It was long after Adriel’s mom trotted the children down to St. Juliana’s church to have us Christianized. My mom had married her handsome Jewish soldier at the conclusion of the war and in Cincinnati we all lived in a home across the street from the Jewish Center, a kind of JMCA and neighborhood park (long gone now). I recall the mezuzah on the door frame announcing a Jewish home to neighbors and maybe God himself. The marriage was on the rocks by the time I was about five or so and finally crashed after Mom took the three kids to her own parent’s home in Florida. We were left penniless and with little prospect of a the kind of quality education that would turn around our destitution.
So I have long thought our baptism was partly, maybe mostly, an attempt to get the children into the high quality Catholic school in West Palm Beach. We were admitted as “parish students,” that is, the poor kids who were enrolled without tuition. I am grateful for that and for the good schooling I received, but the sting of the exclusion from the wealthier, truer Catholic kids was felt deeply and lingered for years. I can still recall the essay contest (which I won) on the topic of “why become a priest”. It was pointed out to me that if I had any personal aspirations of that kind, that I would have to apply to the Rome for a dispensation because my father was a Jew.
But that was some time after the death of Pius the XII. (It’s “Pius” not “pious”, same thing only Latin.) Upon the pope’s demise, the church next door to the school was draped in black and all students were enlisted in an extravaganza of prayers and masses (missae defunctorum) for the deceased pope. We lit candles for Il Papa and prayed for a swift restoration on the cathedra of Peter. BTW: I have no middle name but Peter is a name assigned to me as a middle name by the good sisters at St. Ann’s school, because, well, I guess just because. Years later, Pius the Sixth began the canonization process of Pius XII initiating the steps toward sainthood for the pope who collaborated, before his Papacy, first with the Nazis and the Fascists and later as Pope cooperated or at least tolerated the genocidal Third Reich. After seeing photographic evidence of the horrific slaughter of the Jews, his holy silence rings out diabolically then, today, and forever. So far, Pius has reached the status of Venerable, a person Catholics should admire and submit prayers for his eventual sainthood.
No need to list the sins of the terrible Pope Pius. While most people know of his negligent dismissal of the crimes against the Holocaust victims, a cursory look at his early writings and actions as the Vatican diplomat reveal a deeply anti-semitic man. Newly released Vatican documents are beginning to show the breadth of the church’s hatred of the Jews. After the death of Pius, the liberalizing Vatican Council rejected some of the historical Catholic enmity toward Jews and sought a reconciliation. The process of beatification followed by canonization as a saint continues. Beatification is the acknowledgement of the “blessed’s” holiness and residence in heaven. Christians have license to pray to the beatified to ask for intercession with God, who is presumably now accessible to the newly appointed beato. But most of all, and in the case of Venerable Pius most sadly of all, Catholics are to admire the blessed one and use his or her life as an example of holiness.
The process of sainthood for Pius has proceeded and Pope Francis has allowed this awful veneration of a hateful man. Francis has made waves by opening up the church to gays and divorced persons. He has taken action against the sexual predators in the church. He speaks of tolerance and the dignity of all persons. But he has allowed the continued beatification path of Pius even in the face of growing anti-Semitic attacks in globally. Francis has said that the canonization would not go forward due to lack of evidence of miracles but has not formally removed Pius XII from the saint-making process or the Venerable Servant of God status itself. In large measure, the whole sainthood business is symbolic and inspirational. Even if more dubious Catholics have reservations about saints and heaven itself, the sainthood process is meant to inspire Christians to a life of love of neighbor and unselfish living. Its a badge of honor, a medal pinned on the life of a saint. That’s the worst of it, that Christians are supposed to admire and emulate a pusillanimous man who defaulted on his office.
The United States has suffered murderous assaults on Jews and the rise of anti-Semitic hate groups that have been tolerated and even encouraged by the president and his cultish followers. European Jews have witnessed attacks and vicious rhetoric in Germany and France. Jeremy Corbin in England has flirted with Jew hating groups. Even peaceful Canada has recently witnessed growing hatred of Jews. Across the world, Jew-baiting, fire bombings, and vile rhetoric is exploding. Many political leaders have been deaf to this menace, but religious people had ought to expect leadership from the Pope.
Above all, Pius XII is known for his silence and inaction. It is time for the new pope to speak out and act.
Two Strikes 