Jewish Affairs - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

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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
JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2012thee on earth shall be bound in Heaven.Whatsoever shall be loosed by thee on earth shallbe loosed in Heaven.”This is the exhortation of Jesus of Nazareth tohis disciple, Peter. He and his successors areforever to be the successors of the Master onearth. The successors of St Peter are the Popes ofRome. By their cession of their powers to theCardinals, Bishops and Priests down the line ofcommand, “whatsoever shall be bound by themon earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoevershall be loosed by them on earth shall be loosed inheaven” inherited these rights and titles. This isthe credo of the Roman Catholic Church. ThePope and his representatives, namely the clergy,had ultimate power over the lives of their adherentsand this power was endorsed in heaven.Eugenio Pacelli’s grandfather, MarcantonioPacelli, was a Vatican lawyer. He was a keyofficial in the service of Giovanni Maria Mastou-Ferretti who was crowned Pope Pius IX - PioNino - in 1846. In 1861, Marcantonio helped tofound the Vatican daily newspaper, L’ OsservatoreRomano. It exists to this day and is publisheddaily in seven languages.Marcantonio, was loyal to Pio Nino when ThePapal Territories were temporarily lost during the1848 revolution in Italy. He fled with him to theseaside fortress of Gaeta in the neighboringkingdom of Naples in November of that year andreturned with him to Rome the following July.The help of French bayonets and a loan from thewell-known, Jewish Rothschild family facilitatedPope Pius IX’s return. He repaid the Jewishcommunity for their assistance by forcing themback into the ghetto; compelling them to wear theinfamous yellow badge (later taken over by Hitler,)and made them pay for having supported therevolution. He also became involved in thekidnapping by Papal Police of a six year-oldJewish child, Edgardo Mortara, in 1858. Thechild was forcibly baptized. Despite world outrage(including no less than twenty editorials in theNew York Times), the pleas of the parents and theentreaties of both Emperor Franz Josef of Austriaand Napoleon III of France, the child was neverreturned. Instead, he was forcibly cloistered in amonastery and eventually ordained as a priest.During the period of the First Vatican Council,was convened by Pio Nino in late 1869 andlasting until 20 October 1870, the decree of PapalInfallibility was passed (18 July, 1870). Initiallyonly half the Bishops supported the decree.Eventually, it was passed in the presence of 433Bishops with two dissensions. An additionaldecree announcing the Pope’s supremejurisdiction over his Bishops, both individuallyand collectively, was also accepted. The Popewas anti-democratic as a result of the loss of hisPapal lands during the unification anddemocratization of Italy. In 1868, he had forbiddenItalian Catholics from taking part in democraticpolitics.Pacelli’s parents were married in 1871. Hismother Virginia Graziosi, one of thirteen children,hailed from Rome and was “a pious daughter ofthe Church”. Two of her siblings became priestsand two became nuns. His father, Fillippo,performed pastoral work in the parishes of Rome.The family considered themselves a part of theBlack Nobility, 11 who opposed and rejected the‘usurpation’ of King Vittorio Emanuel. Themeager remuneration earned by both Marcantonioand Fillipo, was indicative of their loyalty to thepapal cause rather than of an aristocratic lifestyle.Eugenio Pacelli was born on 2 March, 1876,two years before the death of Pio Nino. He wasborn into a culture where the Pope was regardedas infallible and as G-d’s Vicar on earth andwhose decisions were automatically endorsed inheaven. Jews were seen as being deserving of anycruelty or punishment meted out to them due totheir stubbornness in refusing to accept Christ asthe Messiah. They were no less than slaves and itwas quite in order to kidnap their children andconvert them against their parents’ will. Therewas no clash of integrity in utilizing any financialbenefit that they were able to offer, whetherthrough loans or confiscation of assets, andimmediately thereafter betraying them.A person raised in this type of morality, whichwas extremely anti-democratic and where Jewswere thus regarded, was indeed a candidate to bean ally of fellow Catholic Fascists such as Tiso,Franco, Salazar, Mussolini or indeed Adolf Hitler.As will be shown, there was in addition a greatcommonality of attitude in their joint hatred andfear of Communism. How much more did oneneed to bind together the Catholics and the Fascistsin an allegiance? Both hated Jews, democracyand Communism.In 1901, Pacelli was recruited by MonsignorPietro Gaspari, the undersecretary in theDepartment of Extraordinary Affairs (theequivalent to the Foreign Office in the Secretariatof State). A few days after his recruitment, he wasappointed an ‘apprendista’ (apprentice) in theDepartment. He rose rapidly from part timelecturer in Canon Law in 1902 to a part timelecturer in the Academy for Nobles andEcclesiastes, where he taught civil and Canonlaw. In 1904, he obtained his doctorate. His thesisdealt with the nature of Concordats, the term forspecial treaties between the Vatican and nationstates, monarchies and empires, and the functionof Canon Law, when a Concordat falls intoabeyance. The importance of this qualificationwill be seen later in discussions regarding theFirst World War and the rise of Hitler.That same year, Pacelli was promoted to thepost of minutante, which involved writing digestsof reports dispatched to the Secretariat from allover the world. He was also awarded the title ofMonsignor, with the rank of Papal Chamberlain.In 1905 he was awarded the title of DomesticPrelate and two years later he was selected to35
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