America Is A Masonic Nation

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I always get a chuckle when I hear Evangelicals tell me that the United States of America was founded as a "Christian nation." No, I tell them, that's what it was BEFORE the American Revolution, when the colonies were ruled by a Protestant Christian king. After the Revolution, the colonies ceased to be Christian, and became the world's first Masonic nation! Granted, America's founding fathers were cooperative with Christians, mainly because they had to be, but don't think for one second that those same founding fathers had any intention of America keeping any trace of a Christian form of government. The founding fathers agreed that the moral foundations of religion were useful in building the country, but they kept it strictly to a moral understanding of the Christian religion, as all good Masons do. The idea of American government actually recognizing the real authority of any particular Church was repugnant to them. Of course, most repugnant to them was the Catholic Church, which the founding fathers were determined to keep in it's place. Need I remind my readers that following the American Revolution, Catholics suffered some of their greatest indignities at the hands of those who claimed the highest loyalty to the U.S. Constitution and the American Revolution.

Freemasons don't rule America in the literal sense, like a king might rule his subjects, but they do rule America in principle. In fact, the United States was founded on Freemasonry, and thus it is the world's first Masonic Nation. The idea being that Freemasons rule America through it's system of government, designed and ordered through Masonic principles. The idea of democratic republicanism (popularly and incorrectly referred to simply as "democracy") is Masonic in origin, a product of the Enlightenment era, which opposes Christian monarchy, the foundation of western civilization.

I want to make this very clear. Western civilization was founded on Christian monarchy. Kings and queens were subject to the ecclesiastical authority of the Catholic Church, which had both the power to coronate them and excommunicate them. By coronating them, the Church gave them power. By excommunicating them, the Church diminished their power, and sometimes dethroned them entirely. Thus western civilization was ruled by a Christian system of government during the middle ages. It was only after the Protestant Reformation that we start to see significant problems with these monarchies, which of course gave birth to the Enlightenment era and the rise of the Freemasons. The Freemasons in turn toppled the monarchies, or at the very least diminished their authority, thus giving us democratic republicanism.

The problem with democratic republicanism, besides it being an unChristian form of government derived from ancient Pagan principles, is that it always leads to socialism. We can see this in various degrees in democracies throughout the world, and even here in the United States, which continually slides deeper into socialist rule.

Many Catholic Americans don't understand the intrinsically anti-Catholic nature of Freemasonry. You have to understand that in America, Freemasonry has already accomplished most of it's goals. The government is totally Freemason. The democratic road to socialism is well underway, and nothing less than a total collapse of Washington DC can change this. Therefore, there is no need for Freemasons to work so hard in the United States. Most of their work is already finished. The primary function of most American Freemasons is now mainly fundraising, to help spread Masonic ideas around the world. In Europe Freemasonry takes on a much more openly anti-Catholic role, as it continually tries to undermine the influence of the Catholic Church there.

The Weakness of Democracy

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: "It is the natural progression of all representative government to inch toward socialism and tyranny." Yes, you can quote me on that. Indeed there are short periods of time when things move too fast, and the people temporarily return to their traditional sensibilities, but this is only a setback. It doesn't last. In time the steady march toward socialism and tyranny will continue. This is the lesson of the last 100 years.

(Screwtape Proposes a Toast, 1959) - Hidden in the heart of this striving for Liberty there was also a deep hatred of personal freedom. That invaluable man Rousseau first revealed it. In his perfect democracy, you remember, only the state religion is permitted, slavery is restored, and the individual is told that he has really willed (though he didn’t know it) whatever the Government tells him to do. From that starting point, via Hegel (another indispensable propagandist on our side) we easily contrived both the Nazi and the Communist state….

Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose…. [T]hey should never be allowed to give this word a clear and definable meaning. They won’t. It will never occur to them that democracy is properly the name of a political system, even a system of voting, and that this has only the most remote and tenuous connection with what you are trying to sell them. Nor of course must they ever be allowed to raise Aristotle’s question: whether “democratic behaviour” means the behaviour that democracies like or the behaviour that will preserve a democracy. For if they did, it could hardly fail to occur to them that these need not be the same.

You are to use the word purely as an incantation; if you like, purely for its selling power. It is a name they venerate. And of course it is connected with the political ideal that men should be equally treated. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political ideal to a factual belief that all men are equal…. As a result you can use the word democracy to sanction in his thought the most degrading (and also the least enjoyable) of human feelings. You can get him to practise, not only without shame but with a positive glow of self-approval, conduct which, if undefended by the magic word, would be universally derided.

The feeling I mean is of course that which prompts a man to say I’m as good as you….

No man who says I’m as good as you believes it. He would not say it if he did. The St. Bernard never says it to the toy dog, nor the scholar to the dunce, nor the employable to the bum, nor the pretty woman to the plain. The claim to equality, outside the strictly political field, is made only by those who feel themselves to be in some way inferior. What it expresses is precisely the itching, smarting, writhing awareness of an inferiority which the patient refuses to accept.

And therefore resents. Yes, and therefore resents every kind of superiority in others; denigrates it; wishes its annihilation. Presently he suspects every mere difference of being a claim to superiority…. “They’ve no business to be different. It’s undemocratic.”

Now, this useful phenomenon is in itself by no means new. Under the name of Envy it has been known to humans for thousands of years. But hitherto they always regarded it as the most odious, and also the most comical, of vices. Those who were aware of feeling it felt it with shame; those who were not gave it no quarter in others. The delightful novelty of the present situation is that you can sanction it — make it respectable and even laudable — by the incantatory use of the word democratic.

Under the influence of this incantation those who are in any or every way inferior can labour more wholeheartedly and successfully than ever before to pull down everyone else to their own level. But that is not all. Under the same influence, those who come, or could come, nearer to a full humanity, actually draw back from fear of being undemocratic…. They might (horror of horrors!) become individuals….

Meanwhile, as a delightful by-product, the few (fewer every day) who will not be made Normal or Regular and Like Folks and Integrated increasingly become in reality the prigs and cranks which the rabble would in any case have believed them to be. For suspicion often creates what it expects…. As a result we now have an intelligentsia which, though very small, is very useful to the cause of Hell.

