Miracle attributed to Paul VI approved!

Don't tell me I told you so?

Didn't I break the news?

It was in 2012 when I heard the news that the process for the pope's beatification was being fast-tracked, no!  Express Lane tracked!  And a few weeks ago, I broke the news that Paul VI is set to be beatified with word coming out of Rome that a miracle has been approved with no scientific explanation for the inexplicable healing of a fetus!   Yes, an unborn boy!


***
From this source.

Giovanni Battista Montini's beatification is near: this morning cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously approved the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Italian Pope from Brescia, who died in August 1978. The year which marked the canonization of two Popes – John XXIII and John Paul II – will also be the year of Paul VI’s beatification. In the next few days Pope Francis will be promulgating the decree on the miracle attributed to the late Pope and the date suggested for the actual beatification is 19 October. The beatification is expected to take place in Rome on the occasion of the concluding ceremony of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family: [I told you so!]  it was Paul VI himself who established the Synod in September 1965 in response to a request made by the Council fathers. It should be noted that next August will mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Paul VI’s first big encyclical, the “Ecclesiam Suam”, which he wrote and edited entirely by himself.

The miracle attributed to the intercession of Paul VI was witnessed in the United States in 2001. It involved the healing of an unborn child, which was found to have serious problems and a high risk of brain damage: the foetus’ bladder was damaged and doctors reported ascites (presence of liquid in the abdomen) and anhydramnios (absence of fluid in the amniotic sac). All attempts to correct the problem proved futile and in the end the doctors said the child would either die in the womb or it would be born with severe renal impairment. Abortion was offered as an option but the mother refused. Instead, she took the advice given to her by a nun who was a friend of the family and had met Montini: she decided to pray for Paul VI’s intercession using a fragment of the Pope’s vestments which the nun had given her.  [And some people just keep relics for themselves, even using it for scrupulous reasons, or for bragging rights!]

Ten weeks later the results of the medical tests showed a substantial improvement in the child’s health and it was born by Caesarean section in the 39th week of pregnancy. The case was presented to the former Postulator of the Cause, the Jesuit Paolo Molinari – who passed away last week - in Rome. Faith weekly Credere revealed that the diocesan inquiry was launched in 2003 and all witnesses agree that the case in question cannot be explained scientifically.

The child has made it to thirteen and his health is constantly monitored to ensure that his psychophysical state is normal. Doctors are especially keeping an eye on the child’s renal function. On 12 December last year the medical consultation of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints headed by Professor Patrizio Polisca, confirmed the impossibility of explaining the healing and the dicastery’s theologians gave their approval last 18 February. Benedict XVI promulgated Paul VI’s heroic virtues on 20 December 2012.


***

Someone said "There is a rush to canonize these Vatican II popes!  The pope is in fact canonizing Vatican II!"

Wha???

So what about Paul's "Humanae Vitae"?  Nada?

How about Pius XII?

A miracle is being investigated.  What is so amazing about this is it involved not just Pius XII, but also John Paul II!

Read it here.

BREAKING NEWS!!! Paul VI to be beatified in October 2014?

Well placed sources in the Holy See have informed me that Venerable Paul VI will probably be beatified on October 19, after the Synod of Bishops.

Take this with a grain of salt.  Only Pope Francis can set the date but this is the date going around the rumor mills in the Vatican.

So is the Holy See in a rush to place in the altars the so-called Vatican II popes?

How about this pope?

No, can do?  Why?  We need the radical Jews and history-revisionists to give their assent before he gets beatified?

Since when did people of other faiths have a say in who we beatify, huh?

Francis wants to canonize Pius XII

Vatican City, Jul 31, 2013 / 11:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis is considering whether he will make Pope Pius XII a saint, in the same way that he approved the cause of John XXIII.

A source who works at the Vatican’s Congregation for Causes of Saints, who asked for anonymity, told CNA July 25 that “just as Pope Francis moved ahead with John XXIII’s canonization, he is considering the same thing for Pius XII.”

According to the normal procedures, Pius XII would be beatified once a miracle attributed to his intercession is officially certified by a team of doctors and recognized by a commission of cardinals.

But if Pope Francis decides to go ahead without a miracle, he could “even canonize him with the formula of scientia certa (certainty in knowledge), thereby jumping over the step of beatification,” the source said.

“Only the Pope is able to do it, and he will, if he wants to.” [His power is absolute.]

Pope Francis is very interested in Pius XII because “he considers him ‘a great,’ in the same way as John XXIII is, even if for different reasons,” the source explained.

But there is also a historical reason that Pope Francis is interested in Pius XII.

When Pope Paul VI started the beatification and canonization process in 1967, nine years after Pius XII’s death, he formed a committee of historians to conduct an in-depth study of his predecessor’s life and behavior, giving particular attention to the events of World War II.

The committee was made up of four Jesuits: Fathers Pierre Blet (France), Angelo Martini (Italy), Burkhart Schneider (Germany), and Robert A. Graham (United States).  [Back when they were really submissive to the Pope.]

Their work led to the publication of “Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale” (Acts and Documents of the Holy See related to the Second World War), an 11-volume collection of documents from the Vatican’s Secret Archive about Pius XII’s papacy during that tumultuous time.

Yet, the remainder of the documents from Pius XII’s papacy is not expected to be released until 2014 – the time it will take to organize the papers.

The completed catalog will include approximately 16 million documents from Pius XII's papacy (1939-1958).

Pope Benedict XVI initially decided to postpone Pius XII's cause for sainthood and advocated waiting until the archives would be open for researchers in 2014.

But Benedict changed his mind and declared Pius XII Venerable on Dec. 19, 2009, based on the recommendation of the committee investigating his cause.

The decision was met with criticism from some Jewish quarters, which charged that Pius XII was silent about the Holocaust and did not do enough to resist the Germans.

Despite the conclusions of the committee, the debate that followed the initial criticism brought Pius XII’s canonization process to a halt.

According to Matteo Luigi Napolitano, a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science who wrote several books about Pius XII, “for what concerns the historical judgment, the dossier on Pius XII is almost complete.”

Napolitano added in his July 29 interview with CNA, “theological judgments on Pius XII’s life and behavior” are “not competence of the historians.”

His remarks referred to what is known as a “positio,” a document that is compiled for every person being considered for canonization, after they have been declared “venerable” – the second step in the process.

The study is comprised of two parts: the first deals with the history of the person and is sketched by a commission of historians, while the second contains a  “theological judgment” on the life and works of venerable, which is handed down by a theological committee.

