Thursday, March 28

Pius XII’s Beautification Becomes An Ugly Problem For Rome

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Pope John Paul II came one step closer to sainthood a few days ago as Pope Benedict XVI certified the last pontiff’s state of heroic virtue. This step, known as Veneration in the Catholic Church, is the second to last stage in the canonization process. This puts Pope John Paul II on track to be the fastest canonization in Catholic history. It is believed that come October John Paul will easily be Beautified, marking the final hurdle before sainthood may be attained.

The announcement was met around the world with universal celebration. The late Pope is legendary for his tireless promotion of peace. Many Catholic clergy have taken to referring to him as John Paul The Great – an honor rarely bestowed upon any Pope. It seemed that nothing could mar the good news.

Then the announcement came that Pope Pius XII had also been elevated to Venerable status.

Pope Pius XII had the dubious honor of being head of the largest faction of Christianity during the darkest days of World War II. Many have accused Pope Pius of a whole range of sins, from not doing enough to aid the suffering of Europeans exploited under the Nazi regime to straight out collusion with Hitler’s Final Solution. ”How can one venerate a man who showed such cowardice, who was so close a bystander that he seemed to give his passive permission to the Nazis as the Jews were praised from his doorstep in Rome?” commented Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, the chief minister of Sydney’s Great Synagogue. He is hardly alone in his sentiment towards the war-time Pope. Jewish organizations the world over have decried Pope Benedict’s ruling as premature and unfair.

This all comes on the heels of Pope Benedict’s controversial decision lift the excommunication of ultra-traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, who turned out to be a Holocaust denier. While the Church demanded he recant, substantial damage was done to Catholic-Jewish relations.

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8 Comments

  1. Dear Alex,
    What a wonderful and insightful article. It could not be delivered at a better time than during the Christmas Season. I could not help but thank God for your involvement with KTF as I was reading your article. On behalf of KTF, I nominate you as KTF’s Patron Saint of Editing.
    For those of you that are unaware of my sense of humor, I am being extremely complimentary in a slightly humorous fashion.

  2. I think I had better clarify my previous message. I loved Pope John Paul II very much. After I read the article above, all I could think about was the beautiful tribute to Karol Wajtyla. I totally defocused from the complications relating to Pope Pius. I am sorry.

  3. Interesting article. It’s nice to gain knowledge of the “inside baseball” of the Catholic Church’s processes.

    This contrasted with the Dec 21 article title are quite the eye opener for a newer reader.

  4. Good article, Mr. Sharp. I’d like to see the documents, as well. It seems contradictory that the pope who penned the Summi Pontificatus would also completely acquiesce to Nazism. But, then again, it seems like there were more than a handful of public figures, intellectuals, etc., who ended up succumbing to the Nazi agenda. (Martin Heidegger being an example.)

  5. Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus on

    Book Work said:

    “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
    “It seems contradictory that the pope who penned the Summi Pontificatus would also completely acquiesce to Nazism.”

    “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

    Well actually…

    As I see it, if the pope acquiesced to Nazism (even to a small degree)–regardless of whatever fancy titled encyclicals he published in the latinate–would’ve been behaving in a way that was directly repugnant to the very office of the papacy.

    Commodum habitus es!

    Interesting blog you have going here.

  6. Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus on

    Does anyone know the status of Pope John XXIII, as far as his potential canonization?

    My all time favorite papal anecdote is when Pope John XXIII visited a prison and encountered an inmate who refused to speak or even look at His Holiness. The prisoner just stood at the opposite end of the cell, facing the wall.

    His Holiness asked the warden: “What has this man done?,”

    to which the warden replied: “This man killed his wife.”

    His Holiness addressed the prisoner, thus: “Young man, I have never been married, but if I were, I might’ve killed my wife, too.”

    The prisoner turned around, sobbing, and embraced the Pope.

    I got teary-eyed just writing that because it is great story of forgiveness, self-forgiveness, empathy, and understanding.

    Pope John XXIII had the utmost respect for human frailty … or just the human condition, in general.

    I hope he is canonized someday.