Friday, February 25, 2005
Germans not quite up to par
Berlin, Feb. 25 (CWNews.com) - German Cardinal Karl Lehmann on Friday sought to distance the country's Catholic bishops from Pope John Paul's comparison in his latest book between abortion and the Holocaust.
The new book, "Memory and Identity," refers to abortion as a "legal extermination" comparable to genocidal massacres of the 20th century, including the Nazi Holocaust. Jewish groups protested that the comments were insensitive and underplayed the extreme suffering of Jews. Cardinal Lehmann, who heads the German bishops' conference, met with Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews, and afterward issued a statement affirming the uniqueness of the Holocaust.
"When the Holocaust is taken up or mentioned in political, social, or church speeches a particularly sensitive language is always needed," the statement said.
In January, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne ignited a similar firestorm of criticism when he listed the murder of the innocents by Herod and the genocides of Hitler and Stalin alongside abortion as examples of offenses against God.
The topic of the Holocaust is particularly sensitive in Germany, where denial of the event is a criminal offense. Nearly 6 million Jews and about 5.5 million others, including Poles, Russians, gypsies, and particularly Christian priests and religious, were killed by the Nazis in concentration camps.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (bio - news), a German and the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, responding to the most recent criticisms, said the Holy Father "was not trying to put the Holocaust and abortion on the same level," but was only trying to convey the truth that evil can be found throughout all human works.
The new book, "Memory and Identity," refers to abortion as a "legal extermination" comparable to genocidal massacres of the 20th century, including the Nazi Holocaust. Jewish groups protested that the comments were insensitive and underplayed the extreme suffering of Jews. Cardinal Lehmann, who heads the German bishops' conference, met with Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews, and afterward issued a statement affirming the uniqueness of the Holocaust.
"When the Holocaust is taken up or mentioned in political, social, or church speeches a particularly sensitive language is always needed," the statement said.
In January, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne ignited a similar firestorm of criticism when he listed the murder of the innocents by Herod and the genocides of Hitler and Stalin alongside abortion as examples of offenses against God.
The topic of the Holocaust is particularly sensitive in Germany, where denial of the event is a criminal offense. Nearly 6 million Jews and about 5.5 million others, including Poles, Russians, gypsies, and particularly Christian priests and religious, were killed by the Nazis in concentration camps.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (bio - news), a German and the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, responding to the most recent criticisms, said the Holy Father "was not trying to put the Holocaust and abortion on the same level," but was only trying to convey the truth that evil can be found throughout all human works.
