Rabbi Herzog’s Pope

Following up on “Exonerated” (Jan. 23-29):

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Concerns, based in Washington, D.C., threatened to sue the Vatican for access to Church archives on Jan. 27. He stated that his group would take legal action unless the Vatican Secret Archives were opened within a week. The group believed the material could identify Jewish children baptized as Catholics during World War II. Vatican officials were unimpressed.

There are a couple of reasons why such demands for documents are not taken very seriously at the Vatican. For one thing, delayed opening of archival materials — typically from 50 to 100 years — is a practice adopted by states all over the world. Second, the Vatican has made extraordinary efforts to open some document sections in advance in recent years and very few scholars bother to examine the material.

The present controversy first appeared in Italian newspapers on Dec. 28, 2004. It was an analysis of the position of the Catholic Church with regard to the placement of orphaned Jewish children. Then, on Jan. 9, 2005, a New York Times article by Elaine Sciolino and Jason Horowitz was misleading and misrepresented historical facts. It quoted from an incomplete document cited in the Corriere della Sera, an Italian, anticlerical newspaper. The authenticity of the document was questioned, for it was simply a new attack on Pope Pius XII, whose courage and charity toward Jews has been documented.

To evaluate this controversy, one must analyze the correspondence between Rabbi Isaac Herzog and Pius XII. After several weeks of distorted information by the media, thanks to historian Andrea Tornielli, the Italian newspaper Il Giornale printed Rabbi Herzog’s letter of March 12, 1946, requesting the return of orphaned Jewish children to Jewish organizations.

The incomplete, alleged unsigned document printed in Il Corriere della Sera was not written by Pius XII. The handwriting is unknown, has no signature, is not written on official Vatican stationery, is written in French (ordinarily such documents from the Vatican to the nuncios were in Italian) and the researcher wished to remain anonymous.

Within days, however, Tornielli and Matteo Luigi Napolitano of Avvenire located the original document in the archives of the French episcopate. It is an internal French memo with instructions received from Cardinal Domenico Tardini, secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. The French version misrepresented Vatican instructions.

Although Jewish institutions would provide transportation to Palestine, the Catholic Church could not entrust these children to organizations who had no legal rights to them. The Vatican document insisted that the children be returned to their parents or relatives, and that each case be examined individually.

Rabbi Herzog understood the position taken by Pius XII. If he had been offended by the response, would he have said this in the following telegram to the Holy See at his death on Oct. 9, 1958? “The death of Pius XII is a terrible loss for the free world.” He acknowledged that the Pope had worked to banish anti-Semitism: “God willing, may history remember that when everything was dark for our people, His Holiness lit a light of hope for them.”

Sister Margherita

Marchione, Ph.D.

Morristown, New Jersey

English Alone

The two letters on immigration, “The Immigration Impulse” and “Teach Bishops Spanish” (Feb. 20-26) really got to me, an avid proponent of English-only policies. The flood of illegal immigrants should be a grave concern for all Americans. If our nation cannot or will not secure its borders, then we are in for some tough times both socially and militarily.

As for bishops learning Spanish, what a farce. The writer obviously has not been to his local McDonald’s or other fast-food outlets that hire predominantly Mexican labor. It is also a fact that, because most Mexican families speak their native tongue, some of them down to the third generation are not fluent in English.

It might well be too late, but we desperately need “English only” to be enacted throughout our nation.

When my parents immigrated (legally) in the early 1900s, they were required to learn English before they could obtain citizenship and, of course, driver’s licenses. As a result, they became proud to be American and taught me good citizenship. I do not witness this among today’s immigrants, legal or illegal.

Adelino R. Lorenzo

Tigard, Oregon

Poverty vs. the Family

“Social Scientist Says Paul VI Was Right” (Feb. 6-12) was an excellent article. However, it ignored one thing that Bradford Wilcox clearly proves: Welfare alone did not cause the decline of the family among the poor.

During the national debate over welfare reform in the 1990s, the anti-welfare movement repeatedly declared that welfare was the cause of the decline of the family among the poor, particularly the dramatic rise in illegitimate children since 1960. They claimed that ending welfare would revive the traditional family among the poor.

