1964 Awake! - Theocratic Collector.com

common tie, more than anything else, accounted
for the extreme reluctance of Pius
XII to criticize Hitler and his Nazis regardless
of what they might do, even to
imprisoning Catholic priests in Germany
because they dared to pray for the Jews.
C01l8ciences Stirred
While the foregoing highlights the guilt
of one man, it would be a mistake to overlook
the responsibility of the rest of Christendom.
As Albert Schweitzer stated in a
letter to the author of The Deputy: "Our
failure made all of us participants in the
guilt of those days. After all, the failure
was not that of the Catholic Church alone,
but that of the Protestant Church as well.
The Catholic Church bears the great guilt,
for it was an organized, supra-national
power in a position to do something, whereas
the Protestant Church was an unorganized,
impotent, national power. But it,
too, became guilty, by simply accepting the
terrible, inhuman fact of the persecution
of the Jews .... The failure was that of
philosophy, of free thought, as well."
Speaking for Protestantism, Niem6ller
as far back as 1947 stated in the book Of
Guilt and Hope: "I think we Christians belonging
to the Confessional Church have
all the reasons for saying: 'My fault, my
grievous fault.' ... We preferred to keep
quiet. We most certainly are not without
guilt."
And speaking for Roman Catholics, Joseph
Featherstone states: "Above ali, one
would expect humility from the German
Church, and a Christian readiness to ac-'
cept criticism. Instead of bristling when
attacked, it should rather answer: peccavi,
I have sinned.."
Yes, it appears that all too few consciences
have been stirred by all of this.
As Catholic Gordon Zahn well notes: "In
all of this there is one soul-chilling fact
that must be recognized; to the extent that
Catholics-whether in Germany or in
America or anywhere else-are prepared
to reject this play and its conclusions,
they make it all too clear that, were the
circumstances to repeat themselves, it
could happen again."
In fact, the same is happening again,
although not to the same degree. Churches,
Catholic and Protestant, compromise
and cooperate with totalitarian governments,
keeping silent regarding their injustices
and outrageous treatment of minorities,
for the sake of safety.
What does all this mean? That the professedly
Christian organizations of Christendom
are anything but Christian. They
play along with the world; they are part
of the world that is alienated from God.
In fact, all such are part of "Babylon the
Great," the world empire of false religion.
To all who would sincerely follow in the
footsteps of Jesus Christ the call is, "Get
out of her, my people, if you do not want
to share with her in her sins, and if you
do not want to receive part of her plagues.
For her sins have massed together clear
up to heaven, and God has called her acts
of injustice to mind."-Rev. 18:2, 4, 5.
THE NAZI-VATICAN CONCORDAT
IN A forceful way, The Deputy is making
people painfully aware of the monstrous
nature of the crimes perpetrated by the
Nazi regime. And as they view these it
becomes difficult for them to understand
how anyone, especially a religious organi-
18
\
zation professing to belong to Jesus Christ,
the Prince of Peace, would want to enter
into a pact of mutual cooperation with
such a regime.
Yet that is exactly what took place on
July 20, 1933, when Cardinal Pacelli, who
AWAKEI