But that is a mere by-product. What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence – moral, cultural, social, or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how “democracy” (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient Dictatorships, and by the same methods?…

Once you have grasped the tendency, you can easily predict its future developments; especially as we ourselves will play our part in the developing. The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be “undemocratic.” These differences between pupils – for they are obviously and nakedly individual differences – must be disguised. This can be done at various levels. At universities, examinations must be framed so that nearly all the students get good marks. Entrance examinations must be framed so that all, or nearly all, citizens can go to universities, whether they have any power (or wish) to profit by higher education or not. At schools, the children who are too stupid or lazy to learn languages and mathematics and elementary science can be set to doing things that children used to do in their spare time…. Whatever nonsense they are engaged in must have – I believe the English already use the phrase – “parity of esteem”…. Children who are fit to proceed to a higher class may be artificially kept back, because the others would get a trauma…by being left behind. The bright pupil thus remains democratically fettered to his own age group throughout his school career….

In a word, we may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when I’m as good as you has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will be prevented; who are they to overtop their fellows? And anyway the teachers – or should I say, nurses? – will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturbable conceit and incurable ignorance among men. The little vermin themselves will do it for us.

Of course, this would not follow unless all education became state education. But it will. That is part of the same movement. Penal taxes, designed for that purpose, are liquidating the Middle Class, the class who were prepared to save and spend and make sacrifices in order to have their children privately educated. The removal of this class, besides linking up with the abolition of education, is, fortunately, an inevitable effect of the spirit that says I’m as good as you. This was, after all, the social group which gave to the humans the overwhelming majority of their scientists, physicians, philosophers, theologians, poets, artists, composers, architects, jurists, and administrators. If ever there were a bunch of stalks that needed their tops knocked off, it was surely they. As an English politician remarked not long ago, “A democracy does not want great men.”

We, in Hell, would welcome the disappearance of democracy in the strict sense of that word, the political arrangement so called. Like all forms of government, it often works to our advantage, but on the whole less often than other forms. And what we must realize is that “democracy” in the diabolical sense (I’m as good as you, Being Like Folks, Togetherness) is the fittest instrument we could possibly have for extirpating political democracies from the face of the earth.

For “democracy” or the “democratic spirit” (diabolical sense) leads to a nation without great men, a nation mainly of subliterates, full of the cocksureness which flattery breeds on ignorance, and quick to snarl or whimper at the first sign of criticism. And that is what Hell wishes every democratic people to be. For when such a nation meets in conflict a nation where children have been made to work at school, where talent is placed in high posts, and where the ignorant mass are allowed no say at all in public affairs, only one result is possible….

It is our function to encourage the behaviour, the manners, the whole attitude of mind, which democracies naturally like and enjoy, because these are the very things which, if unchecked, will destroy democracy. You would almost wonder that even humans don’t see it themselves. Even if they don’t read Aristotle (that would be undemocratic) you would have thought the French Revolution would have taught them that the behaviour aristocrats naturally like is not the behaviour that preserves aristocracy. They might then have applied the same principle to all forms of government….

The overthrow of free peoples and the multiplication of slave states are for us a means (besides, of course, being fun); but the real end is the destruction of individuals. For only individuals can be saved or damned, can become sons of the Enemy or food for us. The ultimate value, for us, of any revolution, war, or famine lies in the individual anguish, treachery, hatred, rage, and despair which it may produce. I’m as good as you is a useful means for the destruction of democratic societies. But it has a far deeper value as an end in itself, as a state of mind which, necessarily excluding humility, charity, contentment, and all the pleasures of gratitude or admiration, turns a human being away from almost every road which might finally lead him to Heaven.

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Pope Pius IX and the Confederacy

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: One of the most overlooked facts of the American Civil War Era is the sympathy the South gained from Europe's most influential monarch - the pope of Rome.

Pope Pius IX never actually signed any kind of alliance or 'statement of support' with the Confederate States of America, but to those who understand the nuance of papal protocol, what he did do was quite astonishing. He acknowledged President Jefferson Davis as the "Honorable President of the Confederate States of America."

From this we can glean three things about Pope Pius IX...

1. He called Jefferson Davis by the customary title "Honorable."
   
2. He acknowledged him as president of a nation.
   
3. In doing so, he (at least on a personal level) effectively recognized the Confederate States of America as a sovereign entity, separate from the United States of America.

News of this reached the North, and the Whitehouse was considerably irate about it, prompting a response from the Vatican that the pope's letter did not amount to an "official" recognition in the "formal sense."

The pope's letter to Jefferson Davis was accompanied by an autographed picture of the pope.

There are many possible reasons why this pontiff would be sympathetic to the CSA and her president, but the most likely one was that Pope Pius IX recognized in the traditional Christian culture of the South, a mindset opposed to the advance of liberal Modernism. You see it was Pius IX who composed the famous "Syllabus of Errors," which condemned the Modernist philosophies of liberalism, humanism, secularism and marxism. It is speculated that Pius IX saw in the Confederacy a political movement steeped in European Christian tradition, and therefore a potential ally against liberal modernism on the North American continent. Alas, the Confederacy was ultimately defeated, and President Davis was captured. As the 'Deconstruction' of the South commenced, and Davis awaited his trial, it is understandable why the pope would be sympathetic.

Pope Pius IX was a revered figure in the post war South. General Robert E. Lee kept a portrait of him in his house, and referred to him as the South's only true friend during her time of need. Both Davis and Lee were Episcopalians, as were many Southerners before the War, a denomination which had many things in common with Catholicism before the 20th century influence of Modernism of course. Davis was frequently visited by Southern Catholic nuns during his imprisonment, who delivered messages for him and prayed for his release. He eventually was released, having never stood trial, on the grounds that he committed no real crime. It is believed the majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court at that time acknowledged the right of secession.

Southern Americans of today should take comfort knowing that the old Confederacy did have a European friend, and it just happened to be one of the most respected men in the world - not only a head of state, but also the leader of the world's largest Christian religion. The day will come when Pope Pius IX will be canonized as a Saint. He has already been beatified, which puts him well on his way. When that day comes, Southerners will have a special bragging right, not enjoyed by many nations even today. They will not only be able to boast of his sympathies during and after the great War, but they will also have in their collective possession a relic of the man - a hand written letter and autographed photograph.