At the moment, according to the source from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Pope Francis has said he wants Pius XII’s cause to move ahead.

Since there are several miracles attributed to Pius XII’s intercession, the source explained that Pope Francis might decide that he will sidestep the normal process and declare him a saint.

“It is not impossible that the Pope would act in the way he did for the canonization of John XXIII.”

When Pope Francis decided to approve the canonization of John XXIII, he submitted his case to a vote by the members of the congregation, despite the fact that “a miracle attributed to the intercession of John XXIII was discussed,” the source said.

But “the miracle would have needed further checks,” the saints expert explained, so Pope Francis “opted to canonize him without waiting for the certification of the miracle.”

The source maintained, “this seems to be possible for what concerns Pius XII.”

Matteo Luigi Napolitano acknowledged that the possibility of the Pope pushing the cause forward. There are “several (saints) causes that, for several reasons, are the object of pressures,” he remarked.

What remains to be seen is whether Pius XII being declared a saint will result in a new debate about the emerging historical record of the wartime Pope or a recycling of the claims that he was “Hitler’s Pope.”

Napolitano noted, “the debate about Pius XII is more widely a debate about the Shoah, i.e. the biggest tragedy of the Second World War.”

So, Napolitano said, “it is normal to investigate what the Vatican did during that period.”

This investigation involves several areas of interest: the choice of the Holy See to remain neutral, the way Christian values were lived during that period, the choices of Catholics who confronted the tactics of the Nazis, and what dioceses and clergy in countries involved in the war did.

Napolitano underlined that “the ‘positio’ on Pius XII is made up of all of these aspects, with a collection of sources that agreed the Congregation for the Causes of Saint should carry their job forward.”

For what concerns a historical judgment of Pius XII's behavior, “interpretations can vary, but I can say that the most authoritative Jewish, Catholic and lay historians agree on one key point: Eugenio Pacelli never was, and he never could be, ‘Hitler’s Pope.’”


***

Pope Pius XII was a better administrator, theologian and diplomat than Blessed John XXIII, I can tell you that.

But we cannot tell the Holy Spirit who should be blessed or saint first.

And the pope can do whatever he wants within the bounds of Tradition and the Law.

That is why this thing REALLY has a deep meaning.

BREAKING NEWS: Blessed John Paul II closer to getting canonized!

From Andrea Tornielli

***

"A saint now!" The canonisation of Wojtyla is getting closer quickly and it could be celebrated next October. In fact, in the past few days, the medical council of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has recognized as inexplicable one healing attributed to the blessed John Paul II. [This is the crucial stage as the medical council is the one to advise the council of theologians and cardinals whether there is scientific explanation to a purported miracle.  Something which "healing priests" at "healing" Masses don't have.....Well...........Moving on!]  A supposed "miracle" that, if it is also approved by theologians and the cardinals (as it is very likely), will bring the Polish Pope, who died in 2005, the halo of sainthood in record time, just eight years after his death.

It all happened in great secrecy, with maximum confidentiality. In January, the postulator of the cause, Mgr. Slawomir Oder, submitted a presumed miraculous healing to the Vatican Congregation for the Saints for a preliminary opinion. As it is known, after the approval of a miracle for the proclamation of a blessed, the canonical procedures include the recognition of a second miracle that must have occurred after the beatification ceremony.

Two doctors of the Vatican council had previously examined this new case, and both gave a favourable opinion. The dossier with the medical records and the testimonies was then officially presented to the Congregation, which immediately included the examination in its agenda. In the past few days it was discussed by a committee of seven doctors, the council (presided over by Dr. Patrick Polisca, Pope John Paul II's cardiologist), Pope Benedict XVI's personal physicians and now Pope Francis's. The medical council also gave a favourable opinion, the first official go-ahead by the Vatican, by defining as inexplicable the healing attributed to the intercession of the blessed Karol Wojtyla.

This is the overcoming of the first fundamental hurdle, given that the alleged miracle must now be approved by theologians and then by the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation, before being subjected to the Pope for the definitive "yes". In any case, the approval of the council is considered the most important step; in fact, neither the theologians nor the cardinals are involved in the clinical evaluations concerning the case.  [What the cardinals and the theologians will do is a canonical procedure.  The opinion of the medical experts count.]

From the steps taken, the desire of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to work quickly is evident, as it had already happened for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, celebrated by his successor Benedict XVI the 1st of May, 2011. This fast lane that continues to be open for Wojtyla indicates that even Pope Francis is in favour of the canonisation of the Polish Pope.

It is still premature to talk about dates for the canonization, but the rapidity with which the examination of the miracle process is happening still leaves open the possibility of celebrating it on Sunday October 20th, very close to the liturgical holiday assigned to the blessed Wojtyla, which is on October 22nd.

***

Anti John Paul II peeps will not like this, like uhmmm.....the SSP.......X?

But they did acknowledge him as pope, right?

They did include him in the Canon of the Mass when he was pope, right?

But some in the SSPX think nobody was sitting on the Chair of Peter during his time as pope and EVEN way back....after the death of Pius XII.

Hmmmm....

May the lost sheep heed the call of the Good Shepherd who gave Peter the mission to "feed my sheep, feed my lamb."

Santo subito!

Up next.....I hope.

More evidence exonerates Pius XII

From the Guardian

***


Pius XII has long been vilified as "Hitler's pope", accused of failing publicly to condemn the genocide of Europe's Jews. Now a British author has unearthed extensive material that Vatican insiders believe will restore his reputation, revealing the part that he played in saving lives and opposing nazism. Gordon Thomas, a Protestant, was given access to previously unpublished Vatican documents and tracked down victims, priests and others who had not told their stories before.

The Pope's Jews, which will be published next month, details how Pius gave his blessing to the establishment of safe houses in the Vatican and Europe's convents and monasteries. He oversaw a secret operation with code names and fake documents for priests who risked their lives to shelter Jews, some of whom were even made Vatican subjects.

Thomas shows, for example, that priests were instructed to issue baptism certificates to hundreds of Jews hidden in Genoa, Rome and elsewhere in Italy. More than 2,000 Jews in Hungary were given fabricated Vatican documents identifying them as Catholics and a network saved German Jews by bringing them to Rome. The pope appointed a priest with extensive funds with which to provide food, clothing and medicine. More than 4,000 Jews were hidden in convents and monasteries across Italy.

During and immediately after the war, the pope was considered a Jewish saviour. Jewish leaders – such as Jerusalem's chief rabbi in 1944 – said the people of Israel would never forget what he and his delegates "are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters at the most tragic hour". Jewish newspapers in Britain and America echoed that praise, and Hitler branded him "a Jew lover".  [And yet those who were not born in that era are his most arduous critics!]

