Religious persecution

The Pope and the Ustashi

“In the annals of wartime savagery against the Jews, there was no group as sadistic as the Croatian Ustashi.”

IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black, © 2001

The Vatican aided and abetted the most sadistic murderers of WWII, the Croatian Ustashi and their leader Ante Pavelic. Following Hitler’s invasion of Yugoslavia, the Catholic Croats of the Ustaše rose up against the Jews and Orthodox Christian Serbs. The church saw the situation in Croatia as an opportunity to spread Catholicism in the Balkans. Pope Pius XII personally met with Ante Pavelic, and supported his efforts to eliminate Jews and Orthodox Serbs.

“Like the Nazis, the Ustaše/Ustashi deemed Jews, Romani, and Slavs to be sub-humans. They endorsed the claims from German racial theorists that Croats were not Slavs but a Germanic race. Their genocides against Serbs, against Jews, and against Romani were thus expressions of Nazi racial ideology”

Wikipedia

The Vatican’s support for the Catholic Croatian Ustashi was ongoing throughout the Holocaust. It began with a public endorsement by Eugenio Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) in 1939. Before the genocide of Serbs and Jews began, Pacelli colluded with the Archbishop of Croatia, Alojzije Stepinac and with the Croatian fascist leader Ante Pavelic. After the war, the Vatican helped hide Pavelic and his officers of the Ustasan Army. The church then arranged for the fugitives’ safe passage through their ratline to evade justice.

A Momentous Occasion – 400-Year Anniversary

It is indeed a momentous occasion for America. Four hundred years ago, on November 11, 1620, the Pilgrims came ashore on land. That is now in Provincetown on Cape Cod. The Pilgrims’ story is a central theme in the history and culture of the United States of America. The Pilgrim Fathers were that band of Puritans who founded the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.

A pilgrim is defined a person who journeys a long distance to some sacred place as an act of devotion. They were escaping religious persecution and going to the Promised Land.

The Pilgrims Landing

“PROVINCETOWN – The year 1620 is etched in the annals of world history. It is the year a group of English settlers known as the Pilgrims seeking religious freedom boarded their ship, Mayflower. They braved a hazardous trip across the Atlantic Ocean to establish a new home.”

Plymouth Rock etched with the year 1620
Plymouth Rock – 1620

Seeing this date etched in Plymouth Rock is like seeing the writing on the Wall. “Mene, mene, teckel, upharsin” in the time of Daniel spelled the end for the Babylonian king and the end of the Babylonian captivity. It marks an especially important date for the people of God.

Voices of the Victims

Looking at the Inquisition, we find a parallel between the practices of the inquisitors and the atrocious events that happened at Waco Texas with the Branch Davidians.  These people were demonized for studying the Bible and were said by some to have been “demon possessed.” The victims of the Inquisition were also demonized, and their reputations marred.

The victims of the Inquisitions did not have any recourse. They were not allowed to have council; they were not allowed to face their accusers.  As soon as they were accused it was as though they had received a death sentence. The Office of the Inquisition is found in the Vatican to this day and the Roman Canon Law remains in place.

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