On The American Civil War:

The American Civil War cannot be cast in the simplistic terms of pro-slavery verses anti-slavery. Lincoln said the war had nothing to do with slavery, and General U.S. Grant said that if he thought the war was about freeing the slaves, he would turn in his sword and fight for the other side. Grant was also a slave owner before, during and after the war.

In contrast, General Robert E. Lee was an abolitionist. Many Southerners shared his views. President Jefferson Davis requested land owners to promise their slaves freedom in exchange for military service. The abolition movement was also growing in the South before the war. The 13th Amendment that legally freed the slaves, (not the Emancipation Proclamation), was actually ratified by many Southern states before many Northern states.

The historical fact is that the Civil War was a conflict between TWO slave nations - the USA and the CSA. Granted, the USA had already banned slavery in some states, but the same movement was growing in some CSA states as well. Historical revisionists have spent a little over 100 years trying to paint the Civil War as some idealistic holy crusade against the injustice of slavery. That image doesn't hold up to the historical facts. The Civil War was mainly about money and power - particularly taxes and investments. What the South did was no different than what America's Founding Fathers did during the American Revolution. Both were acts of rebellion and armed insurrection. Both attempted to establish free and independent nations. Both were dominated by slave economies. The only difference between them is this. In the American Revolution the rebels won. In the American Civil War they didn't.

The Year 2012 And The End Of The World

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I've refrained from blogging on this for some time, as I truly hate getting into this stuff, but as the year 2012 approaches I'm afraid if I don't chime in, I will be negligent in letting people know what is likely to happen. So here it is.

In all realistic probability, the world will not end in 2012. In all realistic probability, the world will not even drastically change in 2012, unless man does something particular to change it - like a major war for example. Yes, we could have some big earthquakes, a tsunami, some major storms, but these could happen in any year. They've happened in years past, and they will most certainly happen in years future.

The doomsday consensus on the Internet and the blogosphere seems to center around our solar system's crossing of the galactic plane, and the supposed end of the Mayan calendar. My readers deserve facts not conjecture, so let's examine them.

The Mayan Calender
There is really nothing mystical or magical about this system of dating. Nearly all ancient civilizations developed methods of calculating time, and the Mayans were no different. The civilizations of ancient Central America have always been a fascination to western culture, simply because they were so far removed from everything known by the Old World (Europe, Africa & Asia). Their exotic character however, doesn't make them any more special than the ancient civilizations on other continents. Might I also point out that there is substantial evidence of ancient Mayan culture engaging in human sacrifice. That's not necessarily a virtuous characteristic. Still, in spite of their flaws, they did manage to organize a pretty elaborate calendar, that spans an incredible amount of time, and is fairly accurate as far as ancient calendars go. Yes it is true that the Mayan calendar ends in the year 2012, and that has been the source of much speculation by occult New Agers. However, it should be pointed out that the Mayan calendar is cyclic in nature, and just because one reaches the end of a cycle, that doesn't necessarily imply something bad is going to happen. There is no archaeological evidence to suggest that the Mayans themselves made any such prediction.

(Wikipedia) - "For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle," says Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. in Crystal River, Florida. To render December 21, 2012, as a doomsday or moment of cosmic shifting, she says, is "a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in."

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By "cash in" she means they're making a lot of money on the ignorance of any poor fool who will believe them. Ancient calendars were not designed to predict the end of the world, or even the start of natural disasters. No, the ancients were far more practical than that. They spent great amounts of time and energy perfecting these calendars for only one reason -- farming. Yes, that's right. They needed to know exactly when would be the best time to plant seeds, and when would be the best time to harvest. Watching the weather can be very unreliable. The position of the stars, moon and sun could much more accurately determine what time of year it was, and thus when would be best for planting and harvesting. I'm sure the ancient Mayans, if they could see us today, would be very amused by the way our technologically advanced civilization is fretting about their humble means of calculating the seasons. They would be very amused indeed.

The Mayan calendar does not predict the end of the world, or even the end of an age, or the start of a new one. The end of the Mayan calendar predicts one thing, and one thing only, which is the end of the Mayan calendar. It amazes me how easily people ascribe mythic qualities to sources that obviously don't deserve them. My favorite example is Nostradamus, who according to tabloid magazines, has accurately predicted every major disaster and political event since the middle 16th century. A careful examination of his writings reveals that he really didn't predict anything. I mean to say he never really committed himself to any one prediction. He wrote in parables and symbolism, which was so incredibly vague, that much of it can be interpreted any number of ways. That was the beauty of his craft though. Like fortune tellers and astrologers, his descriptions vaguely touch on so many common characteristics, that it's easy for the interested reader to immediately assign those vague descriptions to something personal in his or her own life. Likewise, the interested reader in Nostradamus does the same with his vague descriptions and history, connecting today's headlines with his writings, in ways Nostradamus himself could have never imagined. The average believer in Nostradamus today has never actually sat down to read any of his writings. Instead the average believer gets his/her information straight from the tabloid press, and what these tabloids say he said. Of course we know how accurate the tabloid media is -- a real source of "solid" information I'm sure. Then we have the predictions of supposed psychic Edgar Cayce, whom many would have us believe is a wellspring of prophetic information, even though he predicted the lost continent of Atlantis would resurface in either 1968 or 1969. Yet still, there are entire schools devoted to the study of this one man and the supposed "predictions" he made. Proponents of the Mayan calendar doomsday scenario frequently point to supposed "parallel predictions" made by Nostradamus and Cayce. To the Catholic mind this can't mean much, considering Nostradamus never committed to any of his predictions, and Cayce was so blatantly wrong on the biggest one he ever made.

The best advice I can give to all of my Catholic readers is to distance themselves from this kind of nonsense. It is the stuff of New Age occultism, something expressly forbidden by the First Commandment. It's bad enough that most of this is derived from the occult, but to make matters worse, many of those using the Mayan calendar to predict "something big" are really just after big money. They may be trying to sell you a book, or a magazine, or even worse some kind of "survival kit." Don't be fooled. These people are charlatans.

