Britannia Radio

Promoting Pius XII

From the desk of Robert Wistrich on Fri, 2010-01-01 11:49

Ten years ago, on a cold winter morning in New York City, the Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission, established to investigate Pope Pius XII’s response to the Holocaust, met for the first time to discuss its future work. I was the only Israeli historian among the six scholars (3 Catholics and 3 Jews) designated by the Vatican and leading Jewish organizations to study this hotly contested issue. A little under two years later, the project was abandoned as a result of the Holy See’s unwillingness to release materials from its own archives that could help clarify issues that our team of scholars raised in our provisional report. Already at that time, in the last years of Pope John Paul’s pontificate, there were moves afoot to place Pius XII on the fast track to sainthood, but they were probably slowed down by Israeli and Jewish protests and a desire by Church authorities to prevent a serious rupture in Catholic-Jewish relations.

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The UK, 2009 Rundown: A Year of Fire and Ice

From the desk of A. Millar on Wed, 2009-12-30 10:25

What is the future of the Western democracy? A look at Britain over the last 12 months seems to provide some clues. In one way or another Islamism was a constant theme, although party politics were volatile by almost any standards. Having long ignored the will of the people in every area – from law and order to immigration – and demonizing those brave enough to raise uncomfortable, though important issues, the political class began to feel the heat of the nation’s boiling anger. Pressure from the top had kept a lid on things, but in 2009 politics began to spill onto the streets, with “anti-Islamization” protests emerging up and down the country. The response was to give more money to tackling the “far-Right.” However, most of the protestors appear to have been ordinary citizens.

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