RE: Roman Catholic officials and ratlines
September 27, 2016 at 7:32 pm
(This post was last modified: September 27, 2016 at 7:40 pm by SenpaiNoticeMeYouBlindShmuck.)
Why would the Vatican oppose Germany? Certainly, they had motivation to later during the war once it came out Hitler had some half baked plan to kidnap the Pope and either use him as or install a puppet but for the most part Germany is a major powerbase of the Catholic church, especially since the early 1800's ever more so.
It's not because Germany produces almost all of the Catholic Church's leading official theologians for the past two hundred years but thanks to Bismark to be a Catholic in Germany one has to pay a tithe of between 8-10% of your yearly income to the German Catholic church or be branded an apostate. That means what it sounds, even today if you live in Germany you can pay 8-10% of your income a year or you will 100% guaranteed be going to hell.
It remains as true today as it was back in Hitler's day. The US may have superseded Germany in terms of donations today but Germany still isn't far behind at number 2 as the goose who keeps laying golden eggs. Why wouldn't they side with the one literally flooding them with cash? Bear in mind Hitler's first government was a coalition, with the major partner being no less than....The Catholic Center Party.
As for individual priests support varied. There are examples of people of a variety of nationalities and ranks supporting the allies and refugees, Mother Pascalina who was German was only a nun but in practice she was the right hand of the Pope and held huge influence over him and she is known to have used her power to support and hide Jews from the Nazis. Likewise Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty is estimated to have helped 4,000 potential nazi victims flee Germany. Likewise there are also examples of priests like Joseph Tizo, the then Slovakian leader who wanted to establish National Socialism within his own country, fully supported Hitler and activley contributed towards the so called Final Solution by deporting "undesirables" to German camps.
There is a lot to suggest the Vatican was initially more inclined to support the Germans, but refrained from open support in case Germany lost. Not all of the leadership was pro-German that said, Cardinal Spellman of the US allegedly made a few odd deals with the mafia to cause some trouble for the Axis powers. He was likely among the minority, and that said he only really begun this more than halfway through the war when it's possible the Cardinal's realized the Nazi state was a bull they wouldn't be able to ride.
It's not because Germany produces almost all of the Catholic Church's leading official theologians for the past two hundred years but thanks to Bismark to be a Catholic in Germany one has to pay a tithe of between 8-10% of your yearly income to the German Catholic church or be branded an apostate. That means what it sounds, even today if you live in Germany you can pay 8-10% of your income a year or you will 100% guaranteed be going to hell.
It remains as true today as it was back in Hitler's day. The US may have superseded Germany in terms of donations today but Germany still isn't far behind at number 2 as the goose who keeps laying golden eggs. Why wouldn't they side with the one literally flooding them with cash? Bear in mind Hitler's first government was a coalition, with the major partner being no less than....The Catholic Center Party.
As for individual priests support varied. There are examples of people of a variety of nationalities and ranks supporting the allies and refugees, Mother Pascalina who was German was only a nun but in practice she was the right hand of the Pope and held huge influence over him and she is known to have used her power to support and hide Jews from the Nazis. Likewise Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty is estimated to have helped 4,000 potential nazi victims flee Germany. Likewise there are also examples of priests like Joseph Tizo, the then Slovakian leader who wanted to establish National Socialism within his own country, fully supported Hitler and activley contributed towards the so called Final Solution by deporting "undesirables" to German camps.
There is a lot to suggest the Vatican was initially more inclined to support the Germans, but refrained from open support in case Germany lost. Not all of the leadership was pro-German that said, Cardinal Spellman of the US allegedly made a few odd deals with the mafia to cause some trouble for the Axis powers. He was likely among the minority, and that said he only really begun this more than halfway through the war when it's possible the Cardinal's realized the Nazi state was a bull they wouldn't be able to ride.
