Once again I really do hope you will continue with this Hitler was Christian theme. Because as I said it says a lot about you.
Here is your quote:
Quote:
On April 20, 1939, Archbishop Orsenigo celebrated Hitler's birthday. The celebrations, initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) became a tradition. Each April 20, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin was to send "warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany" and added with "fervent prayers which the Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven on their altars." EndQuote
You will notice that the date is April 20,1939. WWII didn't officially start until about 4 months later. Hitler was so powerful and popular with the Germans at that point there was almost nothing the Church could do without being totally silenced. And as I said earlier the Church did put up objections to the Hitler Youth program and a priest was killed.
Once the war started there was absolutely nothing they could do against Hitler that would have made any difference.
And I believe Pope John Paul II did apologize to Jews for not doing enough. Catholics tend to learn from their mistakes which is why they have been around for 2000 years and the Roman and Nazi empires are long gone and on the ash heap of history.
Fail for two reasons. One, you missed that this became a tradition. This wasn't just one year before the war it happened. Things that are repeatedly a tradition are done so out of goodwill. Even if you wanted to run with your popularity theory, you still didn't read my link, or you would have noticed this:
The Concordat between the Vatican and the Nazis
Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius XII) signs the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican at a formal ceremony in Rome on 20 July 1933. Nazi Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen sits at the left, Pacelli in the middle, and the Rudolf Buttmann sits at the right.
The Concordat effectively legitimized Hitler and the Nazi government to the eyes of Catholicism, Christianity, and the world.
The full text of the concordat appears on the Concordat Watch website. (click here to see the text).
So let's talk about what the Church knew and would support.
At the very end, just before the notes, this translation of the concordat includes the Secret Supplement. Naturally, this is omitted on Catholic sites. because it shows that by 1933 the Vatican knew that Hitler was going to re-arm in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, and wanted to help him keep it secret. (In fact, the Secret Supplement of the Austrian concordat indicates that already by 1931 the Vatican was planning for this eventuality. Perhaps even hoping for this eventuality, since Pius IX “supported any policy or any man who would oppose and fight Soviet Russia”.[3]
[3] Avro Manhattan, “Chapter 10: Germany, the Vatican and Hitler”, The Vatican in World Politics, London, 1949.
The church legitimized him. He was able to gain power because of that. Pius IX suppoerted anyone who opposed Soviet Russia, INCLUDING HITLER. The church was well aware of Hitler's intent to arm well before 1939 when they began a tradition of officially wishing him a happy birthday with all their blessings and prayers each year.
If there were so many problems between the Catholic Church and the Nazis, why would Pope John Paul II have to apologize for anything? Let's sum up:
1) The pope and the Church played a central role in making Hitler the dictator of Germany. They also made a tradition out of going out of their way to wish a happy birthday to Hitler every year.
Your assertion Hitler was not a christian is not supported by his address to the Reichstag before the vote on his Enabling Act, which would essentially give Hitler the ability to create law without parliament's approval:
"While the Government is determined to carry through the political and moral purging of our public life, it is creating and insuring prerequisites for a truly religious life. The Government sees in both [Catholic and Protestant] Christian confessions the most important factors for the maintenance of our folkdom. It will respect agreements concluded between them and the States. However, it respects that its work will meet with a similar appreciation. The Government will treat all other denominations with equal objective justice. It can never condone, though, that belonging to a certain denomination or to a certain race might be regarded as a license to commit or tolerate crimes. The Government will devote its care to the sincere living together of Church and State."
Source:
[Hitler's Speech at second meeting of the
Reichstag of 1933, on
23 March 1933, asking for the adoption of the
Enabling Act.]
Now that establishes that Hitler was happy to use the Church to his means, what about establishing that the Church was happy to be used, and aided? How about this:
According to National Catholic Reporter correspondent John Allen, a liberal Catholic and student of Vatican history (he has written a biography of Joseph Ratzinger):
[Excerpt from John Allen's Telegraph article starts here]
Kaas acted in co-ordination with the German bishops. Four days later, on March 28, the German bishops rescinded their ban on Nazi party membership. On April 1, Cardinal Adolf Bertram of Breslau addressed German Catholics in a letter, warning them "to reject as a matter of principle all illegal or subversive activities". To most Catholics, it looked as if the church wanted a modus vivendi with Hitler.
The same impression was created a few weeks later when Hitler held a plebiscite to endorse his decision to pull Germany out of the League of Nations, which received the endorsement of the Catholic press and of several Catholic bishops. When Hitler and the Church came to terms for a concordat, it cemented the impression that Hitler was a man the Church "could do business with".
[Excerpt from John Allen's Telegraph article ends here]
Three and a half months later, on 6 July 1933, the Catholic Church's Center Party, Zentrum, dissolved itself. Two weeks after that, the Vatican and the Nazi government signed the Concordat, confirming the alliance between the Catholic Church and the Nazi state. Article 16 of the Concordat, published below, required that Catholic bishops swear to honor the Nazi government, to make their subordinates honor it, and to shun acts that would endanger it. (Notice that the Church was not promising to avoid just illegal acts, but any acts that might endanger the Nazi state, even if such acts were not yet outlawed.)
Source. John Allen's referenced article from that source.
Read carefully, DOC. You've just been pwned.