However, his image turned sour in the 1960s, [In the 1960s!!!] thanks to Soviet antagonism towards the Vatican and a German play by Rolf Hochhuth,The Deputy, which vilified the pope, accusing him of silence and inaction over the Jews. It was a trend that intensified with the publication of Hitler's Pope, a book by John Cornwell.  [The same author who wrote a biased assessment of the pontificate of John Paul II.]

However, as the Vatican's secretary of state before the war, the future pope contributed to the damning 1937 encyclical of Pius XI, With Burning Anxiety, and, as Pius XII he made condemnatory speeches that were widely interpreted at the time – including by Jewish leaders and newspapers – as clear condemnations of Hitler's racial policies. Due to the Vatican's traditionally diplomatic language, the accusation that Pius XII did not speak out has festered.  [Those who do not know "diplomatic language" are people who are used to straight talk.]

Professor Ronald J Rychlak, the author of Hitler, the War and the Pope, said: "Gordon Thomas has found primary sources … He has tracked down family members, original documentation and established what really was a universal perception prior to the 1960s. He's shown what the people at the time – victims, rescuers and villains – all knew: that Pius XII was a great supporter of the victims of the Holocaust."

Asked why the Vatican had not made the new material available until now or, where stories were known, disseminated them more widely,Thomas said: "The church thinks across centuries. If there's a dispute for 50 years, so what?"

William Doino, a Vatican historian, described Thomas's research as "unique and groundbreaking". He spoke of the book's new insight, for example, into Hugh O'Flaherty, an Irish priest: "Everybody has always praised [O'Flaherty] because he helped Jews and escaped POWs. They made a movie about him, The Scarlet and the Black, with Gregory Peck. However, they always say he was acting on his own authority and that Pius was either aloof or not giving him anything. Gordon has spoken extensively with O'Flaherty's family, who gave him private correspondence and told him that O'Flaherty said that everything was with Pius XII's co-operation."

The book also tells the story of Vittorio Sacerdoti, a young Jewish doctor who was able to work in a Vatican hospital, inventing a fictitious deadly disease that deterred Germans from entering. Dozens of fake patients were taught to cough convincingly.

Thomas interviewed Sacerdoti's cousin, who recalled that as a child she was one of those patients – "feeling there was nothing wrong with her, yet having to cough regularly in the ward".

The Vatican is so excited by The Pope's Jews that it is supporting a feature documentary film being planned by a British producer who has bought the rights to it.

Allen Jewhurst, who has produced documentaries for BBC TV'sPanorama, said that, with more than a billion Catholics worldwide, interest in the story is huge. [Imagine the interest of the anti-Catholics as well!] After a meeting with two cardinals at the Vatican, he and Thomas now hope to get exclusive access to the archives. "This will, hopefully, be a definitive film," said Jewhurst.

Thomas, who also wrote the book Voyage of the Damned, about Jewish refugees, recalled: "The Vatican people said, 'How wonderful, the truth out at last'."

"The Pope's Jews: The Vatican's Secret Plan to Save Jews from the Nazis" is published by The Robson Press on 7 March

***

And yet critics were insisting that Pius should have made a public condemnation of Nazism.  Would that be prudent?

Would you risk losing more lives and properties for that public condemnation?

Never knew that you need to be a loud mouth when playing chess or poker.

Geez!

Pius XII helped the Jews; British Gov't didn't

New York Post article, Dec. 28, 2009.  Author is a Jew.

Courtesy of Newsmax.com


***

Newly discovered wartime British intelligence documents appear to show that the Vatican under Pope Pius XII was instrumental in helping fund the Allied war effort that ended the Holocaust and won victory over the Nazis.  [Where are those naysayers when you need them, huh?  Oops!  Wrong wish! Ha!]

The findings, based on systematic British secret service interceptions of financial transactions of the main financial agencies of Vatican City from 1941 to 1943, reveal that at the onset of the Second World War, the Vatican rapidly moved its securities and gold reserves from areas under threat of Nazi occupation to the United States and thereafter used them to help the Allies combat Nazism and provide aid to the worldwide Church suffering from war.  [Will the United States provide the documents to prove the movement of these securities and gold reserves? Nahhh.  What would the USA benefit from defending the defender of life and enemy of abortion and (spoiled) women's rights?]

It was a strategy that was fundamentally important to victory over the Nazis, claims Patricia M. McGoldrick of London's Middlesex University, who published her findings in a December 2012 article entitled “New Perspectives on Pius XII and Vatican Financial Transactions during the Second World War.”

The article appeared in the December edition of “The Historical Journal”, a quarterly of the University of Cambridge.

The protagonist of the story is Bernardino Nogara, an astute financial advisor and networker extraordinaire, who established close ties with large U.S. and British banks. A member of the board of directors of the Banca Commerciale Italiana and a friend of the Ratti family to which Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) belonged, Pius XI appointed Nogara as financial advisor to the Holy See in 1929.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano reported Jan. 30th that Nogara’s financial planning was “fundamentally important to the Allies' victory over the Nazis and Fascists in World War II.” His strategy, it added, “concerns millions of dollars invested in the largest banks of the U.S. and Great Britain, by which persecuted churches and exhausted peoples were given aid.” Those banks included JP Morgan, National City Bank of New York, Morgan Grenfell and Barclays.

The documents, preserved in the British National Archives, concern intercepts of the activities of the Vatican's main financial institutions: the Special Administration of the Holy See (A.S.S.S.) and the Institute for Works of Religion (I.O.R.), or Vatican Bank. [There are documents!]

McGoldrick explains that what is learned from these accounts is that at the onset of the Second World War the Vatican “rapidly moved its securities and gold reserves from areas under threat of Nazi occupation to the United States, made the United States the financial hub from which it funded and administered its global church, and had, at any one time, over $10,000,000 invested in the US economy.”

[Here are the killer questions!]

She poses the question that if, as Pius XII’s detractors argue, the Pope and the Vatican were sympathetic to Nazi Germany as a bulwark against Bolshevism, then why did they allow the Vatican’s assets to be transferred to the banks of the democracies, and why did they do so in the early years of the war when it seemed certain, as they themselves believed, that Germany would win? “Would it not have made more sense, and been more commensurate with their alleged political leanings, to have invested these resources instead in the then growing and profitable German economy?,” McGoldrick asks.