The Galactic Plane
It's quite common for doomsday fanatics to take a skin of the truth, and stuff it with lies. On the issue of the galactic plane, they're definitely on to something true, but their time tables are too heavily dependent on the Mayan calendar thing. There is no way the ancient Mayans could know exactly when the earth's solar system will cross the galactic plane, and there is no way they could have calculated it based on the observations of their time. Yes, the earth's solar system is scheduled to cross the galactic plane some time in the near future, but scientists do not know exactly when, and "soon" in galactic terms could mean anytime within the next one million years.

What is the galactic plane? Well think of our galaxy as a spiral disk spinning through space. It's about 100,000 light-years across, and about 10,000 light-years thick. Just to give you an idea of size, light travels at about 186,000 miles per second. Now that means a particle-wave of light travels about 11 million miles a minute, and about 670 million miles an hour. So to figure the size of the galaxy, just figure that it takes about 100,000 years for that same particle-wave of light to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other. 

Within this spiral disk are billions (maybe even trillions) of stars. They all revolve counterclockwise around the center of the disk, which is powered by the gravitational force of a massive black hole - a star so dense that light cannot escape it. Time and space itself implode within the massive gravitational pull of this black hole, creating what scientists call a "singularity." This singularity is a "pinhole," if you will, reaching back to the first cause from which the universe sprang forth, and it is the final end in which our universe will eventually return. It could best be described as a window into eternity, and it is the closest this universe will ever come to encountering God face to face, outside the incarnation of Jesus Christ of course.

This black hole is rotating at an incredible speed, and the centripetal force of it's rotation causes the center of it's gravitation well to get spread out, like a micro thin disk spanning the center of the galaxy. That micro thin disk of gravity collects a lot of cosmic dust, particles and for lack of a better term -- space junk. It is spread uniformly (as far as we know) from one end of the galaxy to the other, and it is around this disk that all the stars in the galaxy bounce up and down through like a wooden horse on a carousel. Our nearest star (the sun) is no different. In fact, astronomers at NASA have calculated that our solar system (which includes the earth of course) bounces through this galactic plane about once ever 32 million years. When it does, we tend to pass through a very messy part of space, filled with all sorts of dust particles, rocks, ice and space junk. All of this increases our chance of a collision, and based on the geological history of the earth, a collision with something is almost guaranteed. To describe this, I'll quote the only source I trust on such things, and that is NASA...

(GISS NASA) - In the early 1980s, a GISS scientist, Richard Stothers, discovered that the impact cratering record on Earth displays a certain regularity. Wholesale bombardments by large meteoroids seem to have recurred at intervals of 30 to 35 million years. He also noticed that this magic number seems to be close to the length of time the Solar System needs to move up from and back down to the plane of our disk-like galaxy of stars, the Milky Way. Astronomers have known for a long time that, in its revolution around the central mass of our galaxy, the Solar System performs such an up-and-down motion quite regularly, like a horse on a merry-go-round. Material lying mostly near the galactic plane tugs with its gravitational force on objects only loosely bound to the Solar System, like the distant comets that occupy a vast halo far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Many of these shaken comets then rain down in a shower toward the Sun, much as ripe apples drop from a tall tree during a windstorm. Our Earth intercepts some of the infalling comets. The biggest gravitational disturbances of the outer comet halo are believed to be made by close encounters with very massive objects, like the huge clouds of gas and dust that lie between the stars....

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The only question is how big of a collision, and what the damage will be. The last time we were hit was about 35 million years ago, by two meteors (one hitting Russia and the other creating a large crater at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay.) These caused mass extinction of animal species on the planet, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the mass extinction cased by the previous crossing of the galactic plane some 65 million years ago. That collision with just one huge meteor killed off all the dinosaurs and left a magma crater just off the Yucatan Peninsula which is so big that it's only visible by special satellite imaging. So based on all the evidence and calculations, we are due to cross the galactic plane anytime now, but keep in mind that the word "anytime" in galactic terms could mean anytime within the next one million years. The odds of that happening in 2012, based on the cycle of an agrarian calendar, designed by the Mayan civilization thousands of years ago, are extremely slim. In fact, if I were a betting man, I would put my money on the world NOT ending in 2012, and laugh all the way to the bank on January 1st, 2013.

Yes, astronomical science, along with the geologic record, seem to indicate that our world will soon end -- soon meaning within a million years. It could be a smaller catastrophe that will simply change the world as we know it. Or it could be a larger cataclysm that will end the age of the mammals much in the same way the meteor 65 million years ago ended the age of the dinosaurs. Our Catholic Christian religion teaches us that mankind's demise will come a different way, involving a final trial against the forces of evil, resulting in a general judgment of God upon all the nations. How this relates to earth crossing the galactic plane, if at all, is completely unknown, and it would be foolish to speculate on such things. So let's not.

James Ossuary Is A Total FRAUD!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Remember the burial box (ossuary) that was supposedly "found" a while back? Those who promoted it claimed it dated back to the time of Jesus and the inscription proved conclusively that the Apostle James was Jesus' actual brother, and therefore, the Catholic doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity was false. Well a lot of people casted doubt on these fantastic claims, and 'The Catholic Knight' was one of them. Now it looks like we've all been vindicated. As it turns out, the whole thing is a fraud, and the Israeli police are not happy about it...

(FoxNews) - The discovery electrified the faithful and faithful archaeologists alike. But skeptics began to dig deeper into the mysterious find, and Israeli police started investigating.

They found the box was authentically old, dating back to 60 A.D., the biblical date of James' death. But the inscription, they found, was a forgery.

The investigators took Golan to court, accusing the dealer of turning believers' faith against them to rake in his millions, TIME reported....

read full story here

Hitler's Pope

(Philadelphia Evening Bulletin) - ...Hitler's Pope has been criticized for its accuracy and dedication to objective history, and Mr. Cornwell admits that since its publication, his views have undergone revision.

"While I believe with many commentators that the pope might have done more to help the plight of the Jews, I now feel, 10 years after the publication of my book, that his scope for action was severely limited and I am prepared to state this," he said....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Ten years after the bombshell book, hyper media criticism, and forty years after the communist propaganda first hit the American public, Pope Pius XII has finally been vindicated....

