Article 16 of the Reich Concordat of 1933 required Catholic bishops and priests to swear an oath of allegiance to the Third Reich. It read:
“Before bishops take possession of their dioceses they are to take an oath of fealty either to the Reich Representative of the State concerned, or to the President of the Reich, according to the following formula:…..
Pursuant to church practice (not doctrine) in the 19th century, a Jewish child baptized, with or without parental knowledge and consent, could not be returned to the custody of non-converted parents. Accordingly, Jews entering the House of Catechumens, a residence for converts located in Rome and in other Papal States were required to have their children baptized. Between 1814 and 1818, according to David I. Kertzer, author…..
Ritual Murder/Blood Libel
In 1144, an unfounded rumor circulated in England that Jews had kidnapped a Christian child from the town of Norwich, tied him to a cross, stabbed his head to simulate Jesus’ crown of thorns, killed him, drained his body of blood, and…..
St. Pope Pius X (1903–14), born Giuseppe Sarto, vigorously prosecuted Pius IX’s war against Modernism, which targeted, among other things, liberalism, rationalism, communism, socialism, democracy, religious tolerance, freedom of conscience, separation of church and state, freedom of religion, speech and press. Modernists argued that church doctrine…..
During the last third of the nineteenth century, there emerged among various thinkers a perception of Jews based on race, resulting, in part, from technological progress and scientific advances in the fields of biology, psychology, anthropology, genetics and evolution. This perception emerged within a broader racial worldview based on notions of inequality of…..
Giovanni Ferretti became pontiff in 1846, taking the name Pius IX (a.k.a. Pio Nono). His 32-year pontificate (1846 – 78) was filled with military, political, and cultural turmoil, as Italian nationalists sought to unify Italy into a modern nation state. Pius IX strenuously opposed the unification movement, Il Risorgimento, (“Resurgence”) because,…..