She further reveals documented evidence that shows British unwillingness to provide humanitarian aid to suffering Jews. [See?  There is evidence that the Brits don't want to support the Jews!] When Pius XII tried to organize large shipments of flour to Rome, where the Pope was already providing over 100,000 hot meals a day, many to Rome’s Jewish community, and even attempting to import food from Argentina and Spain through Italy and Greece, the British blocked the initiatives on cost grounds.

It led the Vatican Secretary of State to send a comment to the British ambassador to the Holy See saying: “The Holy See always replies in the affirmative; it is the British Government who reply in the negative.” In the end, a way was found to funnel assistance to Rome’s Jewish community through the Vatican, McGoldrick adds.

Much of the Vatican’s money was intended to support the Churches in difficulty — missions, nunciatures, seminaries and dioceses on all continents. There was also a privileged channel for Europe — to bring relief to the persecuted churches during the Nazi occupation, where Catholic schools, monasteries and churches were closed or confiscated, youth organizations and Catholic publications suppressed, and many priests and religious arrested and interned in concentration camps. For them, the IOR maintained a separate account at the Chase National Bank of New York, the findings show.

The documents also reveal that after 1939, through Nogara and his contacts in Washington and elsewhere, the Vatican invested heavily in U.S. Treasury Bills, in large manufacturing companies and technology, companies such as Rolls Royce, United Steel Corporation, Dow Chemical, Westinghouse Electric, Union Carbide and General Electric.

McGoldrick says Pius XII was well aware of these investments and goes so far as to speak of "a torrent of Vatican money" flowing directly into “Sherman tanks, B52 bombers, and well equipped GIs who defeated the Nazi regime and ended the bestial murders of the Holocaust forever.”

If the “weight of investment counts,” the author says, “Vatican money was clearly behind the Allies.”

L’Osservatore Romano cautioned that it is “too early” to make precise budgetary analyses of the documents. “The financial history of the Second World War is a ‘terra incognita’,” it said, that “few have begun to explore [and] much of the material has yet to be discovered and studied.”

But it added that it’s already possible to see enough “to make us abandon hasty judgments and ideologized visions in the reconstruction of the facts.”


***

And the critics, lamentably most of them Jews who were not even born during the Holocaust, are the most rabid critics of Pius XII!

As I have constantly posted about the case of Pius XII, the burden of proof lies with his critics.

Church Militant: A term we still and must call ourselves

In spite of a wise crack of a guy who just sat for a few hours in a seminar of the famous Benedictive Monk, who said that after Vatican II, the term is not used anymore.

Well, come to think of it, worshippers of Vatican II thought  Bl. John XXIII and Paul VI dropped a huge atomic bomb on the Church and created a new one.

Well, they didn't!

Christ fulfilled his promise by bringing His Mother, body and soul, into Heaven

"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also." (John 14:3)

"Thus, while the illusory teachings of materialism and the corruption of morals that follows from these teachings threaten to extinguish the light of virtue and to ruin the lives of men by exciting discord among them, in this magnificent way all may see clearly to what a lofty goal our bodies and souls are destined. Finally it is our hope that belief in Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven will make our belief in our own resurrection stronger and render it more effective...

...By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory"

Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus

What Pius XII really thinks of active participation

Many thanks to Rhyan St. James for the photo.

And like John Sonnen, let me say this:


SANTO SUBITO!!!

Pope Pius XII went under cover to save Jews

Rome, Italy, Nov 4, 2011 / 06:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Jewish New Yorker who has made it his life’s work to clear the name of Pope Pius XII of being anti-Semitic believes the wartime pontiff actually went undercover to save the lives of Jews in Rome.

Gary Krupp came across the evidence in a letter from a Jewish woman whose family was rescued thanks to direct Vatican intervention. 

“It is an unusual letter, written by a woman who is alive today in northern Italy, who said she was with her mother, her uncle, and a few other relatives in an audience with Pius XII in 1947.”

Next to Pope Pius during the meeting was his Assistant Secretary of State, Monsignor Giovanni Montini, the future Pope Paul VI.

“Her uncle immediately looks at the Pope and he says, ‘You were dressed as a Franciscan,’ and looked at Montini who was standing next to him, ‘and you as a regular priest. You took me out of the ghetto into the Vatican.’ Montini immediately said, ‘Silence, do not ever repeat that story.’”

Krupp believes the claim to be true because the personality of the wartime Pope was such that he “needed to see things with his own eyes.”

“He used to take the car out into bombed areas in Rome, and he certainly wasn’t afraid of that. I can see him going into the ghetto and seeing what was happening,” says Krupp.

***

Read more of this amazing story here.

***

PS:  Where are the Pius XII bashers, eh?  Proof please!

In the meantime, let me shout this!

SANTO SUBITO!!!

Another miracle by Pius XII?

CASTELLAMMARE DI STABIA, Italy — Maria Esposito was ready to give up. Wasted away at 42 kilos (92 pounds), she couldn’t bear another dose of chemotherapy to fight the Stage IV Burkitt’s lymphoma that had invaded her body while she was pregnant with her second child.

But as she and her family had done since she was diagnosed with the rare and aggressive form of cancer in July 2005, Esposito prayed to the man who had appeared to her husband in a dream as the only person who could save her: Pope Pius XII.

Esposito survived, cured after a single, six-week cycle of chemotherapy — a recovery that, she says, stunned her doctors and convinced her that the World War II-era pope had intervened with God to save her.

***

Hold on to your hats folks. The case is still being investigated. And of course there are your usual skeptics.

Nope. Not the usual anti-Catholic ravening pack of wolves. But her....(drum roll please!)

The patient's OWN BISHOP.

Migraine attack.

Read more here.

How Pius XII viewed the early attempts to liturgical reform

 But it is neither wise nor laudable to reduce everything to antiquity by every possible device. Thus, to cite some instances, one would be straying from the straight path were he to wish the altar restored to its primitive tableform; were he to want black excluded as a color for the liturgical vestments; were he to forbid the use of sacred images and statues in Churches; were he to order the crucifix so designed that the divine Redeemer's body shows no trace of His cruel sufferings; and lastly were he to disdain and reject polyphonic music or singing in parts, even where it conforms to regulations issued by the Holy See.

Pius XII

Papal Encyclical "Mediator Dei"

***

Funny that some of our liturgists know better than Peter himself.

Oh, I know what they'll say.

Pius wrote Mediator Dei because...