(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 17 - New research clears controversial wartime pope Pius XII from the accusation that he did not do enough to save Jews, Pope Benedict XVI said on Thursday.

It is the first time the pope has come out publicly to defend the record of his WWII predecessor, who is moving towards sainthood despite accusations of keeping silent about the Holocaust....

.... The pope thanked the Pave the Way Foundation, made up of Catholics and Jews, for uncovering the evidence in favour of Pius.

He voiced the hope that further studies can reinforce ''the historical truth, overcoming all remaining prejudice''. Benedict's statement on the new research - which has not yet been made public - follows last year's assertion by his No.2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, that people ignore evidence disproving Pius was indulgent towards Hitler.

Pius was the victim of a ''black legend'', said Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State....

read full story here

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(CWNews.com) - The Vatican has confirmed the existence of a directive from Pope Pius XII, asking Catholic clergy and religious to shelter Jews from the Holocaust.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news), the Vatican Secretary of State, acknowledged in short April 19 announcement that Pope Pius XII issued instructions for all religious institutions to open their doors to Jewish people. The catacombs of Rome were also made available for shelter....

read full story here

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(CNA).- A former high-ranking officer with the KGB claims that the Kremlin and the Russian intelligence agency in the 1960s were set on executing a smear campaign against the Catholic Church, and the main target was Pope Pius XII.

In a recent issue of the National Review Online, Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa, who eventually defected from the former Soviet bloc, recounts how the KGB and the Kremlin designed the deliberate campaign to portray the Pius XII “as a coldhearted Nazi sympathizer.”

“In February 1960, Nikita Khrushchev approved a super-secret plan for destroying the Vatican’s moral authority in Western Europe,” writes Pacepa. “Eugenio Pacelli, by then Pope Pius XII, was selected as the KGB’s main target, its incarnation of evil, because he had departed this world in 1958. ‘Dead men cannot defend themselves’ was the KGB’s latest slogan.”

The code name for this operation against Pope Pius XII was “Seat-12.”

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There was no "Hitler's Pope." The whole thing was a fabrication, a lie, invented by the Soviet KGB, in a plan called "Seat 12," devised for the sole purpose of undermining the moral authority of the Catholic Church over the western world. It was enthusiastically embraced by the enemies of the Catholic Church on both sides of the political spectrum. The Secular Left loved it! The Religious Right used it. (I even had a Jehovah's Witness at my door preach it to me.) Oh how eager so many where to believe the lie! Even some Catholics jumped on the bandwagon. The criticism from the Left-wing biased media was unending. We heard it from all the major television and cable networks. After Cornwell's 'Hitler's Pope' was published, literally dozens of knock off books followed. The television preachers, oh how many television preachers, included it in their sermons. Some Evangelical authors included it in their own books on apologetics and eschatology.  Millions upon millions of unsuspecting Evangelicals were subjected to this lie, many of whom still believe it, because they trust the television preacher who told them. (I can't even count the number of times I've been confronted about it by misinformed Evangelicals.) It was perhaps one of the greatest lies of our time - the whopper of the century!

We can learn a lot about those who enthusiastically embraced it, who went out of their way to spread it around, and took every opportunity to rub it in the face of any Catholic who would dare defend the Church on anything. Shall we call it "prejudice?" Perhaps "bigotry" might be a better word. So what are we to say of those Catholics who actually embraced it, using it as an excuse to rationalize their opposition to the Church on this issue or that? What shame! What scandal! What embarrassment! Shame on all those who engaged in this nonsense! Dishonor and disrepute upon those who eagerly embraced such a lie, that so seriously defamed the Church, without even questioning it!

So what are we to say of the mainstream news media? Do we see primetime retractions in their news broadcasts? Do we get so much as an inkling of regret for having slandered the Church for so many years? No. Not a peep out of them. How about the Secular Left-wingers out there? Any apologies? None. There is nothing but silence. What about the Religious Right-wingers? I'll give them credit. At least some have apologized.  A few (especially those who understand what it's like to be slandered) never believed it to begin with.  To them I give thanks. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not holding a grudge here, and I wouldn't advise that any of us do. Rather, I would like to use this whole thing as an object lesson for Catholics, Protestants and non-religious people alike. Prejudice can just as well be defined as eagerly embracing bad news about somebody (or some people) without ever questioning the validity of the news itself, or even the credibility of the source who reported it.

The fabrication of "Hitler's Pope" is the epitome of this. The KGB introduced this lie to the western world in 1963 via a German author and playwright named Rolf Hochhuth. The play, entitled "The Deputy," was introduced as fiction. The pope in the play was never mentioned by name. The incriminating accusations against the pope were made by suggestion and insinuation. Hochhuth himself was raised in Nazi Germany and was a member of Hitler's Youth. While that itself is not incriminating, since service was compulsory, his refusal to talk about it, combined with his defense of those who deny the Holocaust, does tarnish his reputation a bit. It is not known if Hochhuth was directly hired by the KGB to write the play, or if the KGB simply used his material as an opportunity. Only two things are known as fact. The first is that the KGB was authorized by the Soviet Kremlin to smear the reputation of Pope Pius XII after his death in a plan named "Seat 12." The second, is that Rolf Hochhuth wrote the play that started the job. Beyond that we can surmise that Soviet involvement helped to promote the ideas of the play throughout Europe and North America, eventually coming to a climax in John Cornwell's 1999 bombshell book "Hitler's Pope." It can be reasonably assumed that Cornwell was simply operating on the momentum of the propaganda itself, and was probably not working for the KGB, since the Soviet Union fell almost a decade earlier. By this time the KGB's lies had taken on a life of their own, that outlived those who originally promoted them. Cornwell might be considered a victim of this by some, but the obvious distortions in the book causes 'The Catholic Knight' to question his culpability. It would seem to me that Cornwell may have been a victim of Soviet propaganda, but it was his own prejudice that caused him to write his book the way he did. Just to cite a small example of this, the cover of the book features a black and white photo that appears to show the image of Pope Pius XII being saluted by a Nazi officer. In fact, the photo is doctored. A comparison of the original photo with the book cover, reveals that the supposed Nazi officer is actually a civilian cab driver. Deception begins even before the book is opened, while the fables and inaccuracies written therein have been exposed and rebuffed by many historians. Cornwell is responsible for his own libel against Pius XII. Thankfully, for his sake, he is finally starting to admit his error.

