Church helping Nazi War Criminals Escape??

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Tony_B

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Hello,

Ok here’s a wierd one…

In conversation with a friend, (nice guy, smart) he tells me that the Catholic Church helped Nazi War Criminals escape following the end of the war.

I don’t believe this to be true by any means and I don’t even care to mention it giving light to a possible future conspiracy, or another Fictional novel.

Can anyone shed some light on this subject? Is he out to lunch? I would appreciate any advice or books or webs sights to search.

Thank you.
 
Tony B.:
Ok, seconds after posting, my friend just sent me this web address, I thought I would share…

I would appreciate any insight into this matter.

Hoping that it is all false.

hist.academic.claremontmckenna.edu/jpetropoulos/holocaust/aftermathintro.htm
This information is given to you by those you have been influenced by “Hitler’s Pope”. It is true that some Catholics remained silent during WWII, but that doesn’t mean that the Vatican endorsed Nazi policies. Pius XII in many of his speeches condemned the Nazi propaganda. If I were you, I would have nothing to do with this person. This site is based on incorrect information from biased and liberal historians. If the Catholic Church did help Nazi war criminals escape, the Nuremberg trails would have took note of it.

Look at this site full of very helpful information.
www.piusxii.info
 
Hello Tony,

I believe that the Church does not deny that the Vatican assissted Nazis escape to South America after WWII. I think the History Channel had a show on the issue one time. I have always heard and believed that the Vatican had done this.
 
Based on a quick search of the internet, it looks like this one Bishop Hudal, who may or may not have been a Nazi agent in the Vatican, may very well have helped Nazis escape. As wrong and disturbing as that is, it is also wrong to that “the Catholic Church” aided in the escapes.

Remember how many priests, nuns and other religious died at the hands of the Nazis. Remember that the Church saved more Jews (perhaps 800,000) from the Nazis than any other group or country. Why would the Church then turn around and, as official policy, help these same Nazis to avoid justice?
 
Steven Merten:
Hello Tony,

I believe that the Church does not deny that the Vatican assissted Nazis escape to South America after WWII. I think the History Channel had a show on the issue one time. I have always heard and believed that the Vatican had done this.
Then why weren’t they tried?

“The Vatican, in fact, cooperated with the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials” (Hitler, the War, and the Pope, p. 272)

Footnote from p. 424 "Pius put at the disposal of the prosecution an important collection of documents dealing with the persecution of teh Church by the Nazi regime. Louis J. Gallagher, Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., Founder of the Foreign Service School, Georgetown University, Benzinger Brothers (New York, 1959).
 
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bones_IV:
Then why weren’t they tried?
Hello bones,

Diplomatic immunity.
 
My understanding is that some war criminals escaped by staying at monasteries overnight.

If any traveler came to a monastery and asked for shelter, he was not questioned nor turned away. That was the monastery’s policy, and some Nazis took advantage of it (though I think that even if questioned, he would not admit to being a Nazi, so how could you tell?).

That’s not the same as the Church willfully engaging in some kind of plot to save Nazis.

You might ask your friend exactly *how *the Church aided Nazis. He is the one making the accusation. The burden of proof is on him.

While you’re at it, you might point him to chapter 30 of Patrick Madrid’s *Pope Fiction, *which shows the great efforts the Church made in order to save Jews during WWII.
 
The last post is probably the best take on this subject.

One of the most difficult aspects of being a member of The Holy Mother Church is acknowledging that we have had members, and leaders, who have been less than faithful to the Teachings of the Church. There will always, therefore, be historical facts about actions taken that were less than admirable. To deny them is foolish - HOWEVER, to use those facts as a reason to declare that the Church has not authority, or is not the Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself is foolish and dangerous.

There were also members of the clergy, at the Vatican, who were active in hiding Jews and Partisans during WWII. This historical fact cannot be denied any more than the facts of members of the clergy that did NOT behave according to the teachings of Christ and His Bride.

