One would hope, but he kept very silent as his successor sold out the Church in China to its oppressors.
Friday, April 26, AD 2024 12:43pm
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One would hope, but he kept very silent as his successor sold out the Church in China to its oppressors.
Who knows the reasons behind the Benedict saga, but, most likely, someday on that big movie screen in the sky….?
On 26 July 1942, the bishops in the nazi-occupied Netherlands issued a strongly-worded denunciation of the nazis’ brutal treatment of Dutch Jews, and had the letter read out at Masses that Sunday. I’m sure Their Excellencies felt they could not remain silent in the face of the brutalities they were seeing.
The nazis responded within days by rounding up Jewish converts to Catholicism, including St. Edith Stein and her sister Rosa who were both Carmelite nuns. Within days the arrestees were shipped off to Auschwitz were they were immediately gassed and their bodies burnt.
And the Dutch bishops learnt that when one holds no cards while dealing with amoral monsters it’s likely to be best to do what little can be done quietly, and not make things worse by giving those monsters a reason to think they need to assert themselves.
Benedict could have spoken out about the outrages perpetrated by the thugs running China. Would his doing so have made things better for the Chinese Catholics, or worse?
Would his doing so have made things better for the Chinese Catholics, or worse?
He did speak out as Pope. His silence was after his odious successor made his deal with the tyrants of China.
And the Dutch bishops learnt that when one holds no cards while dealing with amoral monsters it’s likely to be best to do what little can be done quietly, and not make things worse by giving those monsters a reason to think they need to assert themselves.
The Nazis were doing a great deal of evil in any case. Concern for consequences can too easily turn into acquiesce with evil. If enough people stand up most tyrannies will fall. Even the Nazis backed down on occasion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenstrasse_protest
On 26 July 1942, the bishops in the nazi-occupied Netherlands issued a strongly-worded denunciation of the nazis’ brutal treatment of Dutch Jews, and had the letter read out at Masses that Sunday. I’m sure Their Excellencies felt they could not remain silent in the face of the brutalities they were seeing.
The nazis responded within days by rounding up Jewish converts to Catholicism, including St. Edith Stein and her sister Rosa who were both Carmelite nuns. Within days the arrestees were shipped off to Auschwitz were they were immediately gassed and their bodies burnt.
—————
Why are you assuming that the Nazis would not have gotten around to this in time, regardless?
best to do what little can be done quietly
But, we’re not supposed to be quiet.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
~ Matthew 10:27-28
He did speak out as Pope. His silence was after his odious successor made his deal with the tyrants of China.
You’ll get no argument from me re: the fact that Benedict’s successor is an odious man. But to the point I believe you were making, I’d just point out that yes, when Benedict was Pope he certainly spoke out against what the Chinese tyrants were doing. Of course, that’s when he held some leverage, being Pope— the Chinese leaders had to dial back their urge for reprisals, since they were looking to find a modus vivendi with Rome.
Benedict still had something they wanted. But after his abdication, Benedict was ‘useless’ to Beijing. Not only could China safely ignore Benedict, but if he spoke out against Beijing, they would have used that as a pretext for some sort of move against Chinese Catholics.
Cardinal Zen, to my knowledge, hasn’t said anything to the effect of “I wish Benedict had spoken out against this garbage accord Francis and Beijing concocted”. Cardinal Zen, of course, is far better acquainted with the issues surrounding relations between Rome and Beijing than I shall ever be. If His Eminence still thinks highly of the late Pope despite his silence, that’s good enough for me. Your mileage may vary.
And Don, I don’t disagree with you about your observation that concern for consequences can sometimes be a rationalization for acquiescence with evil. If I were an evil dictator, I’d try to make sure the masses I oppressed had some sliver of hope and dependents to protect—be it children, aged parents, a beloved spouse, or a flock. Those people would be easier to control than subjects who believed they had nothing to lose. Those are the people who’d try anything, and would agree with Solzhenitsyn’s “Oh, How We Burned in the Camps!…”.
TCT, I don’t assume the nazis wouldn’t have gotten around to it eventually. In fact, the speed with which they ID’d, arrested, collected, shipped and killed so many Catholics of Jewish ancestry—around ten days it took, after the bishops’ letter went public— tells me those animals had already devoted a lot of research, thought and planning to just such an operation.
That said, there was a war going on, and a finite amount of resources and manpower available to the gestapo. I figure the bishops’ defiance made a show of power and ruthlessness necessary sooner rather than later.
Maybe if the bishops had opted to keep their resistance low-profile, there might have been time to spirit away some of the individuals targeted. We’ll never know.
I wonder if, after the war, any of the bishops involved wrote down their thoughts on their actions, defended them, or reconsidered in light of what followed…
In 1942, the Dutch Bishops were putting their lives on the line to speak up against an unspeakable evil. Today’s Dutch Bishops (at least most) promote sodomy, same sex “marriage “, woman priest, and the King was advised to sign a law legalizing the murder of unborn children (this same Bishop, then Cardinal, appeared on the balcony with Pope Bergolio upon his election). How did these people obtain their positions? Are we to believe they’re the successors of the Apostles? They are not worthy to lick the boots of the Bishops of 1942. God Bless these 1942 Catholic Bishops.