Soon Pope Pius XII will be canonized as a saint, and when he is, all of this will be drudged up again for a public to see. This time, however, they'll be given the other side of the story, the whole story, and the world will see just how low the enemies of the Church will sink to slander the name of a good man in the hopes of tarnishing the Church's moral authority. A word to the wise for critics of the Catholic Church, especially those in the mainstream media. You've been played! You've been suckered! Nearly half a century ago a lie was concocted by communists on the other side of the world, and you bought it! They used you. You fell for it, and now it's come out that you unwittingly cooperated with communists to spread KGB propaganda. Are you feeling a little sheepish now? You should. If you don't, you should be worried about yourself. So the lesson is this. Next time you hear a supposed "fact" about the history of the Catholic Church, you might want to do a little research before you believe it. Maybe you ought to check the sources. Maybe you should allow a little skepticism to enter your mind, the next time somebody tells you a "scandalous" tale about the world's largest Christian organization.  It's just a little friendly advice.  Take it for what it's worth.

U.S. Catholic Bishops Reject Pelosi Heresy - Prove Church Has ALWAYS Opposed Abortion

From the U.S. Catholic Bishops...

(print PDF version here)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law” (No. 2271).

In response to those who say this teaching has changed or is of recent origin, here are the facts:

• From earliest times, Christians sharply distinguished themselves from surrounding pagan cultures by rejecting abortion and infanticide. The earliest widely used documents of Christian teaching and practice after the New Testament in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and Letter of Barnabas, condemned both practices, as did early regional and particular Church councils. 

• To be sure, knowledge of human embryology was very limited until recent times. Many Christian thinkers accepted the biological theories of their time, based on the writings of Aristotle (4th century BC) and other philosophers. Aristotle assumed a process was needed over time to turn the matter from a woman’s womb into a being that could receive a specifically human form or soul. The active formative power for this process was thought to come entirely from the man – the existence of the human ovum (egg), like so much of basic biology, was unknown. 

• However, such mistaken biological theories never changed the Church’s common conviction that abortion is gravely wrong at every stage. At the very least, early abortion was seen as attacking a being with a human destiny, being prepared by God to receive an immortal soul (cf. Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”).

• In the 5th century AD this rejection of abortion at every stage was affirmed by the great bishop-theologian St. Augustine. He knew of theories about the human soul not being present until some weeks into pregnancy. Because he used the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, he also thought the ancient Israelites had imposed a more severe penalty for accidentally causing a miscarriage if the fetus was “fully formed” (Exodus 21: 22-23), language not found in any known Hebrew version of this passage. But he also held that human knowledge of biology was very limited, and he wisely warned against misusing such theories to risk committing homicide. He added that God has the power to make up all human deficiencies or lack of development in the Resurrection, so we cannot assume that the earliest aborted children will be excluded from enjoying eternal life with God.

• In the 13th century, St. Thomas Aquinas made extensive use of Aristotle’s thought, including his theory that the rational human soul is not present in the first few weeks of pregnancy. But he also rejected abortion as gravely wrong at every stage, observing that it is a sin “against nature” to reject God’s gift of a new life.

• During these centuries, theories derived from Aristotle and others influenced the grading of penalties for abortion in Church law. Some canonical penalties were more severe for a direct abortion after the stage when the human soul was thought to be present. However, abortion at all stages continued to be seen as a grave moral evil. 

• From the 13th to 19th centuries, some theologians speculated about rare and difficult cases where they thought an abortion before “formation” or “ensoulment” might be morally justified. But these theories were discussed and then always rejected, as the Church refined and reaffirmed its understanding of abortion as an intrinsically evil act that can never be morally right.

• In 1827, with the discovery of the human ovum, the mistaken biology of Aristotle was discredited. Scientists increasingly understood that the union of sperm and egg at conception produces a new living being that is distinct from both mother and father. Modern genetics demonstrated that this individual is, at the outset, distinctively human, with the inherent and active potential to mature into a human fetus, infant, child and adult. From 1869 onward the obsolete distinction between the “ensouled” and “unensouled” fetus was permanently removed from canon law on abortion.

• Secular laws against abortion were being reformed at the same time and in the same way, based on secular medical experts’ realization that “no other doctrine appears to be consonant with reason or physiology but that which admits the embryo to possess vitality from the very moment of conception” (American Medical Association, Report on Criminal Abortion, 1871).

• Thus modern science has not changed the Church’s constant teaching against abortion, but has underscored how important and reasonable it is, by confirming that the life of each individual of the human species begins with the earliest embryo.

• Given the scientific fact that a human life begins at conception, the only moral norm needed to understand the Church’s opposition to abortion is the principle that each and every human life has inherent dignity, and thus must be treated with the respect due to a human person. This is the foundation for the Church’s social doctrine, including its teachings on war, the use of capital punishment, euthanasia, health care, poverty and immigration. Conversely, to claim that some live human beings do not deserve respect or should not be treated as “persons” (based on changeable factors such as age, condition, location, or lack of mental or physical abilities) is to deny the very idea of inherent human rights. Such a claim undermines respect for the lives of many vulnerable people before and after birth.

For more information: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion (1974), nos. 6-7; John R. Connery, S.J., Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (1977); Germain Grisez, Abortion: The Myths, the Realities, and the Arguments (1970), Chapter IV; U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, On Embryonic Stem Cell Research (2008); Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (1995), nos. 61-2.

FREE AT LAST: Tridentine Mass Liberated!

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Download Motu Proprio, Pope's Letter with Q&A from US Bishops

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: After having been repressed for nearly 40 years, the Mass of Saint Pius V (commonly known as the "Tridentine Mass" or "Classical Latin Mass") has been liberated by Pope Benedict XVI - formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. For over three decades, the vast majority of Catholics around the world have been under the false impression that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II: 1962-1965) dispensed of the old mass (Tridentine) and replaced it with the new mass (commonly known as the "Novus Ordo" or "Mass of Pope Paul VI"). Not so! Vatican officials have in recent years repeatedly said the old rite was never abolished, and can still be celebrated anywhere in the world, with the permission of the local bishop. The late Pope John Paul II issued his own Motu Proprio regarding this same matter on July 2, 1988, establishing the norms for how this takes place.

