354

Letter Found in Vatican Archives Confirms Church Was Told About Death Camps (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 10 months ago by Bobo@lemm.ee to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The newly discovered letter, written by a German Jesuit to Pope Pius XII’s personal secretary, suggests that the pope knew of Hitler’s atrocities but chose to remain silent.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] aeternum@kbin.social 71 points 10 months ago

The church sitting by idly while atrocities go on?NEVER! /s

[-] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 36 points 10 months ago

Come on, cut them some slack. They definitely don't sit idly by all the time. Sometimes they actively participate or even instigate!

[-] alternative_factor@kbin.social 7 points 10 months ago

Brought to you by the same people who brought you the "spider network"!

[-] fiat_lux@kbin.social 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

That's generous, some clergy actively participated.

Miroslav Filipović also known as "Brother Satan" was a military chaplain and Franciscan friar. He was expelled from the Franciscan order during the war for his participation, but it didn't stop him wearing the robes, which he even wore to his execution. He was the Chief Guard of Jasenovac concentration camp, the third largest in Europe, which killed up to 100k people. It was run by the Ustaše who were very involved with the Franciscans. There were forced conversions too in the camp, even if the local Bishop didn't approve and actively had participating priests arrested. Even the Nazis thought Jasenovac was too cruel.

The Pope later gave the Ustaše leader protection at the Vatican and helped him to flee to Argentina. He knew. They all knew. The Vatican was even sued in California for it and the looted gold the Ustaše took to the Vatican is probably still there too.

More info on the Catholic Church's relationship with the Ustaše