Hitler's Pope

[JBFRAME at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/01/1999 8:26:23 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
calbert at pop.tiac.net writes:

<< its very important to remember that individual catholic 
 clerics died in droves protecting jews and others, catholic lay 
 people as well. It is also important to distinguish between the 
 active smuggling of war criminals (which I understood to be managed 
 by a german cardinal), and the sheltering in catholic "sanctuaries" 
 of those who were on the run. The sanctuary concept holds for the 
 good and the evil. >>

I was writing about one person who happened to have a very powerful office 
and used it to ignoble ends.  This should in no way be taken as a criticism 
of the Roman Catholic Church, which has had some positive influence on the 
planet.  To condemn a pope is not to condemn the Church.  Similarly, to say 
that Hitler was a terrible individual is not to condemn all Germans -- or to 
call Menachem Begin a fascist is not to condemn Jews.  

jbf