Sunday, June 5, 2022
The Pope's Secret Back Channel to Hitler
From left to right: Adolf Hitler, Prince Philipp von Hessen, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Pope Pius XII (Illustration by Cristiana Couceiro. Sources: Ullstein / Getty; Süddeutsche Zeitung / Alamy; Realy Easy Star / Fotografia Felici / Alamy)
THE POPE’S SECRET BACK CHANNEL TO HITLER
Newly revealed Vatican documents uncover a long-held secret: As war broke out, Pius XII used a Nazi prince to negotiate with Adolf Hitler.
By David I. Kertzer
MAY 31, 2022
About the author: David I. Kertzer is the author of the forthcoming book The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler. Kertzer was awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe.
In august 1939, as he was finalizing plans for the invasion of Poland, Adolf Hitler was also engaged in negotiations with Pope Pius XII so delicate that not even the German ambassador to the Holy See knew about them. The existence of these talks was a secret the Vatican was eager to maintain long after Pius XII’s death—as it did for eight decades. The 12-volume compilation of the Holy See’s documents on the Second World War, completed in 1981, which to date has constituted the official record of Vatican activity during that period, contains no reference to the negotiations. Knowledge of them has only now come to light with the recent opening of the Pius XII archives at the Vatican.
For the complete aricle see The Atlantic.
Sunday, January 24, 2021
In a first for Spain, Jesuits admit to decades of sex abuse
ARITZ PARRA and NICOLE WINFIELD (AP)
January 22, 2021
MADRID (AP) — The first comprehensive internal inquiry on sex abuse allegations by a religious order in Spain has identified 81 children and 37 adult victims of 96 Jesuits since the late 1920s, a much higher number than the cases that had so far been publicly known.
Associations of victims are welcoming the disclosure, but they see it falling short since the names of perpetrators or those who covered up the abuses weren’t disclosed. They also want the Jesuits’ inquiry to lead to proper criminal cases against the few abusers that are still alive and a detailed plan to compensate their victims.
“It’s a timid measure that goes in the right direction, but it falls too short,” Miguel Hurtado, a spokesman with the Stolen Childhood Association, told The Associated Press on Friday.
Jesuits is how members of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order formed in 1540 by Ignatius Loyola, are commonly known. According to its website, the order runs 68 schools with some 75,000 students in Spain as well as half a dozen universities and high education centers.
The Society of Jesus in Spain said in its report published Thursday that the internal probe confirmed that 96 members had been accused of sex abuses since 1927, the year of the first recorded case. For 65 of the Jesuits, the accusations involved underage victims. The report nevertheless highlighted that the accused Jesuits make up just over 1% of the 8,782 members admitted in the order during the past 93 years.
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See full story here https://apnews.com/article/international-news-sexual-abuse-by-clergy-spain-bd48515c52e036fcaa96dcf4edb488d2
Sunday, May 26, 2019
'No words to express our shame':
Polish bishops apologize for abuse
May 22, 2019
by Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News Service AccountabilityWorld
Polish Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno speaks during a news conference in Warsaw May 22, 2019, after bishops met to discuss steps the Catholic Church will take to tackle the problem of clergy sex abuse. (CNS/Agencja Gazeta, Slawomir Kaminski via Reuters) WARSAW, POLAND
Polish bishops apologize for abuse
May 22, 2019
by Jonathan Luxmoore, Catholic News Service AccountabilityWorld
Polish Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno speaks during a news conference in Warsaw May 22, 2019, after bishops met to discuss steps the Catholic Church will take to tackle the problem of clergy sex abuse. (CNS/Agencja Gazeta, Slawomir Kaminski via Reuters) WARSAW, POLAND
WARSAW, POLAND — The Polish bishops' administrative council met in emergency session May 22 and later admitted the church failed to act against clerical sexual abuse.
The meeting came amid outrage over a two-hour documentary, "Just Don't Tell Anyone," that included drastic accounts of cover-up of clerical sex abuse in Poland. The film had more than 19 million views within six days of its May 11 YouTube posting.
"The whole church community in Poland has been shaken by the latest painful information — these crimes have caused deep suffering for harmed people," the bishops said in a pastoral letter to be read in parishes nationwide May 26.
"There are no words to express our shame at the sexual scandals clergy have participated in. They are a source of great evil and demand total condemnation, as well as severe consequences for the criminals and for those who concealed such acts."
The bishops said they had been "deeply affected" by "shocking testimonies" in the film, as well as by its portrayal of a "lack of sympathy, sinful neglect and myopia" shown toward abuse victims.
It added that Catholic clergy and laity now had to act together in support of victims and to "rebuild trust in priests and bishops" in Poland.
"Everyone with any sensitivity, hearing of the fate of these harmed people, will feel pain, emotion and sadness toward their suffering, and we thank all those who have had the courage to speak about it," the bishops said.
"We admit that, as pastors of the church, we did not do everything to prevent this hurt. For many faithful, especially young people sincerely seeking God, sexual scandals involving clergy have been a heavy challenge to faith and a cause of terrible outrage."
The two-hour film, made with internet fundraising by investigative journalist Tomasz Sekielski, was the first that graphically detailed the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Polish church and follows a cinema drama on church corruption, "Kler" (Clergy), which broke box-office records last fall.
Besides alleging prevalent child sexual abuse, it shows the evasive behavior of perpetrators when confronted by victims and links abuse with secretive church structures and procedures.
The film, which makes accusations against Fr. Franciszek Cybula, personal chaplain to former President Lech Walesa, also accuses several bishops and archbishops of concealing abusive clergy from law enforcement and says priests continued working with children and celebrating Mass despite being sentenced for abuse and defrocked by the church.
Speaking in mid-May, Sekielski said he was negotiating with Netflix to distribute the film, which has since been broadcast on two Polish TV channels. He also said he was considering a whole documentary series.
Several dioceses and religious orders also issued statements in response to the film's claims.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Pope Francis may alow married Catholic men as Priests
Della Gallagher
CNN
March 10, 2017
Rome (CNN)Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church's shortage of clergy.
In an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, Pope Francis said the lack of Catholic priests was an "enormous problem" for the Church, and indicated he would be open to a change in the rules governing eligibility for the priesthood.
"We need to consider if 'viri probati' could be a possibility," he said. "If so, we would need to determine what duties they could undertake, for example, in remote communities."
Viri probati is the Latin term for "tested men" or married men of outstanding faith and virtue.
The option would allow men who are already married to be ordained as priests. But single men who are already priests would not be allowed to marry, according to the Pope.
"Voluntary celibacy is not a solution," he said.
The Catholic Church already allows some married men to be ordained priests.
Protestant married priests who convert to Catholicism can continue to be married and be a Roman Catholic priest, providing they have their wives' permission.
And Eastern Catholic churches that are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church can also maintain their tradition of married priests.
The Roman Catholic Church believes priests should not marry based on certain passages in the Bible, and because it believes that the priest acts "in persona Christi" (in the person of Christ) and should therefore be celibate, like Christ.
This teaching was re-affirmed by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis in his book, "On Heaven and Earth," said that "For the time being, I am in favor of maintaining celibacy with the pros and cons that it has, because it has been ten centuries of good experiences more often than failure."
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