German Bishops Research Articles

Nothing Sacred: Nazi Espionage against the Vatican, 1939-1945 by David Alvarez and Robert A. Graham, S.J.

142BOOKREVIEVfS Nothing Sacred:Nazi Espionage against the Vatican, 1939-1945. By David Alvarez and Robert A. Graham, SJ. (London: Frank Cass; distributed by ISBS, Portland, Oregon. 1997. Pp. 190. $42.50 clothbound; $19.50 paperback.) "No one knows more about the wartime Vatican," Peter Hebblethwaite wrote in 1993, "than Father Robert Graham." In Nothing Sacred, the late Reverend Robert A. Graham, SJ., and his co-author, DavidJ. Alvarez, lead us on an iUuminating detective investigation through the halls of the Vatican during World War II. This work is the first to critically examine the veil of espionage surrounding the Holy See during one of its most historiographically controversial periods. As our authors take us on their rounds, they introduce us to a wealth of new material concerning the Third Reich's attempts to infiltrate the Roman Curia. German efforts to penetrate the walls of theVatican ranged from savvy and smooth to confusing and comical. At the end of their investigation, Graham and Alvarez conclude that despite some spirited attempts to collect curial intelligence, no secret information was gleaned and no "hard targets" of Vatican diplomacy were ever compromised to the Reich. In short, Nazi attempts to infiltrate the most confidential echelons of the Holy See's diplomatic corps met with umitigated failure. The most compelling portions of the book are devoted to describing "HUMINT" that is to say, the human intelligence gathering techniques directed by the Nazis against the Vatican. Such techniques included the recruitment of Catholic university professors, the targeting of curial clerks, and even the introduction of ersatz German "seminarians" into the German College in Rome. Our authors contend that these efforts were unsuccessful because "with the onset of war, the secrecy which normally characterized the internal affairs of the Papal Secretariat of State became even stricter" (p. 3). Vatican security, it seems, thwarted the best attempts of the Nazi intelligence system. Yet, regardless of their disappointments in Rome, the Germans did make a great deal of headway on the home front. One of the major revelations of the book is its examination of Nazi infiltration of the German Bishops' Conference, the German Catholic Press, and the Catholic university system. What the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) failed to do internationally,it brilliantly succeeded in doing domestically. Its major coup included the collection of the internal memoranda of the German national episcopal conference. The newest and most important contribution that this book makes to the literature of wartime Vatican diplomacy is its exposition of Vatican cryptology Here, DavidJ. Alvarez masterfully presents the sophisticated themes of GermanVatican wartime codes. And it is here where Nazi efforts were most fruitful. While the Vatican considered its most sophisticated codes invulnerable throughout the war, by May of 1940 the Nazis were reading more than half of the Holy See's signal traffic. More importantly, by 1943 the Reich Security Administration had compromised all of the Vatican codes. The Vatican, for its part, surmised that at least some of its codes had been broken, but trusted that its newest codes were inviolate. The Secretariat was disabused of this notion by book reviews143 late 1944 and came to the realization that "all governments" were able to read their codes "with great facility" (p. 166). Ironically, this new information has serious ramifications for the argument advanced by Father Graham in the first portion of the book. Specifically, it seems reasonable to conclude that the RSHA might deem it unnecessary to devote valuable human intelligence resources against the Holy See if it were already reading its most sensitive diplomatic cables. Moreover, since the Holy See's military and geo-strategic importance is negligible at best, it is precisely the concession of its diplomatic correspondence that might be considered the "golden nugget" of anti-Vatican intelligence. Most historians of Vatican diplomacy during this era agree that the primary intelligence function of foreign missions to the Vatican was that of the "listening post." Given that the Holy See's codes were "hopelessly compromised" early on, Nazi intelligence efforts against the Vatican might be considered a sound success. Barring these observations , the study remains essential reading for any researcher or graduate student interested in Vatican diplomacy, Nazi intelligence techniques, and broader surveys...

La diagnosi prenatale preimpianto ed il Magistero della Chiesa cattolica

Lo studio riassume quanto l’Enciclica Evangelium Vitae (1995) e la Dichiarazione Donum Vitae della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede 81987) affermano circa la possibilità di una diagnosi prenatale. Il principio al quale questo documenti si rifanno è l’assoluta tutela della vita umana fin dal momento della fecondazione.
 Quindi gli esami sono leciti solo in quanto non danneggiano l’embrione o il feto e sono finalizzati e sono finalizzati alla sua terapia, ami alla sua uccisione. Riguardo alla diagnosi preimpianto vengono esaminati un documento dei Vescovi Francesi e uno dei Vescovi Tedeschi, mentre i menzionati documenti pontifici non ne entrano in merito.
 Questa possibilità di diagnosi ha una valenza morale diversa, perché finora essa ha avuto una finalità orientata esclusivamente verso la selezione e distruzione di embrioni “difettosi”. Ciò è eugenismo ed è un netto contrasto con il principio della tutela di ogni vita umana.

