Catholic Church Defends the Indefensible

At one point, I was planning to write a novel about stolen Jewish art, a Vatican conspiracy, and Holocaust survivors. I haven't written it yet, only because, well, I'm lazy. Writing is hard, especially lots or writing. And writing that requires research.

But stories like this one in the New Republic (subscribtion required), "QUESTIONS FOR THE VATICAN. Hide and Seek" by Daniel Goldhagen, make me want to revisit the topic all over agin. The article discusses whether the Vatican endorsed kidnapping Jewish children after the end World War 2. Parents and relatives and Jewish charities who came to reclaim children left in the care of Catholic schools were thwarted in their efforts. Some were told children had died.

Pope Pius XII, who was also behind the Vatican's tacit support of Naziism (or to be kind, an unwillingness to speak out against the Nazis as an institution or thwart them in any way) as well as the rounding up of Roman Jews, still gets a rousing hoo-ray from the current powers that be, and it seems there's no low that can't be defended or explained away by his supporters. After all he was infallible and is heading for sainthood.