Posted by
whoyg1513 on Monday, October 19, 2009 10:43:09 PM
Chancellor Merkel by no means made the strongest statement on the SSPX affair (see Catholic theologian Hermann Haering, quoted earlier) but she made the most important. First of all, Merkel was speaking not as a private citizen but as chancellor. (As of May 21, 2009, her statement remains posted on the German federal government website.)
And secondly, she praised Catholics for standing up to
rope necklace the pope!
Apparently replying to Vatican Secretary of State Bertone, Merkel told reporters that, regarding the necessity of making clear that Holocaust denial is unacceptable, the question was not closed:
“I do not consider that this has yet been made sufficiently clear.”
Here is part of her official statement:
[Chancellor Merkel statement excerpt starts here]
It is not generally my place to appraise or comment on internal matters of the Church…[But] I believe that it is an issue of fundamental importance if a decision of the Vatican gives the impression that it could be possible to
pearl jewelry wholesale deny that the Holocaust happened…
[…]
As a Protestant and a Christian I must, however, say how encouraging I find it that so many voices within the Catholic Church are demanding an unambiguous clarification of this point, in whatever form. I find this very heartening.”
– “Angela Merkel calls on the Vatican to clarify its position,” Feb. 4, 2009, Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung.
Merkel’s statement is posted on the federal government website, with
cultured pearl a strong commentary, at
http://snipurl.com/if3b4 or
http://www.bundesregierung.de/.../2009-02-04-merkel-fuer-klarstellung-des-vatikans__en.html
[Chancellor Merkel statement excerpt ends here]
A German chancellor praising Catholics for protesting against the pope’s embrace of an anti-Jewish propagandist? Remarkable.
(Alas, there is another side to the story. On March 27, 2009, German Cardinal Joachim Meisner demanded that Merkel apologize for having criticized the pope. To her credit, Merkel refused. But twelve days later she staged a public appearance with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader during which she lavished praise on Croatia and enthusiastically -- and gratuitously -- plugged its entry into the EU.[8] As I have shown, Croatia stands for clerical fascism in general and Holocaust denial in particular -- that is, it is the national embodiment of the politics of the SSPX.[9] The Croatian parliament has ruled that only some 2,238 died in Jasenovac, the World War II Croatian Ustasha death camp; the government controlled museum at Jasenovac puts the figure around 70,000. In fact more than 700,000 were murdered. The Croatian museum trivializes Jasenovac as a labor camp, rather than a death camp, and its exhibits use Ustasha jargon and write insultingly about the inmates. Did Merkel stage the public endorsement of Croatia to appease the Vatican, which is secessionist Croatia's godfather and which sees Croatia as its most devoted voice in a future EU? Whether she did or whether the joint appearance was not planned with the Vatican in mind, the fact remains: what Merkel called “the impression that it could be possible to
pearl jewelry Chian deny that the Holocaust happened” has by no means been ‘unambiguously clarified’ in Germany.
For links to my critique of the planned ‘forgetfulness’ about the Jasenovac genocide, and to the critique of Croatia’s Jasenovac museum by Julija Kos, a member of the committee that planned the exhibition, see footnote [10])
The day after Merkel praised Catholic opponents of the pope's action, the Vatican carried out a hurried retreat. Secretary of State Bertone informed the world that:
“In order to be admitted to function as a Bishop within the Church, Bishop Williamson must also distance himself in an absolutely unequivocal and public way from his positions regarding the Shoah, which were unknown to the Holy Father at the time of the remission of the excommunication.”
– “Note From The Secretariat Of State Concerning The Four Prelates Of The Society Of Saint Pius X,” February 4, 2009
http://www.vatican.va/.../secretariat_state/.../..._note-decree-cbishops_en.html or
http://snipurl.com/if5x7
Regarding this February 4th statement, we can say two things:
1) Secretary of State Bertone’s demand that Williamson unequivocally distance himself from Holocaust denial constituted a reversal of the Vatican stance enunciated by press spokesman Lombardi on January 24 and Bertone himself on February 2.
2) Regarding the claim that Williamson’s views were unknown to the pope when he lifted the excommunications, and the subsequent (March 10th) claim that due to
pearl necklace unfamiliarity with the Internet, the pope didn’t even know that people were upset about Williamson, it is clear from the Vatican’s immediate and confident response to the protests over Williamson’s rehabilitation on January 24th that these claims are lies.
So the media is guilty of a multi-faceted cover-up: falsely presenting the March 10th papal letter to bishops as a concession to critics and an attack on political antisemitism and failing to carry out routine news analysis, which would have exposed the Vatican as lying about the ignorance claims made in the statement of February 4th and the letter of March 10th. By means of this cover-up, the media indoctrinated people with the misperception that the pope would not have lifted the excommunications had he known Williamson’s views.
Jared Israel
Emperor’s Clothes