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by John Francis Borra, SFO

The anti-Catholic rhetoric stirred up by Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the Middle East called to mind an email I sent last year to the Philadelphia Jewish Voice, a leftwing tabloid that I imagine offends as many sincere, observant Jews as it does level-headed gentiles.

My email was in response to an op-ed written by mudslinging pseudo-scholar Daniel Goldhagen, author of scurrilous books and articles claiming, among other nonsense, that Pope Pius XII was some kind of Nazi sympathizer who sat on his hands while Hitler slaughtered six million Jews. In his op-ed, Goldhagen slung the same mud at Benedict XVI.

Mr. Dan Loeb, Publisher
The Philadelphia Jewish Voice

Dan—

I just happened across Daniel Goldhagen’s ridiculous comments on Benedict XVI’s visit to Auschwitz (PJV website, July 2006). Despite being way too busy to waste time addressing nonsense like his, I’m going to.

Goldhagen seems to think the Church—and Pope Pius XII, in particular—owes him an apology. For what? For not saving even more Jewish lives? Obviously, Goldhagen has fallen for that tired, long-discredited smear campaign begun by the Soviets shortly after WWII in its effort to destabilize the West. That he perpetuates such fiction shows just how much credibility this joker has.

Pius XII’s name soon will appear in the Canon of Saints. Because, among many other selfless acts, he saved the lives of uncounted victims of Nazi ruthlessness, including hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees. No matter how viciously Goldhagen tries smearing the Body of Christ and the Successor of Peter, in the end he’ll likely succeed only in convincing those as spiteful as he. Indeed, Goldhagen should consider apologizing himself. And he might consider facts, too. Such as the fact that Jews were not the only victims of Nazi terror. How many more gentiles died, not only in concentration camps, but in the seas, skies and battlefields of WWII?

What Goldhagen clearly doesn’t get is that the Nazis committed crimes against all humanity. And that their legacy continues in a way he surely will not acknowledge. The Nazis were outstanding adherents of utilitarianism, the very philosophy of today’s culture of death. Goldhagen has absolutely no problem with abortion, euthanasia and embryonic experimentation; he’s as thoroughly utilitarian as any Nazi ever was. So, what distinguishes Goldhagen from the Nazis? Merely the languages in which they have lied.

Truth conquered evil in 1945; it continues doing so as liars like Goldhagen are exposed.

Semper veritas,
John Francis Borra

Not surprisingly, my letter was not published.

So, if Goldhagen’s work is trash, why do I mention it? Because his calumnies are representative of the appalling injustices done to one of the greatest humanitarians of all time. Among many extraordinary accomplishments, Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, as nuncio, secretary of state and pope, saved far more Jewish lives than anyone else in history. Moses included.

What finally prompted me to post this was EWTN’s recent airing of A Hand of Peace: Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, another wonderful documentary from the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation. A beautiful, moving tribute to this most holy of men, A Hand of Peace relies on interviews with both Jewish and Catholic scholars, revealing the source of the black legend plaguing the memory of Pius XII and the truth about his selfless, heroic actions in the face of Nazi and Soviet threats. Importantly, it brings to light the uncommon wisdom, prudence, charity and courage of a man who clearly did everything possible to alleviate suffering and stem violence without provoking reprisal and even greater bloodshed.

Something else that becomes clear in this documentary is that the Catholic Church was the greatest threat to Nazi and Soviet hegemony. This is precisely why they waged a relentless war of lies to discredit the Vicar of Christ and undermine the Church’s influence. And when it became clear that lies weren’t enough, both the Nazis and the Soviets resorted to assassination. But as John Paul II reminded us, Our Lady would have none of it.

Today the war continues, taken up by Hell’s latest pawns.

Feared and hated by ideologues of political extremism, profiteers of human experimentation, hedonists of homosexual activism, butchers of the abortion lobby, pornographers of mainstream media, pagans of radical environmentalism, hate-mongers of Islamic fundamentalism and the self-righteous prophets of Christian revisionism, the Church will suffer the blows of an idolatrous world until the very day Her Founder returns.

To learn more about the Salt and Light Media Foundation and see all that this wonderful apostolate offers, visit their site at http://www.saltandlighttv.org/

Read more Veritatis: The Cartoon at http://www.veritatisthecartoon.blogspot.com