However, it would appear that in most diocese throughout the world, particularly the United States, many bishops simply ignored Pope John Paul II and refused to grant permission to celebrate the Tridentine mass when it was respectfully requested by the faithful. The seriousness of this problem led to the alienation of many Catholics from their historic roots, and the rapid growth of a semi-schismatic group known as the "Society of St. Pius X" (SSPX). The SSPX currently operates outside the canonical structures of the Roman Catholic Church, celebrates the Tridentine mass exclusively, and totally rejects the reforms of Vatican II. The Motu Proprio issued by Pope Benedict XVI today, entitled Summorum Pontificum (which means "Of the Supreme Pontiffs"), builds upon Pope John Paul II's decision to permit greater freedom and latitude for the Tridentine mass. It does so by insisting that all local bishops grant permission for the faithful to celebrate the Tridentine mass, and if a bishop is unable to comply, the faithful have recourse to the pontifical commission of Ecclesia Dei, which will endeavor to "help" that bishop with this problem.

Over the last three decades, the Tridentine mass has become something of an anathema to liberals within the Church, many of whom find it intolerable. Usually those most hostile toward the old mass, also tend to be those most permissive toward fanciful innovations and liturgical abuse within the new mass. The liberal mindset follows the modernist presumption that Vatican II dispensed of the old Catholic Church, and created an entirely new one where "anything goes." The introduction of the Novus Ordo mass in 1970, along with the simultaneous repression of the Tridentine mass, unfortunately served to fuel this false presumption for decades.

Therefore this papal decision sends a virtual "death blow" to the liberal ideology of liturgical innovation and the modernist influence over the mass. Thus allowing the tide of historic Catholic tradition to flood back into the Church, the local congregation, and every individual Catholic willing to receive it. This restoration of the Tridentine mass is sure to exert a "gravitational pull" on the Novus Ordo. By that, I mean the Novus Ordo (commonly celebrated in the vernacular languages) is bound to come into greater continuity with the historic traditions and customs of the old Tridentine mass. Over time the two will remain distinct, but the continuity between them will be more obvious. Many of the customs and traditions of the Catholic mass, which were never intended to be thrown out, will slowly return to the Novus Ordo. This is part of Pope Benedict XVI's greater plan of liturgical renewal. Such a scenario may be intolerable to hard-core liberals, and because of that, we might expect to see a small exodus. However, Pope Benedict's intent is to put an end to disputes over the mass, and restore tranquility to the liturgical scene. His accompanying four-page letter chides hot tempers on both sides of the debate, calling for peace and harmony as both traditional and contemporary Catholics learn from each other, recognizing that no harm can come from historic traditions that have always been observed. He calls contemporary Catholics to greater fidelity to the authorized rubrics of the Novus Ordo mass. Furthermore, he insists that both masses (old and new) are part of the same Roman Rite, and that no rupture exists between them. A new vocabulary is called for in referring to the two masses. For the Novus Ordo is now to be referred to as the "Ordinary" form of the Roman Rite, while the Tridentine is to be called the "Extraordinary" form of the Roman Rite. (This blogger will henceforth attempt to honor the pope's request.)

There is an ancient Catholic maxim that says; "As the Church worships, so it believes, and so it behaves." In other words, worship shapes faith and behavior. The return of historic tradition, both in the revival of the Extraordinary form of the mass, and it's gravitational pull on the Ordinary form of the mass, has leveled the playing field. The traditional arm of the Church can now operate freely to effect the "reform of the reform" sought by Pope Benedict XVI. This is a pivotal moment in post-conciliar history. A fatal blow has been dealt to the liberals corrupting the Catholic Church and twisting the meaning of Vatican II. Today is "D-Day!" What Pope Benedict's Motu Proprio did today was the equivalent of the Normandy invasion in the liturgical sense. The liberal war on our historic Catholic Tradition is far from over, but today we have seen the "beginning of the end." Historic Catholic Tradition has finally been reintroduced to the Church in the revived Extraordinary form of the mass, and with it, the Ordinary form will soon be elevated to its intended glory. All of these things can only serve to make both the clergy and the laity more conservative, more orthodox and ultimately more Catholic.

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Mexico Falls -- God's Judgement to Follow

Pro-Abortion activists dressed as Roman Catholic clergy celebrate outside of the City Legislature in Mexico City, Tuesday April 24, 2007.

Mexico City Lawmakers Pass Abortion Bill

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion Tuesday, a decision likely to influence policies and health practices across Mexico and other parts of heavily Roman Catholic Latin America.

The proposal, approved 46-19, with one abstention, will take effect with the expected signing by the city's leftist mayor. Abortion opponents have already vowed to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, a move likely to extend the bitter and emotional debate in this predominantly Catholic nation.

"Decriminalizing abortion is a historic triumph, a triumph of the left," said city legislator Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a social democrat who voted for the bill. "Today, there is a new atmosphere in this city. It is the atmosphere of freedom."

Nationally, Mexico allows abortion only in cases of rape, severe birth defects or if the woman's life is at risk. Doctors sometimes refuse to perform the procedure even under those circumstances....

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THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: A sad day in North American history has come. Mexico City has returned to human sacrifice on par with the ancient Aztec civilization. The only difference is the deity worshipped. Like the United States government, the Mexico City government now offers human sacrifices to the gods of convenience, lust and wealth. We have all seen the result of America's cruel national idolatry. God has punished the United States with wars and terrorism. It would seem that so long as America's unborn remain unsafe, none of us can be assured of our safety -- yours truly included. Canada believes it has escaped this type of judgement, and perhaps it has so far, but like Europe the Canadian population is dwindling, and the government has no choice but to import immigrants (many from the Islamic world) to fill the nation's growing social welfare gap. So like Europe, the Canada we once knew is disappearing. Now that Mexico City has fallen to the gods of modern paganism, the only question that remains is how God will deal with Mexico City's crime against humanity. God's judgment is now certain, how He will exact it remains a mystery -- for now.

