Still, Pope Pius does have his fair share of fans. There has long been a movement to rehabilitate the reputation of this much-maligned Pope. The Roman Catholic Church has citied volumes of reports that show Pope Pius was in fact a hero of World War II. He moved behind the scenes of that horrific conflict to save and protect many lives, be they Christian or not, and risked the wrath of the Axis Powers, who totally surrounded his tiny country for most of the war. Benedict has said that Pius, “spared no effort in intervening” on behalf of the Jews, though he often had to do so “secretly and silently.”
Unfortunately these documents the Vatican has repeatedly referenced are unavailable to scholars. Many attempts have been made over the years to see these papers, and they have all been roundly denied. Now that the road to Beatification lay before the controversial Pope, there is a chance that these documents will see the light of day.
Experts believe it will be at least five years before Pope Pius even has a shot at the Beatification Pope John Paul will receive in less than a year. The slow and painstaking process must be done in triplicate for this divisive Pope, and the Vatican wants to be sure there are no mistakes. The world has already shown it will not be as forgiving, or indeed as open-minded, with Pope Pius as it is with John Paul The Great.
8 Comments
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.
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.
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.
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.)
…prior to and during WWII, that is.
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.
You beat Time Magazine to it:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091223/wl_time/08599194956500
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.