his blog? I have a link I'd like to share with Ray in regards to this post. I won't do a full rebuttal because it's already been done and your position has been proved wrong. Ray, if by chance you read this blog I was wondering what your take would be on these NY Times editorials from 1941 and 1942:
I did send the comment through another site (former reporter here often figures out alternative ways to get through!) and Ray responded thanking me for suggesting McInerny's book. I hope he reads it.
It appears you must be a "team member" to post a comment on Mr. Grosswirth's site.
Unfortunately, what Mr. Grosswirth writes is all too predictable given his description at the top of his blog. I did not watch his self-produced video and only read the written commentary, but it seems his main complaint is that Pope Pius XII did not speak out often enough about the travesty of the Holocaust. I have many responses to his concern:
1)Pope Pius was one of the few voices condemning the Nazis during their reign (possibly the only major voice on the world stage). Did FDR speak out? Did Churchill? Can Mr. Grosswirth find me anyone of prominence speaking out against the Nazis?
2)Would speaking out more vocally and more frequently have actually helped? Many witnesses from the time have argued that when Church leaders spoke out, there was an immediate and harsh reaction by the Nazis. Would Mr. Grosswirth find it preferable for Pius to have spoke out more often even if more lives were taken as a result?
3)Even the NYT is on record as saying Pius was a lone voice in speaking out against the Nazi regime. The NEW YORK TIMES for goodness sake.
4)There is much evidence to indicate that the Church was constantly active in getting Jewish people out of dangerous countries. Jews were harbored in Castle Gandalfo, in monasteries and convents all at great risk to residents of these places.
5)Some have estimated that Pius is personally responsible for having saved 700,000-800,000 Jewish lives. Did you get that, Mr. Grosswirth? Almost 1 million lives saved by Pius. See the following site for further information: www.ptwf.org (scroll down part way on the homepage for indepth coverage of the Pius controversy).
I think it is easy for us to sit here and make judgments about events that took place 60 some years ago. It sounds much more dramatic and heroic to envision a Pope pounding an ambo while denouncing the Nazis for what they were. It gives us some satisfaction to think of our Church leader giving Hitler a rhetorical "finger." But would it have been prudent? Could Pius have understood the landscape of the time far better than we can looking back. This man was a man of God, commited to Christ and His Church. Are we really willing to say that he sat idly by and did nothing even when evidence points to the contrary? I hope Mr. Grosswirth will continue to investigate the actions of Pius before he makes any more statments about Pius's worthiness for Sainthood.
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