Body of Apostle Paul FOUND!

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Brace yourselves; the body of the man who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament has just been found...

Vatican City, Dec. 06, 2006 (CNA) - Vatican archaeologists say they have conclusive evidence that a Roman tomb, located in St Paul Outside the Walls, the largest church in Rome after St Peter's, belonged to St. Paul.

The tomb has been long-revered by tradition as that of St. Paul; however, archaeologist Giorgio Filippi says that scientific evidence now backs up the evidence of tradition that the tomb belongs to the great Saint of the Early Church.

Filippi said his team had found a Roman sarcophagus "exactly underneath the epigraph Paulo Apostolo Mart (Paul the Apostle and Martyr) at the base of the cathedral's main altar," reported ANSA....

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Hagia Sophia - Vatican of the East

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: When the pope visits Istanbul this week, keep a close eye on him as he enters the Hagia Sophia -- what used to be the eastern version of the Vatican for the Ecumenical Patriarch. It was taken by Muslims at the end of the middle ages, was made into a mosque, and has been a museum since the 1920s. Any act of faith the pope makes, even crossing himself, while visiting there will be seen by Muslims as a papal claim on the ancient Church for Christianity. Personally, I hope he gives the place a full pontifical blessing! How can Turkey even consider becoming a member of the European Union if it does not allow religious liberty? I say let the pope say mass there if he likes, and then make sure he has police and military protection from the Turkish government if the Islamic-fascists outside decide to riot. If Turkey wants to be part of the Western world, than this is what it means. Freedom of religion is considered a sacred right in the West, if Turkish Muslims don't like it, than they had better get used to it. Otherwise, they can forget about affiliating with Europe, and join the rising Islamic Persian Empire in the middle east. Sadly, I doubt the pope will do anything provocative. This is probably more of a bridge-building mission. I doubt Benedict XVI will do anything to aggravate an already tense situation. It's times like these I long for the provocative days of John Paul II, when the pope thumbed his nose at communism in Poland, and then carried on as if to say "whadda ya gonna do about it!"

By Suna Erdem, Istanbul

The loudest boos, however, are reserved for references to the Pope’s proposed visit to Saint Sophia, the magnificent Byzantine basilica where Mehmed the Conqueror prayed after he took the city for the Ottoman Empire in 1453. It remained as a mosque until the Turkish Government turned it into a museum in the 1920s, to the annoyance of Islamists. If the Pope prays or so much as crosses himself when he enters the vast domed building, he will have staked a claim on the place, the protesters say.

Away from the scene, however, rather than complaining about the visit, secularist columnists have been upbraiding the Government about the mixed messages it has given the Pope and the lost opportunity to show that Turkey, a European Union candidate, is part of the Western world rather than a remote Islamic outpost...

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Top Catholic & Orthodox Clerics Discuss End To 1,000 Year Schism

Top Roman Catholic and Orthodox clerics declared Monday the time has come to heal the rifts between the two churches and to seek unity.

Sixty top Roman Catholic and Christian Orthodox clerics gathered for a week in Belgrade, Serbia, to renew theological dialogue this week, after talks broke off six years ago.

"East and West have been estranged from each other since the 11th century," said Orthodox Metropolitan John Zizioulas, according to The Associated Press. The schism of 1054 created the two churches of Rome and Constantinople - now Istanbul, Turkey.

"It is time to recover the ancient unity,” he reportedly said, adding that, because of the new political reality in Europe, East and West must now also meet on the political level...

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THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: This is truly great news. Let's hope and pray something substantial comes out of it this time. The Church needs unity, and the Eastern Orthodox are the most likely candidates for a reasonable reunification in the near future -- mainly because their beliefs and sacraments are virtually the same as ours. Satan's strategy has always been to divide and conquer, and one reason why Islam has had such success over the last millennium is precisely because of the division between eastern and western Christianity.

Rabbi Calls "Hitler's Pope" A Righteous Man

Rabbi Says Pius XII Deserves "Righteous" Title
David Dalin Makes Case in "Myth of Hitler's Pope"

ROME, JAN. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A U.S. rabbi says that the title "Righteous among the Nations" should be conferred on Pope Pius XII for his efforts to defend the Jews during World War II.

Rabbi David Dalin, a professor of history and political science at Ave Maria University in Florida, makes his case in his book "The Myth of Hitler's Pope," published by Regnery.

The work shows that, in the course of history, many popes defended and protected the Jews from accusations and persecutions. It also recounts many incidents which show how Pius XII saved Jews from Nazi persecution.

Rabbi Dalin quotes authoritative studies by Jewish authors, such as Pinchas Lapide's "Rome and the Jews" and "Pius XII and the Jews," written in 1963 by Joseph Lichten, a member of the Anti-Defamation League.

The rabbi also quotes Hungarian historian Jeno Levai who, in the face of accusations of silence against Pius XII, wrote "Hungarian Jewry and the Papacy: Pope Pius XII Did Not Remain Silent. Reports, Documents and Records from Church and State Archives," published in English in 1968. Robert M.W. Kempner, the deputy U.S. counsel during the Nuremberg trials, wrote the introduction to that book...

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As I pointed out in a recent editorial below, we are living in a time of historical revisionism. For years people have been taught to believe that Pope Pius XII assisted Hitler (through silence) in the Holocaust. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the historical records tell the story in full. Pope Pius XII actually worked to save the Jewish people from the Holocaust. Those who have been led to believe otherwise are victims of propaganda, which has been spread to defame the Catholic Church, and divert some blame for the Holocaust away from Hitler and Nazi Germany. The propaganda against Pope Pius XII is specifically designed to make the papacy look bad, and Hitler look not so bad. When Jews subscribe to it, it victimizes them twice, because not only does it shift blame away from the regime that tried to destroy them, but it also causes them to think badly of one of the men who tried to help them. It's time the truth be told, and I applaud Rabbi Dalin for taking up the cause. Pope Pius XII will be canonized as a Saint one day, and when he is, the primary reason for his canonization will be the aid and comfort he gave to nearly 1 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.