Did a Pope ever deny the Holocaust?

[exoflare]

Random question, I know… but this just came up with someone I know and it completely caught me off guard. He claims that there were either one or two Popes that denied that the Holocaust ever took place. (I forget the reason he gave, that they supposedly said this) Anyway does anyone know what rumour this might possibly be, as well as all the facts around it? Thanks.

 

[Gamera]

Random question, I know… but this just came up with someone I know and it completely caught me off guard. He claims that there were either one or two Popes that denied that the Holocaust ever took place. (I forget the reason he gave, that they supposedly said this) Anyway does anyone know what rumour this might possibly be, as well as all the facts around it? Thanks.

No. And the burden is on your friend to prove the claim — it’s rarely possible to prove a negative (in this case, to prove that someone didn’t say something). He’s the one making the assertion, let’s see him provide the details.

 

[exoflare]

No. And the burden is on your friend to prove the claim — it’s rarely possible to prove a negative (in this case, to prove that someone didn’t say something). He’s the one making the assertion, let’s see him provide the details.

sigh That’s what I thought, too… and that was only one of many things that I had never heard of. They were probably all completely unsubstantiated. I’ll never understand why so many people try to pass off their own fabricated presuppositions as established fact.

I was still kind of hoping someone may have at least heard of the rumour, though. I thought maybe it was one of those stories like “Pope Joan” that gets repeated so much that people don’t even check to see whether it’s true…

 

[Roman_Catholic_1]

exoflare

I have not heard of this rumor, but I would be interested where this friend of yours got this. So if you wouldn’t mind filling us all in if and when he/she gets back to you.

There have only been 6 Popes since the end of WW2 counting Benedict, so if one of them had believed this it wouldn’t be hard to find out.

Considering the media’s love affair with the Catholic Church and its Popes I am betting that news like this would have been, would still be, and would always be front and center in the news, lest anyone forgot a Pope’s position on the Holocaust.

God bless

 

[exoflare]

I’ll try and ask him… He seems to be like one of these ultra-leftists though, so I doubt his sources were very objective anyway (another claim of his, among other things, was that the Vatican was giving Israel a bunch of money to “bomb the s*** out of Palestine”). I bet more than likely one of his friends told him once and so he just believed it without question.

 

[Harmony1988]

I’ll try and ask him… He seems to be like one of these ultra-leftists though, so I doubt his sources were very objective anyway (another claim of his, among other things, was that the Vatican was giving Israel a bunch of money to “bomb the s*** out of Palestine”). I bet more than likely one of his friends told him once and so he just believed it without question.

Considering the relationship between the Vatican and Jews haven’t been that great recently due to the anti-semitic accusations during WWII, I highly doubt they are on such money lending terms with each other.

 

[NotWorthy]

Considering the relationship between the Vatican and Jews haven’t been that great recently due to the anti-semitic accusations during WWII, I highly doubt they are on such money lending terms with each other.

Wait a minute. Wasn’t the highest ranking Jewish Rabbi of Rome so touched by the aid the Catholic Church gave to Jews escaping German persecution, that he converted to Catholicism after WWII? It could be Jerusalem, but I’m pretty sure it was Rome.

 

[Kaninchen]

Wait a minute. Wasn’t the highest ranking Jewish Rabbi of Rome so touched by the aid the Catholic Church gave to Jews escaping German persecution, that he converted to Catholicism after WWII? It could be Jerusalem, but I’m pretty sure it was Rome.

That’s a highly controversial story with different views on both the Catholic and Jewish sides.

Israel Zoller had been rejected by his own community before his conversion because of his behavior during the German occupation. After the fall of Mussolini and Italy’s separate peace with the Allies, the Germans invaded and he abandoned his post to hide in the Vatican.

When the Germans were kicked out, he then wanted to be Chief Rabbi again but Rome’s Jews refused to have him back.

 

[Valke2]

Random question, I know… but this just came up with someone I know and it completely caught me off guard. He claims that there were either one or two Popes that denied that the Holocaust ever took place. (I forget the reason he gave, that they supposedly said this) Anyway does anyone know what rumour this might possibly be, as well as all the facts around it? Thanks.

How many popes have there been since WWII? I don’t recall ever hearing anything to suggest that any Pope ever denied the Holocaust.

 

[NotWorthy]

How many popes have there been since WWII? I don’t recall ever hearing anything to suggest that any Pope ever denied the Holocaust.

Unless maybe the premier of Iran was elected while I was sleeping last night.

No, I checked the news. It’s still Pope Benedict XVI!

 

[promethius95945]

How many popes have there been since WWII? I don’t recall ever hearing anything to suggest that any Pope ever denied the Holocaust.

I’m sure this horrible rumor probably has something to do with the publication of the book “Hitler’s Pope” (proving, once again, that a lie once told can be impossible to kill).

 

[mchale]

No pope has ever denied the Holocaust. Even Pius XII, who it could be argued should have done more to stop the Holocaust, never denied it. Indeed, there is evidence that Pius almost went public about the Holocaust on at least two occasions but held back for fear of what might happen to Catholics in occupied Europe.

Ultimately, the worst that can be said about Pius XII was that he was placed in an impossible situation and was left with a choice that would test any man. I will not fault him for not doing more, and I wish others would try to place themselves in his situation before they fault him.

–
Bill

 

[Valke2]

I’m sure this horrible rumor probably has something to do with the publication of the book “Hitler’s Pope” (proving, once again, that a lie once told can be impossible to kill).

Hitler’s Pope doesn’t, I believe, suggest that any Pope denied the Holocaust.

 

[promethius95945]

Hitler’s Pope doesn’t, I believe, suggest that any Pope denied the Holocaust.

no, i don’t believe it does either, but it was the publication of that book which cemented the “fact” of the “catholic participation in the holocaust” in so many peoples’ minds. That “fact” echoing out (as sin is wont to do) changes form a million times as more people who want to hate the church find their ears too willing listen to lies.