Hitler's Plan to Kidnap the Pope

[CHIMO]

In an attempt to improve the controversial public image of Pope Pius XII, the Vatican has released new documents said to back up an old claim that Hitler ordered the kidnapping of the wartime pontiff.

The Italian Conference of Roman Catholic bishops published details of the Nazi plan in its newspaper Avvenire over the weekend. It said Adolph Hitler gave a direct order to SS General Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff to bring Pius to Germany, but the officer disobeyed and even warned the Vatican of the impending danger.

"I received the order to kidnap Pius personally from Hitler," the paper quoted Wolff as saying in testimony he gave to the Church in 1972 before he died in Germany. Avvenire said the plot to nab the Pope was called Operation Rabat and was allegedly put into action to punish the Catholic Church for hiding thousands of Jews in cloisters during World War II.

The report said once abducted, Pius was to be kept in a palace in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany in order to help Hitler reduce the influence of Christianity so he could push the "universal religion" of Nazism. The plans allegedly also covered the possible contingency of Pius' "elimination" if necessary.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1460196,00.html

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. I smell a brown substance originated at the rear end of a male bovine. -nt

[arcos]

2. bingo! nt

[jeff30997]

3. LOL! I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Canuckistanian]

4. I see the invisible hand of Opus Dei.... n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

5. Unfortunately, many DUers want to believe that Pius XII was

a bad guy -- just as some people believe "the Jews" are behind all evil.


Such people are properly called bigots.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Since when?

If you believe some individual has committed horrendous crimes against humanity, it doesn't make you a bigot.

Bigots hate groups of people, usually due to rumors.

On the other hand, a case can be made that Pius XII was instrumental in the growth of Fascism and was pro-Hitler.

You're free to make the countervalent case. But calling people bigots because they don't like your Pope is itself a form of bigotry. If you feel Pius XII got a bad rap, you should present the arguments that exonorate him.

Incidentally, I don't think Pius XII was a Nazi enabler. But I also don't think that people who disagree with me are bigots, either.

--p!

[DemBones DemBones]

9. Generally, the anti-Pius XII crowd are also anti-John Paul II and anti-

everything-Catholic, which makes them bigots. And they pay no attention to any evidence that goes against their bigoted beliefs, though I've often presented it.

[AntiFascist]

12. What if you're just anti-Opus Dei...

and consider some to be leading the Fourth Reich?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. Doubting the credibility of a story = bigotry?

Would like to know.

[DemBones DemBones]

10. Why do you doubt the credibility of the story? Why doubt that Hitler

was a bad guy, bad enough to want to kidnap the pope to punish him for the Church's activity in hiding Jews? Pius XII was widely respected and received many thanks from Jews during his lifetime. It was several years after his death in 1958 before anyone tried to tarnish his reputation. I remember how well-regarded he was, having been in sixth grade at the time of his death.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. "Testimony he gave to the Church in 1972 before he died in Germany"

Too convenient. Besides, I say I doubt it, not that I'm convinced it's false. It only doesn't pass the smell test. And get that chip off your shoulder.

Edit: "Why doubt that Hitler was a bad guy" is such a strawy straw man it isn't even funny.

[illflem]

7. Good thing junior doesn't read

it may give him ideas...

[Sandpiper]

13. How convenient

Testimony over 30 years after the fact.

[Maple]

14. No comment needed

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

[Deja Q]

15. Wouldn't more people have cared 50-some years ago? After all,

the Catholic church was more respectfully looked upon at the time.

Hitler's dead. The pope's brain is still in a condition infinitely superior to Reagan's.

He ought to get over it. None of us would disbelieve it, anyway. Hitler was a fundie fascist like the best of 'em.

[manly]

16. Hitler's plan to kidnap the pope.

I fail to see how any honor or courage, or anything heroic, could accrue to Pius XII because Hitler wanted to kidnap him. Why should that be to the pope's credit? What the pope did or didn't do is what he should be judged by, and he comes up way short of what he should have done.
Saint, my ass.Not even a good man.