History is a two-edged sword. It can swing both ways, and one must be careful when using it as a weapon. My response to your friend would be, “I have no doubt that some of our members did not act according to the teachings of Christ during WWII. I would have to see concrete proof that the POLICY OF THE HOLY ROMAN SEE was to help Nazi War Criminials to escape. Do you have such proof?”

The United States unwittingly helped Nazi War Criminals escape punishment after the War. Many European Nations looked the other way during the aftermath of the War and let people slip through their fingers - they had a huge mess to clean up. Was it their official policy or was it the actions taken by a few?

In the United States we have a trial in the South taking place in which a Baptist Preacher is accused of being one of the people who threw a bomb into a Church that killed little Black children during the civil rights movement. It would never occur to me to condemn the Southern Baptish Church for the actions taken by this man, or by so many other Southern Baptists in regards to lynchings, rapes and murders of Blacks, Jews and others in America after the Civil War. That would be wrong.
 
Steven Merten:
Hello Tony,

I found the link to the History Channel which talks about Vatican involvement in helping Nazis escape justice.

thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/full_details/Conflict/programme_2083.php
Not true. History Channel holds no credibility. “If any restraint on the part of the Vatican were to be attributed to an anti-Semitic attitude on the part of the Pope, then one would expect to see the Church behave in a different manner when a similar situation involving Christians arose” p. 253 (Hitler, the War, and the Pope).

“No one who was around the Pontiff during the war has ever imputed any anti-Semitic attitudes to him” p. 253 (Hitler, the War, and the Pope).

A reflection of the shoah
 
Steven Merten:
Hello Tony,

I found the link to the History Channel which talks about Vatican involvement in helping Nazis escape justice.

thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/full_details/Conflict/programme_2083.php
Did you actually see this show? I’ve seen a lot of HC shows and they’re way more conjecture than fact.

BTW, I’m thinking that if this did happen, it was definitely not under the instruction of the Magisterium but a few renegade members of the clergy. It is ludicrous to think this wouldn’t have been spread far and wide if it were true.
 
Our own OSS(predissor of the CIA) helped certain “useful” Nazis escape to the US after WW II. We did not want the Soviet Union to get their hands on them and they had knowledge of a scientific nature useful to our development of rockets, jet planes, etc. I doubt that death camp commanders and such were among these.
 
The History Channel is not a credible source—just look at how they distorted the Crusades.
 
Steven Merten:
Hello bones,

Diplomatic immunity.
Give us a cite to show where the Pope or “the Vatican” asserted diplomatic immunity to escape prosecution.
 
vern humphrey:
Give us a cite to show where the Pope or “the Vatican” asserted diplomatic immunity to escape prosecution.
Vern, he won’t be able to assuming he knows he isn’t telling the truth.
 
The leading Rabbi in Rome converted to the Catholic faith after the war effort. It would be common sense that the leading Rabbi in Rome would not convert to the faith of the religion that supposedly did nothing or helped Nazis escaped as a policy. The Nazis tried to kidnap the Pope, this is historical fact. Now, you don’t kidnap someone who is supposedly helping you… Fr Hugh (can’t remember his last name although I’ll look if you want) & others alone saved thousands of Jews & Allies inside the Vatican and Castel Gandolfo (the pope’s summer residence). Vatican Radio was the first free media to announce to the world that Jews in Poland & Germany were being round up and put in ghettos. On orders from the Pope, Catholic institutions were opened for Jews all over Europe trying to escape the Nazis. All this type of stuff is, is a general attack on Christianity.Don’t put so much stock in this anti-Christian hype & sensationalism. I am sure that there were Nazi infiltrators in the Church just as they infiltrate any other government.

users.binary.net/polycarp/piusxii.html
 
I think the Holy See probably did help Nazis escape, I also know for a fact that it helped Jews leave Europe.

Did Christ not teach us not to judge others? It is not the place of the Church to judge these war criminals, nor is it its place to hand them over to the authorities.

In an ideal world we would not judge criminals at all; it should be up to God, not man.
 
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