That clearly has not happened yet; the anti-welfare movement has declared welfare reform a success simply because it has put people to work, stating that by so doing it will greatly reduce poverty. That is clearly false. The No. 1 cause of poverty in the United States is the breakdown of the traditional family.

The truly effective way to greatly reduce poverty in this country is obedience to Humanae Vitae, just as Bradford Wilcox suggests.

Joseph Simon

Richland Center, Wisconsin

Children in Peril

The Groningen Academic Hospital in the Netherlands mentioned in your interview with Peter Singer, “Life or Death” (Feb. 20-26), needs dead children to fill its huge appetite for body parts of every kind.

On its website (www.azg.nl/), Groningen boasts that it is “one of the very few hospitals worldwide wihch performs all organ transplants. This does not only concern kidney, heart, lung, liver and small bowel transplants, but also combined organ transplants, such as heart-lung, lung-liver, and liver-kidney transplants. … Apart from organ transplants, also skin, heart valve, cornea, bone and bone marrow transplants are carried out.”

The bodies have to come from somewhere. Charles Dickens could not have uncovered a more cruel and greedy use for unwanted youngsters. But the Dutch have sunk lower than any Dickens character, with their complete lack of character.

By killing children under 12 “when their suffering is intolerable, or if they have an incurable illness” (“Catholic Doctors Condemn Dutch Euthanization,” Sept. 19-25), the staff of more than 7,000 at Groningen will have harvestable body parts of all kinds from an unlimited supply of children.

America, Canada, England and many other countries fought a world war to stop the murderers of children, the aged and infirmed in Holland and elsewhere. Where’s the outrage in 2005? Are we too selfish to be heroic?

At the very least, Hitler’s Holland deserves a massive boycott: no tulips, no chocolate, no beer and no tourism.

Soon Groningen will have its name burned into human memory alongside Auschwitz and its leaders known as 21st-century Rudolf Hesses. What a horrible and unsafe place to be a child.

George A. Morton

Hopewell Junction, New York

Columbia Grouse

Regarding “Record Club Adds Sleaze to Its Mix” (Feb. 13-19):

Many thanks to the Register and Tim Drake for exposing the link between Playboy and Columbia House movies. I canceled my Columbia House membership — which I enjoyed for more than 12 years.

As a mother of a large family (13 children), we pretty much gave up television years ago because of the shabby programs being offered. We found buying old movies at affordable rates to be a great source of family entertainment.

Sad to say, Columbia House’s link to Playboy is a slap in the face to consumers like us. Smut and sleaze may be more profitable, but not to us.

Thanks for the well-done, informative article. I mailed it to Columbia House when I canceled my membership.

Mary Ann Kuharski

Minneapolis, Minnesota

God Wins by Attrition

Regarding “Hope, Skepticism Mix at March for Life” (Feb. 6-12):

As usual, I regret the lack of coverage the media and the New York newspapers gave to the tens of thousands of demonstrators who marched for the right to life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24.

The New York Times gave front-page coverage to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking in Albany. Neera Tanden, legislative director for Mrs. Clinton, said in a telephone interview, “Our focus in the speech was to make sure that she still was pro-choice, she doesn’t want to undermine that — but she also thinks we can have some common ground among all sides and make abortion rare.”

No society aims at just making murder rare, but focuses on entirely eliminating all murder, especially the slaughtering of innocent babies in the mother’s womb — sometimes when they are about to be born. Nancy Keenan, president of Pro-Choice America, acknowledged tough battles ahead, especially over Supreme Court nominees. But, she said, “We will outlive George W. Bush.”

They may outlive George W. Bush, but I assure you they will never outlive God, the creator of life.

Sister Mary Martin, S.A.

Garrison, New York

Not Nazi — Yet

Regarding “Florida Governor Can Save Terri, News Outlet Suggests” (News in Brief, Feb. 20-26):

We should demand that politicians at least act like Americans and save Terri Schiavo. This isn’t Nazi Germany — yet — and we should further demand that Congress clean out these corrupt judges from our unbelievably corrupt justice system now.

Ed Nemechek

Landers, California