Since, as my last post states, there are no photographs of Eugenio Pacelli and Hitler together, either before or after Pacelli became pope, the next best thing to discredit Pope Pius XII is a photograph of Hitler with the man that succeeded Pacelli as Papal Nuncio to Germany. Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo held this office from 1930 to 1945, which meant it was his job to represent the Vatican to whatever German government was in power. At first, it was the Weimar Republic, the president of which was Paul von Hindenburg (the photograph in my last post was of Pacelli leaving a birthday reception for von Hindenburg). Soon after von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, the Weimar Republic gave way to the Third Reich, and it was to Hitler and his government that Archbishop Orsenigo had to direct all Vatican negotiations and diplomacy.

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In an e-mail discussion with someone, I was told, “Just do a google and you will see many pictures of the Pope and Hitler together.” The implication is that if they were photographed together, they must be collaborators, or the very least, on friendly terms. This, of course, is a faulty argument because before Eugenio Pacelli became Pope Pius XII, he was papal nuncio to Germany. This meant that it was his job to represent the Vatican to whatever German government was in power.

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I thought about commenting on the news article Bleak stories behind failed condom campaigns back in mid-April when it was highlighted on the Catholic Radio International show The Heart Of The Matter. When I read it again last Saturday in the May 1st issue of Life and Family Report by St. Joseph’s Workers for Life and Family, I decided to finally comment.

No, I would never again eat sweets with a wrapper on. I tried it before I was Catholic, and it just wasn’t as pleasurable  as without a wrapper, which is why I often took the wrapper off before the sweet was gone.

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On April 15, 2009, Fr. Thomas J. Loya will address the prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) issued by Pope Paul VI. Alone in the world, the pope insisted that the Church could not change its teaching on what was then quaintly called “the regulation of births.” 

June 29, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI
The Apostolic Palace,
00120 Vatican City, Europe

Your Holiness,

It is very fitting that I write this letter to you today on the great Solemnity of St. Peter and  St. Paul. It is fitting because, although I can in no way compare myself to St. Paul, I am willing to correct Peter when he is wrong. I would never question you on an issue of faith and morals, but you have erred on an issue of psychiatry, of which I have a little knowledge because I have been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

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