-Caveat Lector- http://etherzone.com/Brennan.html Wednesday July 14, 1999 A POPE AND A LAWMAN -- LIES, MYTHS AND SLANDERS By: Phil Brennan Phil Lawler, the editor of Catholic World Report and a brilliant writer not to be trifled with, has had it, and in a blistering editorial in the July issue of CWR he expressed his disgust with the constant drumfire of criticism of the actions of late Pope Pius XXII in the face of the Holocaust. What set him off was a speech delivered to a New York audience by Rabbi Marvin Heir of the Simon Weisenthal Center during which Heir alleged that his Holiness "preferred silence" about the Holocaust. Heir than went on to assert that the Pope "sat on the throne of Peter in stony silence, without even lifting a finger" during World War II when Jews were being slaughtered by the Nazis. The statements were bald faced lies, and provably so. But Heir wasn't finished slandering the late Pontiff. He also claimed that "the Vatican adamantly refuses to open their files on the period." because the evidence concealed in those files would establish the Pope's guilt. Says Lawler: "Each of these statements is demonstrably false. Pope Pius XII was not 'silent' during the years of the Holocaust. He spoke out forcefully against the Nazis. Both during and after the war, objective witnesses testified to the power of the Pope's statements." Phil Lawler went on to cite examples: In 1941 the NY Times published a pre-Christmas editorial which said the Pope had "put himself squarely against Hitlerism" and having "left no doubt that the Nazi aims are also irreconcilable with his own conception of Christian peace." According to the late Golda Meir, a former Israeli prime minister: "When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict." Before he became Pope, Cardinal Pacelli served as papal nuncio in Germany and later as Vatican Secretary of State. Writes Lawler: "In each post he repeatedly clashed with the Nazi leadership. In 1937, he helped Pius XI draft the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, a condemnation of Nazi ideology which was read from pulpits throughout Germany. In his own introduction to the encyclical Cardinal Pacelli warned against a 'war of extermination' which he feared the Nazis would unleash. "During the worst years of the Holocaust," Lawler writes, "the Pope was directly or indirectly responsible for saving the lives of thousands\sands of Jews. Israeli diplomat Pinchas Lapide "estimated that the Pope was personally responsible for the lives of 700,000 Jews. "The chief Rabbi of Rome was so moved by the Pope's efforts that he became a devoted friend of Pius XII - and, eventually, a convert to the Catholic faith. "Writing in the Jewish Anti-Defamation League's Bulletin in 1958, Dr. Joseph Lichen said that the late Pontiff's 'opposition to Nazism and his efforts to help Jews in Europe were well known to the suffering world.' " Heir's absurd claim that the Vatican refuses to open its World War II and Holocaust archives gets short shrift from Lawler: "In fact, at the request of Pope Paul VI, a group of historians examined the material in those archives and produced an 11-volume report, containing abundant evidence of the Vatican's active involvement in efforts to save Jewish lives." Lawler then quotes Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls as saying that there is "nothing - I repeat, nothing" remaining in the archives that has not already been made available to scholars. Why, Lawler asks, "...would Rabbi Hier claim that the archives are sealed, when in fact they have been opened, and the evidence they contain has been made public? Could it be because the evidence exonerates the Pope - and confounds critics like Rabbi Hier himself. "Why would Rabbi Hier claim that Pius XII did nothing to oppose the Holocaust, when in fact the Pope was more vocal and more active in opposition to the Nazis than any other world leader. Why would he contradict the testimony of prominent Jewish leaders of the past, like Meir, Lapide, and Lichen? At best Hier is speaking about a subject of which he is woefully ignorant; at worst, he is slandering the memory of a great religious leader." Lawler laments the continuing campaign of slander against Pope Pius XII, and recommends "several fine historical studies - by the Jesuit scholars Pierre Blet ad Robert Graham,Sister Margherita Mercione, Charles Pichon and Oscar Halecki among others - each of which demolishes the arguments that underlie the smears." "How long will Catholics tolerate such brutal defamation" Lawler asks. "How long will honest scholars - Catholic or not - condone the behavior of writers and publicists who deliberately condone the behavior of writers and publicists who deliberately ignore the facts?" Much the same could be said against the slandering of the late J. Edgar Hoover. Since his death the lies and myths concerning Hoover have got such wide circulation that they have come to be accepted as facts - and now form the grist for the material of countless sneering comedians who haven't the vaguest idea of the meaning of the word truth. Accepted as fact is the canard that Hoover was a cross-dressing, transvestite homosexual who led a hidden secret life. Yet there is not a shred of credible evidence to support this bald faced lie. In his book "Hoover's FBI" former assistant FBI director under Hoover Cartha De Loach easily demolishes the credibility of the sources of the cross-dressing transvestite smears. The homosexuality charges stems from Hoover's closeness with Clyde Tolsen, the Bureau's number-two man under Hoover. Yet not one shred of evidence can be found proving that the relationship between the two men was anything but a close friendship between the Director who hated administrative chores, and Tolsen, who excelled as an administrator. As far as Hoover's alleged attendance at orgiastic parties dressed in drag and calling himself "Mary" ... well, it's an absurdity. Why? Consider this: the KGB and their military equivalent, the GRU, spent years and millions of dollars trying to get evidence of any irregularities in Hoover's official and private activities they could use to blackmail or publicly discredit the man. They came up empty- handed. So did Hoover's countless other foes. Moreover, if you can imagine that a man as famous as Hoover - who zealously guarded and cherished his privacy - attending parties with the some of the nation's slimier elements and expecting that his activities would remain secret for more than five minutes - well, believe that and the next thing you'll be believing Bill Clinton. Quotes from Philip Lawler's Editorial in July's Catholic World Report reprinted with permission. Phil Brennan's column appears every Wednesday on the Ether Zone. Phil Brennan can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. 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