Christian Morality Quotes
Saint Benedicta was born and brought up as a Jew and converted to Catholicism. She and a few other leading German Catholics spoke out forcefully against Nazi crimes and immoralities. She was one of the few German Catholics who wanted the Pope to act more forcefully in Germany. The most controversial aspect of the Pontificate of Pius XI was his relative silence and failure to use the powers of the church and excommunication to condemn and control the Nazi rise to power and their, aggression, discrimination, and atrocities including mass murders. The Pope did occasionally speak out condemning the worst of the German Nazi outrages to morality, but he did not do so very vigorously or order the German Cardinals and other bishops to do so. Supporters of Pius XI point out that the entire Catholic Church in Germany was in peril. The Nazis might have shut down their churches, jailed or murdered priests and seize church property. Many of the German Catholics, including the clergy, were Nazi party members or supporters, and he feared a political schism of German Catholics as well. And Italy, surrounding the Vatican was then under the control of the Italian Fascists who were allies of the Nazis, The Vatican itself and its staff were themselves vulnerable and could have been easily occupied. Apologists for Pius XI observe that the entire Church and its leadership could have been wiped out had they ignored the practicality that the Fascists were in control and would tolerate the Church just so far. Saint Teresa and other Catholics who were outspoken, along with the few Protestant Lutheran Clerics who opposed the Nazis, were indeed arrested and Saint Teresa was finally murdered at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Even that did not galvanize Pope Pius XI to assertive anti Nazi action. The records of the Vatican for that period have not been opened for public study so it is not known for sure that the Pope even saw Saint Teresa’s letter or it was intercepted by the strong pro Nazi faction in the Vatican. That year, Pius signed a Concordat (agreement) with the Nazi Government which many in the Vatican naively believed would control and limit the worst of the Nazi actions. But by 1937, Pius condemned the “violations” of the Concordat and Nazi anti-Semitism as well (encyclical written in German, Mit brennender Sorge (With Burning Anxiety). His critics observe that he went no further, even with the Catholic Nazi clerics and other Catholics. The Carmelite order tried to protect Saint Teresa who was then just a non and leading Catholic intellectual (she had a PhD in philosophy) by sending her to a Carmelite facility in Holland. But the Germans overran the Netherlands, arrested her and sent her to Auschwitz where she was martyred. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.
This is a very interesting quotation. It is an extreme left winger’s definition that is meant by her to show what is wrong with typical Western philosophy as opposed to that of other cultures. However, almost all “Westerners” would subscribe to her definition and not only be proud of it, but also explain the problem with much of the rest of the world as rejecting these characteristic philosophies.
This quotation is often given to illustrate that what politicians say and what they do can be diametrically opposite. Here, when Hitler’s government came to power, he issued this proclamation that would be regarded as the foundation of morality by modern Evangelical Christians. And yet he implemented one of the most anti-Christian and anti-family regimes in world history—the furthest thing from Christian morality that could be conceived.
