ST.Maximilian Kolbe, I am told, had done some kind of anti-Semitic writing before the war. He offered his life to save that of Jews.
There was organized Catholic resistance against the extermination of Jews in Italy and in Slovakia, so far as I know. In Slovakia, the fact that the head of the puppet government was a priest - Monsignor Tiso - may have made things easier for the Church; in Poland, the Church itself was targeted for extermination, and many priests and nuns and even Bishops were murdered.
Your considerations are all correct, but there is a simpler answer to all those who say that "the Church could have done more". The Church could have got even more Catholics murdered than effectively were murdered. Nazism already wanted the Church destroyed, and made no secret of the fact. Those who, long after the fact, make this sort of demand, are demanding heroism from others which they themselves never will run the risk of. There is a nice, sarcastic expression in Italian for these heroes on others' behalf: "armiamoci e partite" - let's all get ready to fight, then you can go to the Front.
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Date: 2005-06-05 03:38 pm (UTC)There was organized Catholic resistance against the extermination of Jews in Italy and in Slovakia, so far as I know. In Slovakia, the fact that the head of the puppet government was a priest - Monsignor Tiso - may have made things easier for the Church; in Poland, the Church itself was targeted for extermination, and many priests and nuns and even Bishops were murdered.
Your considerations are all correct, but there is a simpler answer to all those who say that "the Church could have done more". The Church could have got even more Catholics murdered than effectively were murdered. Nazism already wanted the Church destroyed, and made no secret of the fact. Those who, long after the fact, make this sort of demand, are demanding heroism from others which they themselves never will run the risk of. There is a nice, sarcastic expression in Italian for these heroes on others' behalf: "armiamoci e partite" - let's all get ready to fight, then you can go to the Front.