Tuesday, May 12, 2009

My Favorite Pope.

From a variety of sources we hear of "a growing chorus of Israeli critics who accused the German-born Benedict XVI of failing to express enough remorse for the Holocaust".

Rather than finding fault with what the Pope has said, his critics now spend their time criticizing what he failed to say. His address at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial can be found here.
Moments after he spoke there, Yad Vashem's top two officials criticized him for failing to use the words "Nazis" or "murder" in his speech.
Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi rightly told reporters in Jerusalem, "He can't mention everything every time he speaks."

The Roman Catholic Church did not bring about the Holocaust; Pope Benedict need not apologize for the Church in this regard. (In the years immediately following the Second World War, Jews, world leaders and large media outlets such as The New York Times and The Palestine Post praised Pope Pius XII for his courageous efforts and calls for peace.)(source)

Of course, his critics bring up the charge that he was in the Hitler Youth and German army. His critics fail to mention that he was forced into the Hitler Youth or that he deserted when he was drafted into the German army.
As Catholic League president Bill Donohue points out,
"Günter Grass and Jürgen Habermas, two German intellectuals loved by the pope’s critics, were also forced to join the Hitler Youth. But because they are left-wing icons, no one implies they are anti-Semitic."

We know the world loves Barack Obama as he bends over and grabs the ankles and apologizes for everything except the wrongs he has committed.
Fortunately, the Pope is not Barack Obama and Obama is not the Pope.

No comments: