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Tel Aviv, Israel 
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Swimming with Dolphins in Eilat
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Magnificent Resort City~Eilat

Eilat, Israel in the Red Sea
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Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee in the north of Israel
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Israeli President Visits Pope

Via Newsmax:

Israeli President Shimon Peres warned Pope Francis Tuesday that the Middle East is “disintegrating” and that the pontiff “has an important role” to play in bringing peace to the region and the world. During their half-hour conversation, Peres said the Middle East is in “real existential danger” and cited the severe lack of employment, of food and water. He warned that if these problems are not resolved, “violence and terror will gain a central place, as dangerous weapons fall into the hands of extremists.”

An Israeli government statement said Peres spoke of the danger of Iran’s nuclear-weapons program and Syria’s “huge quantities of chemical weapons.” He told the Pope that Iran “must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons and that Syrian chemical weapons must not fall into irresponsible hands.”

Peres welcomed the recent meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Arab League foreign ministers in Washington. He expressed hope for talks between Israel and the Palestinians under the leadership of Abu Mazen who, he said, is a “genuine partner for peace.” In its statement, the Vatican said Pope Francis and Peres expressed hopes for a speedy resumption of peace talks and an agreement that draws on “courageous decisions” and the support of the international community.

A resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would contribute to peace and stability throughout the region, the Vatican said. The Israeli statement said Pope Francis suggested creating “a global meeting of hope with the heads of all the world's faiths and to come out against violence and terror.”

The Pope also condemned anti-Semitism, saying it goes against the beliefs of Christianity and that it “must be opposed in every country in the world and every corner of the globe,” the Israeli statement continued. Peres praised Pope Francis for his example, noting his humility and pursuit of peace. 

Good Friday Collection For Holy Land Christians

Cool Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv beach (Image: She Knows Travel)

The beauty of Israel in Tel Aviv (Image: Taringa)

Mediterranean Paradise (Image: The Pinnacle List)

18 cool things to do in Tel Aviv:

1. Beaches
2. Tel Aviv-Jaffa Promenade
3. Hayarkon Park
4. Old Jaffa
5. Tel Aviv Port
6. Carmel Market
7. Levinsky Market
8. Nahalat Binyamin
9. Neve Tzedek and historic train station (Tachana)
10. Bauhaus Architecture
11. Free Walking Tours
12. Tel Aviv Greeters
13. Culture Square
14. Dizengoff Street
15. Tel Aviv Rollers
16. Tel Aviv University’s Botanical Gardens
17. Rabin Square
18. Ben Gurion house
 

Rome's Chief Rabbi Praises Ex Pope

Ex Pope Benedict's 2009 trip to Jerusalem (Image: Newsday)

Via Newsmax.com:

Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni has high praise for Pope Benedict XVI, saying the pontiff showed great respect for Jews. In an interview with Fiamma Nirenstein in Italy after Benedict announced his resignation, Di Segni — who is also a professor specializing in diagnostic radiology — called the Pope “an honest interlocutor” who was “clear when speaking to Jews.

We received respect from him. “Mutual respect is actually what is needed. Benedict XVI presented it to us, and even more.” Di Segni praised the “withdrawn character of this Pope, the fact that he was less than a media icon, as well as his intellectual integrity.” He also said that “at a time when radical Islam is thriving, the Church is amicable.”

As for what he would like to see in the next Pope, the rabbi said he hopes “the new Pope won’t be hostile. [We welcome] a non-hostile Pope that favors an in-progress alliance with us.”

Heavy Snow in Jerusalem

Major Snow in Jerusalem

Even Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu got into the fun

Apparently transportation in Jerusalem was at a standstill

An Orthodox Jew in the Holy City 

Jewish children playing

Read about this anamoly of major snowfall, which has not occured for over 20 years in the UK Daily Mail.

Pictures courtesy of UK Daily Mail

B16 Overwhelmed By 200k Supporters in Rome

“The real enemy to fear and fight,” he went on, “is sin, spiritual evil, which sometimes taints the members of the Church. We live in the world – says the Lord – but we are not of the world (cf Jn, 17:14), and we must guard ourselves against its seductions. Rather we must fear sin and for this, we must be strongly rooted in God, be one with what is good, with love and service.

It is what the Church and its ministries, together with the faithful, have done and continue to do with fervid commitment for the spiritual and material well being of people in every part of the world.

Above all, it is what you usually try to do in your parishes, associations and movements, which is to serve God and mankind in the name of Christ. Let us continue together with confidence on this path, and let the trials, which the Lord allows, push us towards greater radicality and coherence.” Pope Benedict XVI











All pictures above courtesy of Daylife







VATICAN CITY, (Catholic Online) - Back from an extraordinary and prophetic visit to Portugal where he led a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, the Pilgrim Pope, Benedict XVI was greeted by a crowd in excess of 200,000 people on Sunday when he led the Regina Caeli at noon.

This ancient prayer to Our Lady is a special feature during the Easter observance. This is one of four Marian antiphons which is usually said after night prayer before going to sleep. It is also recited from from Easter Sunday through Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter.

Queen of Heaven

V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
R. For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.
V. Has risen, as he said, alleluia.
R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray. O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Regina caeli

V. Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia.
R. Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia.
V. Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia.
R. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

This huge crowd represented an extraordinary show of global solidarity which is emerging among the faithful throughout the globe to demonstrate solidarity with the Holy Father and all priests. Yellow balloons were seen everywhere. The crowd waved banners and signs which read "Together with the Pope" and "Your Holiness, you are not alone; the whole Church is with you." The crowd was exuberant in its support of his leadership of the Church during these challenging times.

The gathering was sponsored by the Italian Bishops and facilitated by lay movements throughout Italy. It brought an unprecedented crowd - in excess of three times the number which gathered in St. Peters Square on Easter Sunday. The crowds were so large that they lined the Via della Conciliazione and spilled out into the side streets. It was a teeming sea of faithful Christians affirming their love for the Lord and His Church by standing with the Successor of Peter.

Pope Benedict XVI, buoyed by the show of affection, told the faithful, "Dear friends.It is beautiful to see this multitude today in St. Peter's Square, as it was moving for me to see the immense multitude at Fatima." In a strong message he referred to the "spiritual evil infecting the Church". He reminded the faithful that "The true enemy to fear and combat is sin, spiritual evil, which, unfortunately, also infects members of the Church.."

He asked them " to fear sin and thus be strongly rooted in God, in the good, in love, in service", reminding them "that is what the Church, its ministers, united with the faithful, have done and continue to do with fervid commitment for the spiritual and material good of persons in every part of the world..That is what you in particular constantly try to do in the parishes, in associations and movements: serve God and man in the name of Christ."

"Today you show the great affection and the profound nearness of the Church and the Italian people to the Pope and your priests," he added, "who care for you daily so that in the effort of spiritual renewal we may always better serve the Church, the People of God and those who turn to us with confidence."

The Pope reminded the faithful to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the Church in these days leading to the great Solemnity of Pentecost, "In the course of this week we will pray with the whole Church for the coming of the Holy Spirit, asking him to pour out his gifts upon our families, our parishes, and all whom we love."

On Sunday morning scores of busses and trains arrived bringing the faithful to prayer with the Pope. Il Messaggero, the daily newspaper, reported that the gathering was a "mobilisation of grass roots Catholics", with the Church "showing its muscles."

The obviously encouraged Pontiff told the pilgrims "I thank you with all my heart, dear brothers and sisters, for your warm presence ... Today you show the great affection and profound closeness of the Church and the Italian people to the Pope and your priests."

On Saturday, Pope Benedict addressed Kirchentag, an ecumenical gathering of Christians held in his native Bavaria. He told those who gathered that "bad seeds" which had infected some within the priesthood must not harm the reputation of the Church. Recalling the parable of the Lord he indicated that weeds "exist even in the bosom of the Church", but that good seed had been sown and will bear fruit.

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An enormous crowd turned out in support of the Holy Father Sunday, filling St. Peter’s Square to overflowing. The Vatican said around 150,000 people attended the Regina Coeli prayer yesterday. Other estimates put the crowd higher, at 200,000

Quoting Pavel Aleksandrovich Florensky, a 20th century Russian Orthodox philosopher and theologian, the Pope said: “Gaze at the stars more often. When your soul is burdened, look up at the stars or the blue sky. When you feel sad, when you are slighted . . . talk . . . with heaven. Your soul will then find peace.”

"Today", he said, "my first greetings go out to the lay faithful who have come here from all over Italy, and to Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco who has accompanied them as president of the Italian Episcopal Conference..."

St. Paschal Baylon

Paschal Baylon (named after the day of his birth and death: Pentecost Sunday—Pascha Pentekostes) was a simple, pious shepherd boy who later became an ardent spiritual son of St. Francis and the heavenly patron of adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament

On Saturday, May 22, the Church will celebrate the feast day of St. Rita of Cascia, who the late John Paul II called “a disciple of the Crucified One” and an “expert in suffering.”

A rational immigration debate

More hate from the New York Times

More than 100,000 people filled St. Peter's Square on Sunday in a major show of support for Pope Benedict XVI over the clerical sex abuse scandal

Making a good confession

Speaking to the throng gathered in St. Peter's Square before the Regina Coeli on Sunday, the Holy Father referred to the day's Gospel reading in which Jesus departs from the disciples. The Ascension, he said, permits us to "foretaste" the divine life from here on earth

Truth about the "Da Vinci" code

Made public today was a Message from the Pope to participants in the "Kirchentag", an ecumenical event being celebrated in Munich, Germany, from 12 to 16 May in the presence of Christians from various denominations, and followers of other religions

Pat Archbold wants to be the successor of Bill Donohue

With the addition of CatholicTV, that brings Comcast’s Catholic content to two stations. Comcast already carries the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). The agreement did not cost CatholicTV any money, but will allow the network to bring its content to more people nationally

Father Raniero Cantalamessa was given the Communication and Culture prize in recognition of his work preaching the Gospel through the media

Speaking with Vatican Radio after a meeting with the Holy Father in audience on Monday morning, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian bishops said that Pope Benedict was "very content, very serene, for having seen this manifestation of such joy, closeness" in an "extremely packed" St. Peter's Square

Hebrew speaking Catholics in Israel

"The Myth of Hitler's Pope"-Book Review

Via Riccardo Di Guiseppe:

The Myth of Hitler's Pope:
How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews From the Nazis
by David G. Dalin
(Regnery, 209 pages, $27.95)

AS A HISTORIAN OF THE HOLOCAUST, I frequently receive requests from Jewish educators, seeking support for grant applications for their Holocaust programs. Almost all these applications include a sentence about how the new program will inform students that the Pope, and the Vatican, "did nothing" during the Holocaust to help Jews.

The most recent such portrayal reached me while I was writing this review. It is part of a proposal to a major Jewish philanthropic organization, and contains the sentence: "Also discusses the role of the Vatican and the rabidly anti-Semitic Pope Pius XII, who were privy to information regarding the heinous crimes being committed against the Jews, and their indifferent response."

That the Pope and the Vatican were either silent bystanders, or even active collaborators in Hitler's diabolical plan -- and "rabidly anti-Semitic," as stated above -- has become something of a truism in Jewish educational circles, and a powerful, emotional assertion made by American-Jewish writers, lecturers, and educators.

David G. Dalin, professor of history and political science at Ave Maria University, Naples, Florida -- and an ordained rabbi -- demonstrates in his recent book, The Myth of Hitler's Pope, that this is a false and distorted portrayal. He also shows its long pedigree, starting more than 40 years ago, in 1963, with Rolf Hochhuth's play The Deputy. Although that play was fiction, it was widely regarded as based on fact in its strident assertion of the moral cowardice and silence of Eugenio Pacelli, who in 1939 became Pope as Pius XII.

Since Hochhuth's play, this theme has become commonplace. John Cornwell, a Roman Catholic, in his book Hitler's Pope (1999) blamed Pius XII not only for silence, but for active collaboration with the Nazi regime. Jewish writers have understandably been shocked by the reiterated assertion of papal refusal to help Jews at their time of greatest need. Daniel Goldhagen's book A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair (2002) portrays Pius XII as part of a wider Roman Catholic anti-Semitic tradition that permeated the Church's teachings and was integral -- in Goldhagen's words -- to the very "genesis of the Holocaust."

Dalin takes issue with these critics of Pius XII. Building on earlier documented defenses of Pius XII, including Ronald J. Rychlak's detailed study Hitler, the War, and the Pope (2000), he builds a powerful case for Pius XII, suggesting that the desire of Pope John Paul II to canonize Pius need not have been offensive -- or insensitive -- to Jews, as it was widely portrayed.

THE HISTORICAL RECORD is clear. There can be no minimizing the horrors of those manifestations of Christian anti-Semitism that were a curse in the story of Nazi-dominated Europe. The Polish villagers who murdered their neighbors in Jedwabne had been churchgoers all their lives. The Roman Catholic priests who, on many documented occasions, turned their flocks against the Jews throughout Eastern Europe were ordained in the rites of Rome. The Slovak leader, Father Jozef Tiso, who asked the Germans to deport his Jews to German-occupied Poland and to slave labor -- and death -- was an ordained priest.

But, as I myself pointed out in my book The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust (2003), there was another side to this coin. In France, leaders of the Roman Catholic clergy were outspoken in their condemnation of the deportations. In Italy, churchmen across the whole spectrum of Roman Catholicism, including leading Jesuits, saved Jews from deportation.

Many hundreds of Polish priests and nuns are among more than 5,000 Catholic Poles who have been recognized by the state of Israel for their courage in saving Jews.

Where does this leave Pope Pius XII, the object of so much published hostility, and the main figure in Dalin's short but powerful book? Can Pius really merit the words of Israel's then Foreign Minister, Golda Meir (later Prime Minister of Israel), when she telegraphed to the Vatican on Pius's death in 1958: "When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace."

Those who were in charge of that Nazi terror during the war years held this same view during the war itself. After Pius XII delivered his Christmas message in December 1942, the Reich Security Main Office, the German government department in Berlin responsible for the deportation of the Jews, informed its representatives, who were in charge of encouraging local leaders to permit their Jews to be deported: "In a manner never known before, the Pope has repudiated the National Socialist New European Order.... Here he is virtually accusing the German people of injustice to the Jews, and makes himself the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals."

This was stern condemnation by the Nazis of a man who is now condemned for the opposite failing. Yet nine months later, Pius XII was to upset the Nazis even more. After the German occupation of Rome and the northern part of Italy, when the SS determined to introduce the Final Solution in all areas of Italy under German military control, Pius and the Vatican took the lead in seeking to frustrate the deportation plan.

A MAIN OBJECT OF SS POLICY in Italy after the German occupation in 1943 was the deportation to Auschwitz of all Jews living in Rome. Margherita Marchione has told this story in Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pope Pius XII (2002). The roundup began without warning at eleven in the evening on October 15, 1943. Between then and one in the afternoon on October 16, one thousand of Rome's 6,000 Jews were arrested and taken to a deportation holding center, the Collegio Militare: their destination (although unknown at the time) was Auschwitz.

News of the start of the round-ups was brought personally to the Pope early on the morning of October 16 by an Italian Catholic princess, Enza Pignatelli Aragona Cortes, who had been alerted by a Jewish friend. Having received the princess early that morning, the Pope immediately instructed the Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Maglione, to protest to the German ambassador to the Vatican, Ernst von Weizsacker (a former German Deputy Foreign Minister).

Maglione did so that morning, making it clear to the ambassador that the deportation of Jews was offensive to the Pope. In urging Weizsacker "to try to save these innocent people," Maglione added: "It is sad for the Holy Father, sad beyond imagination, that here in Rome, under the very eyes of the Common Father, that so many people should suffer only because they belong to a specific race."

Following Maglione's appeal, Weizsacker gave orders for a halt to the arrests. To protect those who were thus still in their homes from a possible German reversal of the halt to the deportations, the Pope gave instructions for the Vatican to be opened to Rome's Jews, and for the convents and monasteries of Rome to provide hiding places, or provide false identification papers.

As a result of this papal initiative, in Rome a larger percentage of the Jews were saved than in any other city then under German occupation. Of the 5,715 Roman Jews listed by the Germans for deportation, 4,715 were given shelter in more than 150 Catholic institutions in the city; of these, 477 were given sanctuary within the confines of the Vatican itself.

In reporting on the Maglione-Weizsacker meeting to London two weeks later, the British ambassador noted: "Vatican intervention thus seems to have been effective in saving numbers of these unfortunate people." Of the thousand deportees of October 16, only ten survived. The remaining four-fifths of Rome's Jews were alive at liberation.

A footnote to these events: fifty-one years after Weizsacker's decisive intervention, his son Richard was the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany to visit Israel, and there to express his shame at what Germany had done to the Jews in the Nazi era.

AS THE GERMANS began deporting Jews from other parts of northern Italy, the Pope opened his summer estate at Castel Gandolfo to take in several thousand (women had their babies in the Pope's apartment) and authorized monasteries throughout the German-occupied areas of Italy to do likewise. As a result, while the Germans managed to seize and deport a further 7,000 Italian Jews to their deaths, 35,000 survived the war -- one of the highest ratios of those rescued of any country.

There was to be a further decisive papal rescue action after the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944. Under the leadership of the Pope's senior representative in Budapest, the Papal Nuncio Angelo Rotta, the diplomats of eight neutral countries represented in the Hungarian capital -- including the Swedish ambassador and his staff, prominent among them Per Anger and Raoul Wallenberg -- organized a city-wide rescue scheme.

Under Rotta's energetic lead, an "International Ghetto" was established in the northern section of the city, in which more than 40 safe houses were established, marked by the Vatican emblem, and other national emblems. Into these safe houses -- a series of tall, modern apartment buildings -- 25,000 Jews found refuge, and survived. Elsewhere in Budapest, Roman Catholic institutions hid several thousand more Jews in their cellars and attics.

The influence and authority of Pius XII was wide-ranging. In the port of Fiume, the Italian police chief, Giovanni Palatucci -- the nephew of an Italian bishop, Giuseppe Palatucci -- together with his uncle, saved 5,000 Jews from deportation during the German occupation of the port. They did so by providing the Jews with false identity papers, enabling them to gain safety in the bishop's diocese in southern Italy. For helping the Jews of Fiume, Giovanni Palatucci was arrested by the SS and sent to Dachau, where he was executed.

Pius XII took a direct part in sending money to support the Jewish refugees from Fiume. He also sent considerable sums of money to other rescuers of Jews in Italy, and to the French Capuchin monk, Father Pierre-Marie Benoit, from whose monastery in Marseille several thousand French Jews were smuggled across the borders of neutral Spain and Switzerland.

AMONG THE LEADING Roman Catholic clergymen who helped save Jews was Archbishop Giovanni Montini, the future Pope Paul VI. When the government of Israel asked him, in 1955, to accept an award for his rescue work during the Holocaust, Montini replied: "All I did was my duty. And besides I only acted upon orders from the Holy Father."

When the deportation of 80,000 Jews from Slovakia to Auschwitz began in March 1942, Pius authorized formal written protests by both the Vatican secretary of state and the papal representative in the Slovak capital, Bratislava.

When a second round of deportations began in Slovakia the following spring, Pius wrote a letter of protest to the Slovak government. Dated April 7, 1943, it was outspoken and unambiguous. "The Holy See has always entertained the firm hope," Pius wrote, that the Slovak government "would never proceed with the forcible removal of persons belonging to the Jewish race. It is, therefore, with great pain that the Holy See has learned of the continued transfers of such a nature from the territory of the republic."

That pain was "aggravated further," the Pope wrote in this same letter, since it appeared "that the Slovak Government intends to proceed with the total removal of the Jewish residents of Slovakia, not even sparing women and children. The Holy See would fail in its Divine Mandate if it did not deplore these measures, which gravely damage man in his natural right, mainly for the reason that these people belong to a certain race."

Six times the Pope appealed to the Slovak leader -- the Catholic priest Father Tiso -- to halt the deportations. After the sixth appeal, on April 7, 1943, the remaining planned deportations were halted.

On April 8, 1943, the day after his final protest to Father Tiso, Pius XII instructed the Vatican's representative in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, to take "all necessary steps" to support those Bulgarian Jews facing immediate deportation. From Istanbul, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli (later Pope John XXIII), a former Papal Nuncio in Bulgaria, and godfather to the king's sons, added his voice to that of Pius XII, urging the King of Bulgaria not to deport the Jews of his kingdom. Roncalli also signed transit visas for Palestine for several thousand Slovak Jewish refugees.

On learning of the plight of Jews in concentration camps in Romanian-occupied Transnistria, Angelo Roncalli contacted Pius XII, who interceded at once with the Romanian authorities, and authorized the dispatch of money to those in the camps. When, in 1957, the Israeli government sought to thank Cardinal Roncalli for his help, the Cardinal replied: "In all those painful matters I referred to the Holy See and afterwards I simply carried out the Pope's orders: first and foremost to save human lives."

Such is the historical record. It explains why Rabbi Dalin is so disturbed by the continuing assertions that Pius XII did nothing to help Jews, was an anti-Semite, and effectively acted as "Hitler's Pope."

AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THIS BOOK is the carefully constructed background to Pius XII's attitude to the Jews, going back to his early days as a young Vatican official. Indeed, from his schooldays, Eugenio Pacelli -- as he then was -- was friends with a Jewish student, Guido Mendes, later a distinguished Roman physician. As a result of this friendship, Pacelli was the first Pope to have shared a Sabbath dinner in his youth at a Jewish home. In 1915, then aged 39, he helped draft Pope Benedict XV's powerful papal denunciation of anti-Semitism in Poland, which insisted that the Christian law to love one another "must be observed and respected in the case of the children of Israel."

In 1919, as Papal Nuncio in Munich, Pacelli defended the Church against the ferocious onslaught of Communism, then -- as in Russia two years earlier -- spearheaded by individual Jews who had long since abandoned their religious faith. But anti-Communism did not make him pro-Nazi or anti-Semitic, as his critics claim. In May 1922, Pacelli warned the Jewish politician Walter Rathenau of an assassination plot by German anti-Semites. A month later, Rathenau was murdered. In November 1923, five days after Hitler's failed attempt to seize power in Munich, Pacelli wrote critically to the Vatican about the Nazi movement, and noted with approval the public defense of Munich's Jews by the city's Catholic archbishop.

In 1933, while serving as Cardinal Secretary of State -- the Vatican's Foreign Minister -- Pacelli negotiated the "Reich Concordat" with Hitler's Germany, determined to protect German Catholics from the anti-religious policies of the new regime. Dalin makes a convincing argument in favor of the Concordat as a protective measure, stressing that it was not a moral endorsement of Nazism. Indeed, from the outset of the anti-Jewish persecutions in Germany, Pacelli opposed them.

On April 4, 1933, three days after the one-day boycott of Jewish shops, Pacelli instructed the Papal Nuncio in Berlin to warn the regime against the persecution of German Jews, asking the nuncio to become actively involved on behalf of the Jews. Four months later he twice expressed to the British ambassador to the Vatican his "disgust and abhorrence" at the Nazi regime. The ambassador reported to the Foreign Office in London -- on August 19, 1933 -- that Pacelli "deplored the action of the German Government at home" including "their persecution of Jews."

In 1936 Pacelli visited the United States. One result of his mission, Dalin notes, was that, at President Roosevelt's personal request, he prevailed upon Father Charles Coughlin, the "radio priest," to end his anti-New Deal -- and also anti-Semitic -- broadcasts. While willing to meet Roosevelt, Pacelli never met Hitler. When, in a much-heralded gesture of friendship, Hitler visited Mussolini in Rome in 1938, Pacelli deliberately absented himself from the city, together with Pope Pius XI.

While Secretary of State, Pacelli made an astonishing 55 protests against Nazi policies, including, repeatedly, the "ideology of race." In 1938 Pacelli publicly endorsed and repeated the words of Pius XI, that "it is impossible for a Christian to take part in anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is inadmissible; spiritually we are all Semites."

So outspoken were Pacelli's criticisms that Hitler's regime lobbied against him, trying to prevent his becoming the successor to Pius XI. When he did become Pope, as Pius XII, in March 1939, Nazi Germany was the only government not to send a representative to his coronation.

IMMEDIATELY UPON BECOMING POPE, Pius XII responded to Mussolini's anti-Jewish legislation by appointing several Jewish scholars who had been dismissed from the university to positions inside the Vatican. Among them was the distinguished Jewish cartographer, Roberto Almagia, a professor at the University of Rome since 1915. On the day after his dismissal, Almagia was appointed director of the geography section of the Vatican library. While working there he completed an exceptional four-volume study of the Vatican's cartographic holdings.

Another dismissed Jewish scholar, Professor Giorgio Levi della Vida, a world authority on Islam, was also given a job in the Vatican library, cataloguing the Arabic manuscripts.

In his first encyclical as Pope, Pius XII specifically rejected Nazism and expressly mentioned the Jews, noting that in the Catholic Church there is "neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision." The head of the Gestapo, Heinrich Mueller, commented that the encyclical was "directed exclusively against Germany." So outspoken was it that the Royal Air Force and the French air force dropped 88,000 copies of it over Germany.

One strong piece of evidence that Dalin produces against the concept of "Hitler's Pope" is the audience granted by Pius XII in March 1940 to the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, the only senior Nazi official to visit the Vatican during his papacy. After Ribbentrop rebuked the Pope for "siding" with the Allies, the Pope responded by reading from a long list of German atrocities and religious persecution against Christians and Jews, in Germany, and in Poland, which Germany had occupied six months earlier.

The New York Times, under the headline "JEWS' RIGHTS DEFENDED," wrote on March 14, 1940: "The Pontiff, in the burning words he spoke to Herr Ribbentrop about religious persecution, also came to the defense of the Jews in Germany and Poland."

DALIN DRAWS ATTNETION in this book to the man whom he regards as the missing personality in the story: Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, a position of influence in the Muslim world to which Hajj Amin had been appointed by the British in 1922. This senior Muslim prelate met Hitler several times during the war, called openly for the destruction of European Jewry, and intervened with Hitler to prevent rescue efforts.

Having been given an office in wartime Berlin, Hajj Amin mobilized political and military support for the Nazi regime. Traveling to German-occupied Yugoslavia, he helped raise a Muslim Waffen SS company, which turned its savage attentions against both Jews and Serbian Christians. In one of his many broadcasts from Germany to the Middle East, Hajj Amin said of the Jews: "They cannot mix with other nations but live, as parasites among the nations, suck out their blood, embezzle their property, corrupt their morals...." Hitler found the Mufti a useful tool.

In answer to Daniel Goldhagen's charge that the Roman Catholic Church remains a danger to the Jews today, Dalin writes: "It is radical Islam -- Hitler's overt ally in World War II -- not the Catholic Church, that threatens Jews today."

In his book Hitler's Pope, John Cornwell calls Pius XII the "most dangerous" cleric in modern history. Dalin feels that the Mufti is the one who deserves this title. As Dalin writes: "Hitler's mufti is truth. Hitler's pope is myth."

Professor Dalin's book is an essential contribution to our understanding of the reality of Pope Pius XII's support for Jews at their time of greatest danger. Hopefully, his account will replace the divisively harmful version of papal neglect, and even collaboration, that has held the field for far too long.

Related Link:

Nazis attempted to infiltrate Vatican

Emotional Berlusconi Speaks To Israeli Knessset

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (3rd R) walks past an honour guard as he is escorted by Israel's Speaker of the Parliament Reuven Rivlin (R) during a welcoming ceremony at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem February 3, 2010. Berlusconi was visibly moved in Israel's parliament on Wednesday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled how the Italian leader's mother helped a Jewish girl during World War Two. (Daylife-Reuters)
Pictures courtesy of Daylife

Ansa:

Jerusalem, February 3 - Israeli's right to exist and the threat posed to the Jewish state by Iran's nuclear ambitions were among the key points of an address Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi made to the Israeli parliament on Wednesday.

He also spoke on the need to combat both anti-Semitism and racism, recalled the horror of the Holocaust and reiterated Italy's position in favor of a Palestinian state existing in peace alongside Israel Berlusconi was the first Italian premier to address the Knesset, although the leader of the centrist UDC party, Pier Ferdinando Casini, spoke to the assembly in 2008 on Holocaust Remembrance Day in his role of chairman of the Interparliamentary Union.

Speaking to the assembly, Berlusconi said "you represent ideals which are universal, you are the greatest example of democracy and freedom in the Middle East if not the only one. An example which has deep roots in the Bible and the Zionist ideal".

"Israel, your state is truly the symbol of this possibility of being free and living in a democracy outside the borders of the West and for this reason you are seen as an intolerable presence by fanatics all over the world," he added.

"Israel's security within its borders and its right to exist as a Jewish state are for us an ethical choice and a moral imperative against all forms of anti-Semitism and negation and against losing the memory of the Holocaust," Berlusconi.

In regard to Iran, Berlusconi said it was "unacceptable that atomic weapons be in possession of a state whose leader openly expresses his desire to destroy Israel and denies not only the Holocaust but also the legitimacy of the Jewish state".

In his address, which was interrupted 12 times by standing ovations, the premier reiterated his 'dream' of seeing Israel join the European Union, even though it is not part of Europe.

"Israel's place must be among the nations of Europe, as a full member of the European Union. This is my dream, this is my hope," he said, Israel qualified to be part of the EU, the premier explained, because "your nation is a true democracy, an open society which is proud of its liberty, a free and democratic state in every way and in every way equal to the democracies in Europe".

Turning his attention to the Holocaust, Berlusconi told the MPs "I truly feel that I am one of you. I knew I was one of you the day I visited Auschwitz, a day which changed my life".

Looking back to anti-Semitic 'racial laws' adopted under Fascism, Berlusconi said that thanks to the Liberation Italy "found the strength to repudiate the infamous racial laws which had shamed our country since 1938 and contradicted centuries of respect for all human being an their dignity".

The premier then looked at today and recalled that after 9/11 "we Italians knew right away that the challenge posed by terrorism was not just against the United States and Israel but against all democratic nations in the West and against moderate Arab countries".

"And since then we have done our part, from Iraq to Afghanistan, Bosnia to Lebanon, to combat terrorism and foster peace," he added.

"We are united in defending democracy and keeping it free from fanaticism, prejudice, superstition and those who exploit the name of God to justify violence," the premier said.

On the prospects for peace in the Middle East, Berlusconi recalled how Rome "has always been in favor of a solution which foresees two states, a Jewish one and a Palestinian one, which exist side by side in peace and security".

"Today, this solution of two states for two peoples appears to be acceptable not only to you and the Palestinian leadership, but also the European Union, the United States and the most important countries in the Arab world," he added.

"And I have to praise Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu for the courage he has shown to follow, explaining to me the interests of his people, this path," the premier said.

Berlusconi also said that Israel was justified in launching its three-week offensive in Gaza, between the end of 2008 and start of 2009, in retaliation to missile launchings by the Hamas militant group.

Italy, he told the Knesset, opposed the UN's Golstone Report, which accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, because Israel's response was "justified".

In his introduction to Berlusconi's address, Netanyahu recalled how the premier's recently deceased mother, Rosa, had during the war saved a Jewish girl from a German policeman.

A visibly moved Berlusconi thanked the Israel prime minister for remembering his mother.

Speaking to the assembly after the premier's address, Netanyahu said "here in Israel you have won our hearts and in the name of everyone I wish to tell you how you have our esteem, we embrace and love you".

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack said Berlusconi's address was "stupendous, moving and real, while opposition leader Tzipi Livni said she was moved by the premier's words.

"While other leaders hold back, Berlusconi always has the courage to say what he thinks. For him it's not a question of politics but values. He knows what is right and what is wrong, whether it's anti-Semitism, the Iranian threat or combating terrorism, she added.

Others leaders who have addressed the Knesset include ex-US president George W. Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

As can be expected the Iranian regime responded by stating that the Italian leader had engaged in "blatant interference in the internal affairs of an independent country."

See Berlusconi's remarks with President Abbas today here.

Israel's Ambassador To The Holy See Interviewed

Via Terrasanta:

Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay Lewy, recently wrote an article in which he noted an "asymmetry" in Jewish-Christian dialogue: that Catholics are pursuing relations but too few Jewish representatives are committed to the cause. In an article for the Italian Jewish monthly magazine Pagine Ebraiche which was later reprinted in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Ambassador Lewy called on Israelis to be more open to dialogue with Christians.

This week, the ambassador, who is an historian and expert in religious history, spoke with Terrasanta.net about this concern. He also discussed the reality of Jewish-Muslim dialogue, the Pope's recent visit to Rome's synagogue, and the current state of talks between the Holy See and Israel over the Fundamental Agreement.

Ambassador, why in your opinion are some Orthodox Jews so reticent about Catholic-Jewish dialogue? Is it because Jewish orthodoxy became less flexible after the Shoah?

There are many, many reasons, not only the Shoah. There are serious reasons why they do not participate. But in spite of those serious reasons, they should participate in order to take part in what I see as historical change.

How can their attitudes change?

First of all we need to start to reflect on this question. The more questions, the more reflection and then the end of this process might be change. It's a process; it won't be done today or tomorrow. This process has already started but we can probably try to accelerate it. It will remain a process but it won't be shared by all, also among Catholics it is not shared by all. It is a pious wish to have all Catholics follow Nostra Aetate but I know it is not the case.

Would you say there are elements in Judaism trying to thwart current dialogue?

No, not to stop it, they are simply not taking part in it, they are ignoring it, not thinking it is relevant for them. Those are the attitudes I think. It is not an expressed ‘anti'. It is an ignorance and indifference and, by the way, if you talk about dialogue it often means it in theological terms. I don't mean it in this sense, in terms of theological dialogue. I mean more in its existential dimension.

It's about focusing on what the two religions have in common?

You know, the very point that for 2000 years they saw each other as against the other is already something they already have in common. Instead of looking at each other as opponents, they could see each other as being next to each other.

Could confronting secularism be the issue that brings the two religions closer together?

It's always said the secularist spirit might lead religious to join together - the idea that because of relativism, we see each other as being closer. That might be so, but you're talking with a secularist. I do not belong to the religious sector... But I understand this argument of the secular spirit and normal people who do not normally feel themselves religious and therefore feel all of a sudden in the same camp. I see the historical change coming now because I do recognize that Nostra Aetate is a bold step to seek understanding and this should be met and also fully understood on our side. There are still inhibitions preventing full recognition and we are working on removing those inhibitions, step by step.

Is there a fear of conversion to Christianity?

There is a fear. It is a traumatic fear that exists. I remember Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik [a seminal figure of modern orthodox Judaism] was asked by Cardinal Willebrands in the 1960s, in view of the coming discussions around Nostra Aetate which was then not yet drafted: "What do you think about the conversion of Jews?" He [Soloveitchik] said it was absolutely mandatory to make a signal that it is not conceived any more as a goal because the Jews will consider it as a second Holocaust. So it's very touchy. Not every polemic today is only for the sake of conducting polemics: there are Jews who really understand it as a threat. I think it's unjustified but still, they think like that. So we have to consider it and cope with it.

Is there formal dialogue between Judaism or the State of Israel and Islam?

Yes, but it's a difficult one, it's not easy to find partners. A first condition of dialogue is that you're not cutting the other person's throat. If you have only those people who think like that, you have to ask: is the dialogue viable at all?

So it's no where near close to the level of Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

No, but you know what, for religious people, Islam is less prohibitive than Christianity. You would be surprised. I think the iconoclastic approach of Islam, which is about not favouring images, is something which the Orthodox Jew immediately feels he can associate with. He can relate to it. Almost even the kosher / halal food regulations are another dimension on which they can relate, even if it's not really the same. When it comes to pork, yes, but not when it comes to wine or seafood. They eat seafood, we don't.

Does the State of Israel seriously look on Jewish-Muslim dialogue as a possible pathway to peace?

Yes, it's very much favoured, if it is possible. We do participate if we are allowed, even within trilateral dialogue frameworks. But sometimes we have problems, for example with the Saudis. On all Saudi initiatives, which are very welcome, they will always look at the passports of the rabbis. For them, they could be Jewish, but if they have Israeli passports they would be seen as ‘undesired participants'. They won't accept Israeli rabbis with Israeli passports.

Would you like to share any brief reflections on the Pope's recent visit to Rome's synagogue?

Well it was good, it should have been understood by all, but some had reservations and I think the press contributed to this dramatisation which was not well placed in my mind. Of course [the visit] was disputed in the Italian community, also in the Roman, but more in the Italian community. I think we have a clear cut orientation in Israel and so we were very keen to show it, as was seen in the dialogue that followed at the Vatican with the rabbis, and the massive presence of the delegation from Israel.

Also the vice premier coming here and honouring the event. So I think it was very good. I don't know of any event where the Pope who has been invited and was then rebuked [by the President of the Italian Jewish Community]. So it was an event which had to happen and those who questioned it probably could speak like that because they didn't have to assume responsibility, they were not inviting bodies. The invitation came from the Roman community not the Italian one.

Has there been any progress in the bilateral commission on the Fundamental Agreement?

Yes there are some things cooking and let's hope for the best. It's difficult, but there are creative minds pushing ideas here and there. I cannot reveal them, I'm sorry, but there is hopefully a grain of hope in the sense that some creative ideas are being exchanged.

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