• He was old fashioned and the liturgical research at that time was not updated...
• He did not read "What then is Liturgy".  Oh yeah, it was not yet published then.
• He is not a member of the Philippine Academy for Liturgical Research 
• He does not know inculturation
• He was not yet smitten by the spirit of Vatican...
• He does not know anything about the sense of community and belongingness
• He does not eat the Meal of Love
• He does not have any idea about the "pristine liturgy"
• He is out of touch with the senses of the people
• He is too much into clericalism
• He is a pompous, hierarchical monarch who enjoys being carried around on a portable chair

And their rants would go on and on and on...

For as long as they have their own way in deciding what the Mass ought to be.

Other than those what Holy Mother Church GAVE us!

Words of Wisdom: The Kingship of Christ

From the Papal Encyclical, Quas Primas, of His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, of blessed memory

***

16. Christ as our Redeemer purchased the Church at the price of his own blood; as priest he offered himself, and continues to offer himself as a victim for our sins. Is it not evident, then, that his kingly dignity partakes in a manner of both these offices?

17. It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power. Nevertheless, during his life on earth he refrained from the exercise of such authority, and although he himself disdained to possess or to care for earthly goods, he did not, nor does he today, interfere with those who possess them. Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat caelestia.[27]

18. Thus the empire of our Redeemer embraces all men. To use the words of Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII: "His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ."[28] Nor is there any difference in this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society. "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved."[29] He is the author of happiness and true prosperity for every man and for every nation. "For a nation is happy when its citizens are happy. What else is a nation but a number of men living in concord?"[30] If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ. What We said at the beginning of Our Pontificate concerning the decline of public authority, and the lack of respect for the same, is equally true at the present day. "With God and Jesus Christ," we said, "excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation."[31]

19. When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony. Our Lord's regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen's duty of obedience. It is for this reason that St. Paul, while bidding wives revere Christ in their husbands, and slaves respect Christ in their masters, warns them to give obedience to them not as men, but as the vicegerents of Christ; for it is not meet that men redeemed by Christ should serve their fellow-men. "You are bought with a price; be not made the bond-slaves of men."[32] If princes and magistrates duly elected are filled with the persuasion that they rule, not by their own right, but by the mandate and in the place of the Divine King, they will exercise their authority piously and wisely, and they will make laws and administer them, having in view the common good and also the human dignity of their subjects. The result will be a stable peace and tranquillity, for there will be no longer any cause of discontent. Men will see in their king or in their rulers men like themselves, perhaps unworthy or open to criticism, but they will not on that account refuse obedience if they see reflected in them the authority of Christ God and Man. Peace and harmony, too, will result; for with the spread and the universal extent of the kingdom of Christ men will become more and more conscious of the link that binds them together, and thus many conflicts will be either prevented entirely or at least their bitterness will be diminished.

20. If the kingdom of Christ, then, receives, as it should, all nations under its way, there seems no reason why we should despair of seeing that peace which the King of Peace came to bring on earth - he who came to reconcile all things, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, who, though Lord of all, gave himself to us as a model of humility, and with his principal law united the precept of charity; who said also: "My yoke is sweet and my burden light." Oh, what happiness would be Ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ! "Then at length," to use the words addressed by our predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, twenty-five years ago to the bishops of the Universal Church, "then at length will many evils be cured; then will the law regain its former authority; peace with all its blessings be restored. Men will sheathe their swords and lay down their arms when all freely acknowledge and obey the authority of Christ, and every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father."[33]

21. That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood, and to the end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honor of the Kingship of Christ. For people are instructed in the truths of faith, and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion far more effectually by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any official pronouncement of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful; feasts reach them all; the former speak but once, the latter speak every year - in fact, forever. The church's teaching affects the mind primarily; her feasts affect both mind and heart, and have a salutary effect upon the whole of man's nature. Man is composed of body and soul, and he needs these external festivities so that the sacred rites, in all their beauty and variety, may stimulate him to drink more deeply of the fountain of God's teaching, that he may make it a part of himself, and use it with profit for his spiritual life

The Kingship of Christ

 Excerpt from the Apostolic Letter, Quas Primas of His Holiness, Pius XI,

***

31. When we pay honor to the princely dignity of Christ, men will doubtless be reminded that the Church, founded by Christ as a perfect society, has a natural and inalienable right to perfect freedom and immunity from the power of the state; [There's your separation of Church and State!] and that in fulfilling the task committed to her by God of teaching, ruling, and guiding to eternal bliss those who belong to the kingdom of Christ, she cannot be subject to any external power. [Remember how Blessed Miguel Pro and his fellow Mexican martyrs stood up against the government?] The State is bound to extend similar freedom to the orders and communities of religious of either sex, who give most valuable help to the Bishops of the Church by laboring for the extension and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ. [Some orders now work for a civil society, rather than the social kingship and heavenly kingship of Christ.  Ugh!] By their sacred vows they fight against the threefold concupiscence of the world; by making profession of a more perfect life they render the holiness which her divine Founder willed should be a mark and characteristic of his Church more striking and more conspicuous in the eyes of all.

32. Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ. [Remember, how self-help "experts" would tell us:  "Let no one tell you what to do in your life."  Total freedom.  Totally intoxicating!] It will call to their minds the thought of the last judgment, [Do our priests, sisters and catechists even talk about the End Things nowadays?]  wherein Christ, who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults; for his kingly dignity demands that the State should take account of the commandments of God and of Christian principles, both in making laws [RH?] and in administering justice, and also in providing for the young a sound moral education. [Jesuit education?  Hmmm...]

33. The faithful, moreover, by meditating upon these truths, will gain much strength and courage, enabling them to form their lives after the true Christian ideal. If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, [Favorite term of Pentecostal and INC, yet they are most in favor of artifical contraception and abortifacients!  How ironic!]  are by a new right subjected to his dominion; [Is Christ really our king?]  if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. [This is the BEST PART, for me.] He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.[35] If all these truths are presented to the faithful for their consideration, they will prove a powerful incentive to perfection. It is Our fervent desire, Venerable Brethren, that those who are without the fold may seek after and accept the sweet yoke of Christ, and that we, who by the mercy of God are of the household of the faith, may bear that yoke, not as a burden but with joy, with love, with devotion; that having lived our lives in accordance with the laws of God's kingdom, we may receive full measure of good fruit, and counted by Christ good and faithful servants, we may be rendered partakers of eternal bliss and glory with him in his heavenly kingdom.


***

This feast is also memorable to me as it is on this great feast that I served for the very first time as an Honor Guard of the Knights of Columbus.  I can recall how deep the spiritual experience was as I am called to be more of a knight, rather than in title, but in the public square, to witness to my Catholic identity, of what true Catholic knighthood is ALL about!
 
