Jewish Affairs - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 201218 th century, for Jews who were burned alive.The name of the Public Execution was knownas the Auto-da-Fe or Act of Faith. It was theoccasion for a popular holiday, with spectatorscrowded from every roof and window of a publicsquare, decorated appropriately. Those whoconfessed to practicing Judaism secretly, but nowrecognized the error of their ways were firststrangled by the executioners. A prominentdignitary or perhaps the king himself, would setfire to the pyre. This took place in front of theother prisoners who were already bound awaitingtheir fate. The tolling of the bells mingled withthe shrieks of the dying and the cheers of thepopulace and the cries of Shema Yisrael floatedabove the tumult.In the whole of the Inquisition’s 350 yearexistence, victims numbered 341 000. 10 Of these,in excess of 32 000 were burned alive, 18 000were burned after execution and 291 000 sufferedlesser punishments such as penance, lashes,confiscation, imprisonment or a combination ofthese. Benzion Netanyahu, the late father of thecurrent Israeli Prime Minister, argues that theInquisition was instituted against the Marranos,as a result of growing economic power of theconversos (Jews forcibly converted toCatholicism), who numbered just over 7% of theSpanish population.The historian Cecil Roth comments thatalthough the great age of Spain came about afterits establishment, the Inquisition “was pressingslowly on the vital arteries of Spanish intellectuallife and the cumulative effect was felt at last… Bythe middle of the 18 th Century, it was possible tosee the result – a country drained of its inspiration,of its genius, of its wealth, in fact of everythingbut its orthodoxy and its pride”.Anti-Judaism survived right into the reign ofPope Leo XIII (1878 -1903). The main thrust ofthis was the concept that the Jews were obstinateand failed to see the error of their ways. For thisreason they rejected Christianity.Pacelli’s schoolmaster, Signore GiuseppeMarchi, constantly harped on this theme whilstPacelli was at school. In the very street in whichPacelli was born, Via Monte Gordiano, it was thecustom over many centuries for a newly electedPope in a procession en route to the Basilica of StJohn Lateran to perform an anti-Jewish ceremony.The Pontiff would halt the procession to receivea copy of the Pentateuch from the Chief Rabbi ofRome in the presence of the procession. The Popereturned the Pentateuch to the Chief Rabbi withthe text upside down together with 20 pieces ofgold. This was intended to indicate that despitethe fact that the Pope respected the Law of Moses,it was the stubbornness of the Jews that preventedthem from opening their hearts to see the error oftheir ways and convert. The concept was includedin Catholic rituals performed on Good Friday,when the congregants prayed that the “perfidiousJews” would acknowledge “our Lord JesusChrist”. This was only abolished by Pope JohnXXIII at the second Vatican Council in 1962.This culture of antisemitism over the centuriesmade it easy for fascists like Salazar, Tiso, Francoand Hitler, to foster the belief that Jewishstubbornness made the Jews responsible for, andthus deserving of, their own misfortunes.Eugenio Pacelli was born in 1876. In the years1881-2, Giuseppe Oreglia de San Stefano wrote aseries of articles in Civilià Cattolica, a leadingJesuit journal, claiming that the killing of childrenfor the Paschal Feast was “all too common”. Theuse of blood of a Christian child was a general law“binding on the conscience of all Hebrews”. Everyyear the Jews “crucify a child”. In order that theblood be effective, “the child must die in torment”.He further asserted that “by their cunning”, theJews had instigated the French Revolution inorder to achieve equality. This would assist themto gain key positions in most economies enablingthem to control and to establish “virulentcampaigns against Christianity”. The Jews were“the race that nauseates”, and “an idle people whoneither work nor produce anything; who live offthe sweat of others.”The journal reflected the official stance of theRoman Catholic Church and called for theabolition of “civic equality” for Jews, whichcommenced with the Reformation and for thesegregation of Jews from the rest of the population.Small wonder indeed that Pacelli, who grew up insuch an atmosphere, found comfort in later yearsas Cardinal Secretary of State in assisting Hitlerto crush Catholic liberal opinion in the form of itsmedia, its many courageous enlightened Bishopsand Chancellor Brüning and his Centre Party.In the autumn of 1964, Pope Paul VI announcedat a meeting of the progressive fathers of Vatican IIthat the Congregation for Saints was to commenceformal beatification processes for both Pope PiusXII and Pope John XXIII. Father Paul Molinari andFather Peter Gumpel from the Jesuit order weretasked in 1965 with the particular responsibility forthe process regarding Pope Pius XII.A huge volume of documentation has beenassembled and scrutinized; hundreds of peoplehave been asked to give evidence. The key figure,Father Peter Gumpel, is described as a man ofgreat intelligence and very knowledgeableregarding Pacelli. However, the material that hefavors is very selective and ignores scholars likeKlaus Schulder, as well as Robert Katz, GuenterLewy and Saul Friedlander who, he assets, should“realize that they are trampling on the sensibilitiesof Catholics and in doing so they hinder efforts tobuild better relations between the Catholics andthe Jews”.Cornwell regards Gumpel as a Pacelliapologist.Pacelli’s Personal Background“Thou art Peter and upon this rock shall myChurch be built. Whatsoever shall be bound by34