Vivat Jesus!

Here is, courtesy of my good friend, Carlos Palad of Rorate, the Latin and English text of Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ the King.

Latin:

IESU dulcissime, Redemptor humani generis, respice nos ante conspectum tuum humillime provolutos. Tui sumus, tui esse volumus; quo autem tibi coniuncti firmius esse possimus, en hodie sacratissimo Cordi tuo se quisque nostrum sponte dedicat. Te quidem multi novere nunquam; te, spretis mandatis tuis, multi repudiarunt. Miserere utrorumque, benignissime Iesu, atque ad sanctum Cor tuum rape universos.

Rex esto, Domine, nec fidelium tantum qui nullo tempore discessere a te, sed etiam prodigorum filiorum qui te reliquerunt; fac hos, ut domum paternam cito repetant, ne miseria et fame pereant.

Rex esto eorum, quos aut opinionum error deceptos habet, aut discordia separatos, eosque ad portum veritatis atque ad unitatem fidei revoca, ut brevi fiat unum ovile et unus pastor.

Largire, Domine, Ecclesiae tuae securam cum incolumitate libertatem; largire cunctis gentibus tranquillitatem ordinis; perfice, ut ab utroque terrae vertice una resonet vox: Sit laus divino Cordi, per quod nobis parta salus: ipsi gloria et honor in saecula! Amen.

English:

MOST sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thee. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known Thee; many, too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.

Be King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Be King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give tranquility of order to all nations; make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and honor for ever! Amen.

More evidence Pope Pius XII saved a lot of Jews!

From the Brisbane Times

***

POPE PIUS XII, the controversial wartime pontiff, may have saved thousands of Jewish lives by secretly securing visas so they could escape Nazi Germany, a historian says.

Pope Pius, who was labelled ''Hitler's Pope'' [now this is derogatory!  The nutcase who wrote this is an ex priest who went to the same literary school as Dan Brown majoring in conspiracy theories.] because of his silence during the Holocaust, may have arranged the exodus of about 200,000 Jews from Germany just three weeks after Kristallnacht, when thousands of Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. [Now this is the more important part in this paragraph rather than that stupid label!]

The claim was made by Dr Michael Hesemann, a German historian carrying out research in the Vatican archives for the Pave the Way Foundation, a US inter-faith group. [it is composed more of Jews who are fair-minded!]

He said that Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli - the future Pius XII - wrote to Catholic archbishops around the world to urge them to apply for visas for ''non-Aryan Catholics'' and Jewish converts to Christianity who wanted to leave Germany.

Elliot Hershberg, the chairman of the Pave the Way Foundation, said: ''We believe that many Jews who were successful in leaving Europe may not have had any idea that their visas and travel documents were obtained through these Vatican efforts. [Possibly descendants or relatives of these survivors are now Pius haters! Possibly.]

''Everything we have found thus far seems to indicate the known negative perception of Pope Pius XII is wrong.'' [We know that already.  CNN and NYT need to know this.]

Pius XII was criticised for failing to explicitly denounce the Holocaust or the Nazi regime or to excommunicate Hitler. [What the?!@%#$^&  That demon stopped going to Mass or receiving the sacraments at an early age and is even engaged in witchcraft and divination!  The Nazis fed on the occult!]

Dr Hesemann says that additional evidence suggests that the visas would have been given to ordinary Jews desperate to escape persecution.

''The fact that this letter speaks of 'converted Jews' and 'non-Aryan' Catholics indeed seems to be a cover,'' he said.

The appeal from Cardinal Pacelli, then the Vatican's secretary of state, was dated November 30, 1938 - 20 days after Kristallnacht, the ''night of broken glass''.

Cardinal Pacelli was able to ask for the visas because the 1933 concordat he signed with the Nazis provided protection for Jews who converted. [Pacelli is really a diplomat and a statesman!]

In December, Pope Benedict XVI placed Pius one step closer to sainthood when he declared him ''venerable'', meaning he lived a life of ''heroic virtue''. Two miracles are needed to canonise him as a saint and the Vatican is investigating at least one.

***

As I have posted before, the burden of proof is on the side of the Pius XII haters.

Here's the deal:

We Pius XII supporters will find evidence that the pope did something to save the Jews.

Now you Pius hater prove to the world that Pius did NOTHING to save the Jews as you always say.

More family meals...

From CNN.com

***

A rabbi walks into St. Peter's Square, meets the pope, and tells the Holy Father that one way to defuse the sex abuse scandal plaguing the church is for the Vatican to begin promoting a secular version of Shabbat dinner, the traditional Jewish Friday meal.

 This is a typical Filipino family eating together

It's no joke.

A prominent American rabbi, Shmuley Boteach, spoke briefly to Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday about encouraging parents to eat dinner with their children as a way for the Vatican to re-establish its pro-family image, which has been battered by the priest sex abuse scandal, Boteach said. [Sitting together at the family table for meals is not a problem for Filipinos until recently most of the youth work at odd hours.  So rarely can you find family members eating meals together.  And most families eat out!  No quality time together.]

The brief exchange came after the pope's regular Wednesday address at the Vatican, during which Boteach was seated on a dais along with other Vatican guests. When he met Benedict on a receiving line afterward, Boteach pitched him on his family dinner initiative, called "Turn Friday Night into Family Night."

"I said ... 'If the church embraces an initiative like this, which is positive, it could put a lot of the scandal behind it,'" [This is a nice way to inculturate.  Leaving the LITURGY ALONE!] Boteach said, recounting his chat with the pope. "People will see the church doesn't just speak about opposition to gay marriage and abortion.'"

The pope appeared to be receptive to the idea, Boteach said. " 'We have to work together on this, we have to work together on this,' " Boteach quoted the pope as saying. But, Benedict did not make a firm commitment to the family dinner initiative, the rabbi said.

The Vatican was not immediately available for comment.

"The church is now perceived as not being a champion of families because the scandal has hit with so much force," [That is the perception of a few evil entities.] Boteach said. "I came (to the Vatican) as a friend and as someone who is critical as well. Because my criticism is real, the church knows my friendship is real."

Following his talk with the pope, Boteach said he was invited to meet with Cardinal Walter Kasper, who spearheads the Vatican's Jewish outreach, with whom Boteach fleshed out his criticism of the church's response to priestly sex abuse.

Boteach was invited to the Vatican to look over documents related to Pope Pius XII, the Holocaust-era church leader who Benedict has signaled he would like to move closer to sainthood. [This is interesting.]

The rabbi has been a spiritual adviser to Michael Jackson, who died last year, and a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey's talk show. [Ohhhh....kaaayyy....]

A number of recent Vatican actions have caused tensions between the church and the Jewish world. Last year, Benedict lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, Richard Williamson. [CNN never fails.]

Earlier this month, the pope's personal preacher compared the fury over sexual abuse within the church to anti-Semitism, though the priest, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, later apologized. [Still going...]

But Boteach has been impressed by the Vatican's overtures to him and to other Jewish leaders. "I thinks he's a friend to the Jews -- a very close friend," Boteach said of the pope.

Boteach said that the Vatican had shown him documents from its private archive showing that Pius XII, a controversial figure among Jews, rescued Italian Jews during the Holocaust. But Boteach remains critical of Pius, saying he displayed "absolute silence in condemning the Nazi Holocaust outright, which might have gone to great lengths to prevent it." [And he thinks the pope can stop the Holocaust?!  Yeah right.  No wonder he is close to Oprah!]

The church has said that Pius would have put more Jews in danger by publicly condemning the Holocaust because it would have provoked the Nazis.

***

A minute ago he talked sense...

Then...it went downhill.

Only when families stay and do things together can the bonds of love and trust be strengthened among family members thus can help families face the facts of life.

As the great Rosary priest said "THE FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER."

World War 2 Vatican documents go online!

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 25, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican announced today that official documents spanning more than 40 years are now available online.

The entire collection of the of the Actae Sanctae Sedis (A.S.S.) and of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (A.A.S.) -- i.e., the official Acts of the Holy See from 1865 to 2007 -- are now available in pdf format.

Also available is a multi-volume collection of acts from World War II, (Actes et documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale), published by order of Paul VI starting in 1965, and edited by a specialized group of four Jesuit historians.

The project of putting the information online was supported by the New York-based Pave the Way Foundation.

A statement from Pave the Way noted the collection -- with its more than 9,000 pages -- describes the contents of 5,125 documents that are still not catalogued in the Vatican Secret Archives, and consequently, still not open to the public. These documents have been at the heart of controversy as researchers seek to settle debate over the role Pope Pius XII played in saving Jews from the Holocaust.

Gary Krupp, president of the Pave the Way Foundation, said the research project is "extremely important."
"To date, most of the research done in this area has been selective in nature. By opening these documents up for worldwide study, we hope to bring the truth of this controversial period to light," he said.

The foundation enlisted Israeli photographer Ardon Bar-Hama, whose work includes the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Codex Vaticanus, in order to deliver the highest quality fully searchable digital images of the documents.

Elliot Hershberg, chairman of the Pave the Way board, observed, "We felt that it was necessary to open these records, which are certainly not a substitute for the full opening of the war year archives. However, together with Pope Benedict XVI’s ordering of the opening of the Secret Archives up to 1939, we now have a clearer historical picture of the secret actions of Pope Pius XII and his attitude towards the Jewish people, his hatred of Hitler, and his secret work to defeat the Nazi regime.”

***

Here is the direct link:  www.vatican.va/archive/atti-ufficiali-santa-sede/index_en.htm

To all you anti-Pius XII and anti-Catholic %#$%@&*, here is your chance to look for something to incriminate the Church and Pius XII.  Good luck because we all know you will find, NOTHING!

Pius XII was implicated in assassination attempt

Did you know that the Venerable Pius XII was implicated in the July 20 Assassination plot against the devil incarnate aka Adolf Hitler?

Here is an excerpt of the report that mentions the discovery of original documents in Germany by Pave the Way Foundation:

“In the furtherance of our mission we are continuously working hard to locate and post as many documents possible of the war years in order to clarify the papacy of Pope Pius XII,” stated Gary Krupp, President of Pave the Way Foundation. “During a recent mission to Germany, along with our PTWF representative in Germany, Michael Hesemann, we discovered and posted many new unseen original documents on our website that may change the face of this entire controversy.”

The evidence seems to confirm that Pope Pius XII was an active enemy of Adolph Hitler. The pope was named as a co-conspirator in the assassination attempt on Hitler’s life of July 20, 1944. The image of the Kaltenbrunner Report to Adolf Hitler dated Nov. 29, 1944 on the background of the plot is posted on our website. The report specifically names Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII, as being a party in the attempt.

In addition we have posted the actual affidavit of Heinrich Himmler’s deputy and German commander in Italy, General Karl Wolff. Wolff testifies that he was ordered by Hitler to plan an invasion of the Vatican to kidnap the Pope Pius XII and seize the Vatican. This kidnapping plan has been discounted by many historians because of a lack of documented proof.

Another controversial event is deportation over 1000 Jews who were taken from Rome and killed in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. We have posted the original cable from German command in Berlin to SS headquarters in Rome, ordering the arrest of 8000 Roman Jews to be taken, not to Auschwitz, but to the labor camp of Mauthausen. Only a little over 1000 were arrested after a successful papal intervention. We have confirmed the personal and direct action of Pope Pius XII to stop the arrests of the Jews in Rome October 16, 1943. No evidence has yet turned up about why those arrested were taken to the death camp of Auschwitz rather than the labor camp.

One can speculate that because of the successful papal intervention to stop arrests, the order to Mauthausen was countermanded by persons unknown and over 1000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz to their death in retribution. When the arrests ended, Pope Pius XII sent a representative to the holding area to plea for the release of the 1000 Jews that were arrested, but he was refused admittance. With the revelation of this cable, there remains the real unconfirmed possibility that the Church believed they could rescue these 1000 victims and negotiate their release believing they were being taken to Mauthausen as hostages.

Pope Pius XII ordered that Jews of Rome were to be given sanctuary in Church properties and Catholic homes, suspending cloister rules so that men could be admitted to Convents and women to Monasteries throughout Europe. He literally hid over 7000 Jews in one day."

 ***

The July 20 plot was made into a Hollywood film...Valkyrie.

Another btw.  The main protagonist of the film played by Tom Cruise is Colonel Count Clause von Stauffenberg.  He is a Catholic.

For more documentary evidence pointing to Pius XII's anti-Nazi efforts, click here.

Note:  Most of these are original documents!

Another Jew comes to the defense of Pius XII

Rome, Italy, Mar 4, 2010 (CNA).- Joseph Roth was a famous novelist and Austrian Jewish journalist who produced most of his works in exile due to the Nazi invasion of his country. Days after the inauguration of Pius XII as Pontiff, Roth praised his election and remarked that the new Pope was an “enemy of the pre-apocalyptic beasts” of Nazism that were governing Germany. [This is a Jew who lived during those times.  Remember, how people who are far from the actual people and events are, most of the time, the "loud mouths", those who think they know-it-all, as if they lived the actual times, these pseduo historical scholars ala Dan Brown?  You get the picture right?  Happens in our church too for those who like to say things like "But that is how early Christians used to worship.  Does Chupungco ring a bell?]

On Wednesday, L'Osservatore Romano (LOR) published text by Roth written in March 1939 for the 

"Österreichische Post," the Austro-Hungarian monarchy’s newspaper that was printed in Paris.

The article recounted Roth's experience of being in St. Peter's Square on March 12 for the papal inauguration. “The new Pope has been crowned and thus in the middle of the year, a new year, a new decade begins. Judging by his physical characteristics and posture ... this Pope seems to represent, with a zeal that has self-renunciation as its bastion, and a capacity to renounce what is a given, one of the oldest ideals of the Church, the diplomatic spirit, which can never be abdicated,” Roth wrote.

In the same article, the Jewish writer, who in his younger years signed his work as “Joseph the Red,” for his closeness with Communism said, “The (Nazi) pre-apocalyptic beasts who now dominate politics are already alluding to their true motives for persecuting the Church. He (Pius XII) is the only one who really hurts them. What’s more, those who were not afraid of the Pope before are now afraid of this one.”

The LOR article explained that this writing by Roth constitutes “an unusual apology for Catholicism, from the point of view of someone who is immersed in an endless escape and is seeking the help of the oldest institution.” The article has a few lines “celebrating the diplomacy of the Pope” who was also the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany when he “signed the Concordat and 50 statements of protest sent to the National Socialist government because of its repeated violations.”

Roth also wrote articles for the "Österreichische Post" that were critical of Marxists biases and of the superficiality of several Vatican observers.

Other books by Roth include, “The Flight Without End,” and “The Rebellion.” His most famous work is “The Radetzky March,” which follows a family during the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

***

Again...the burden of proof shifts to those who are rabidly anti-Catholic and therefore anti-Pius XII

Incorrect date spurs more anti-Pius XII rhetoric

ROME, FEB. 2, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Pope Pius XII was again in the news this week, as researchers presented two documents that were interpreted as putting the Pope in a negative light regarding his response to the Holocaust.

As ZENIT reported Monday, a brief document was presented as a new find dated Oct. 19, 1943. The document is a telegram from American diplomat Harold Tittmann on his meeting with the Pope. [He wrote a book about his time spent in the Vatican as a diplomat.]

The document does not mention the Oct. 16 raid on the Jews of Rome, wherein more than 1,000 of the city's Jews were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz. [There is a reason for this and it will be explained later.]

Given that Tittmann's report does not mention the raid (though theoretically it had happened just three days before), and instead reports Pius XII's concern about Communists in Rome and his desire to keep the Eternal City in peace, headlines reported the Pope's "indifference" to the Holocaust. [Here is the stupid Western media ganging up on a dead guy and twisting historical facts just to advance their anti-Catholic rhetoric.]

However, there is a basic problem.

In a statement sent to ZENIT, Professor Ronald Rychlak of the University of Mississippi explains that Pius XII could not have expressed concern about the roundup of Roman Jews because it hadn't happened yet.

Rychlak is the author of "Hitler, the War, and the Pope." [You can buy it here.]

He explained: "The transcribed message to Washington from Harold Tittmann is dated Oct. 19, but this is a mistake. Vatican records show that the meeting between Pius and Tittmann took place on Oct. 14."

"In fact, L'Osservatore Romano of Oct. 15, 1943, reported on page one -- top of the first column -- that Tittmann was received by the Pope in a private audience on Oct. 14, 1943.

"Apparently a handwritten '14' was misread as a '19' when the documents were typed. The Pope did not mention the roundup of Jews because it had not yet happened!" [See how a misinterpretation of a handwritten number sends the anti-Pius zealots into a frenzy?  See what difference that makes?]

Rychlak noted that what the Pope did express to Tittmann was his concern "that a group of Communists would commit a violent act and this would lead to serious repercussions. Of course, he proved to be exactly correct the following spring."

Moreover, though the Oct. 14 document was presented as a new find, historians were already aware of it because it was published in 1964, with the incorrect date.

It is in the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) collection, in Volume II of 1943, on page 950.

In his blog, Andrea Tornielli, Vatican expert of the Italian daily "Il Giornale," points out that the researchers who presented this "new document," Giuseppe Casarrubea and Mario Cereghino, have already made such "revelations" in the past.

"In October of 2008," he reported, "they presented as unpublished a document to use it against Pius XII (it was also referred to by ANSA [news] agency) and later they had to apologize."

***

I was thinking of writing something as a reaction to this but I came upon this online review of the book Inside the Vatican and I would like to share this with everybody.


"After reading this book one clearly sees the absurdity of the "Hitler's pope" myth - for the Allies there was no question whether the pope was pro-Hitler or not. [True.  If indeed the Pope were sympathetic to the Nazis, why, after the war, was he not tried or even questioned.  He could have answered all of these attacks against him, from anti-Catholic media, to anti-Catholic Jews.  Why on earth would Golda Meir even pay homage to him when the pope died?  For Pete's sake.]  There was no argument (as there is today) on where the sympathies of the pope lay. The idea of the pope being on friendly terms with Hitler would have seemed sheer nonsense to anyone at the time, to such a degree that anyone who would have suggested thus during his pontificate would have probably been suspected of being either vehemently anti-Catholic or even communist (communists certainly had good reason to smear the reputation of the pope). If it were true that he was on friendly terms with Hitler, it would have seemed utterly strange for him to shelter POW's who managed to sneak into the Vatican (as it is reported in the book). But it did not seem strange to anyone at the time, rather it seemed logical, given that everyone knew Pius to be strongly anti-Nazi. This book raises the question: who should be trusted as a source for judging Pius XII, those who lived with him at the time of his pontificate who are all in universal agreement on the goodwill of the pope and on his anti-Nazi stance, or those who came later who have judged the pope through calumnies and twisted facts. [Just as I have been raising against the anti-Pius zealots.  They have no historical proof!  Nothing but Dan Brown evidence!] The answer is clearly evident to those who wish to know the truth of the matter. In conclusion, this book is an invaluable source for any serious historian who is interested in learning more about the Vatican during WWII and the whole "did Pius do enough to help the Jews" question.


Need I say more?

But these books.  Don't waste your money on John Cornwell's or Dan Brown's.