German Bishops and their Military Retinues in the Medieval Empire

German Bishops and their Military Retinues in the Medieval Empire

German Bishops and their Military Retinues in the Medieval Empire

The majority of bishops in medieval Germany were born into aristocratic or knightly kindreds which prided themselves upon their proficiency in war­ fare. 1 In spite of the message of the Gospels and the training received for high clerical office, it is not perhaps surprising that bishops retained the noble­ man's instinct as bellatores when they became oratores. In theory it was accepted that there existed distinctions between types of service; warfare, labour, and prayer. 2 A notable proponent of such divisions was himself an imperial bishop, Gerhard I of Cambrai (IOI2-5I). According to his bio­ grapher, he composed a homily which gave wide advertisement to the sub­ ject. 3 In practice the political experience of the Church in its complex relationship with secular power showed that the distinctions were not easy to

Killing With Kindness ?

Vatican Council II and the post-colonial period in Africa dovetailed chronologically very neatly and the resultant euphoria witnessed the growth of funding agencies (hereafter F.A.) established by various national hierarchies dedicated to playing a role in alleviating poverty and ignorance in the less developed countries. The F.A.’s range from the small but effective Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund and the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development of the hierarchies of England and Wales, to the large and wealthy “Misereor” of the German Bishops and the even wealthier Catholic Relief Services of the United States. Apart from these there are other funds of a more private, voluntary and ecumenical nature. It is mainly through missionaries that the first group channel their funds, but the latter group also to a large extent, make use of missionaries. As a result, the traditional image of the poor missionary bringing the Gospel and ministering to’ the world’s poorest is rapidly being challenged. In this article we would like to examine the effects that this is having on missionary activity, and some of the implications.The operating procedure of the F.A.s is relatively simple, through advertising and appeals they collect funds from those Christians in the more developed countries interested in helping alleviate misery and encourage development in the Third World. This is mainly done through advertising and making appeals through the parish, school or other Christian groups in the hope that they will also be able to solicit not just a one-off donation, but a continuous commitment from interested parties. It should be stressed that the aim is not limited simply to collecting money but also to educate the Christian public of their responsibility to help the Third World more than just financially, and that their donations do not absolve them from cutting down on waste and attacking rampant consumerism in their own lives. Advertising is also used to assure the donors that their contributions are being correctly and wisely used.

The Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome

THE DEVELOPMENT of the ecumenical dialogue shows that if, at first sight, papal infallibility seems the chief obstacle to recognition of the role of the bishop of Rome in the Church, the problem of universal jurisdiction as presented by Vatican I is the real stumbling block, at least when it comes to dogmatic reflection. Moreover, the impact of infallibility itself cannot be justly estimated unless there is a clear view of the type of that the primacy implies. The munera of the bishop of Rome, like those of any bishop, intermingle, and the munus regendi is coterminous with the munus docendi. We recall S. Bulgakov's remarks about Vatican I: in itself the definition of personal infallibility would be almost inoffensive, if it were not linked to the three canons of the chapter on pontifical jurisdiction, which he sees as a serious blow aimed at the power of bishops and hence at the freedom of the Church. It has been deplored that the tussles over infallibility at Vatican I have masked the importance of chapter 3 of Pastor aeternus, and especially that the Council fathers, while they were very precise in prescribing the limits of infallible magisterium, were less so about the exercise of the bishop of Rome's jurisdiction over pastors and faithful. Nevertheless, the minority saw clearly and went on raising precisely the difficulties we are still coming up against today. Here was work uncompleted; hardly four years after the Council dispersed, the conflict between the German bishops and Bismarck shows how serious was the failure to complete it. It was impossible to stop there. It was asked: Will not this be the task of a second Vatican Council? Vatican II arrived and gave back to the episcopate its traditional form. Nonetheless, we may regret its timidity on the point we are concerned with. Lumen gentium, though it explicitly put primacy back into the setting of episcopal collegiality, was afraid to take up again, in the light

Theological Investigations. Volume XIV: Ecclesiology, Questions in the Church, the Church in the World by Karl Rahner

496 BOOK REVIEWS sage which Heidegger made famous, describes our situation. " It is the time of the gods that have fled and of the God that is coming. It is the time of need, because it lies under a double lack and a double Not: the No-more of the gods that have fled and the Not-yet of the God that is coming" (" Holderlin and the Essence of Poetry," p. 289). Heidegger also cites Nietzsche's pronouncement of the death of God to make the same point. This is a profane age in which the absence of the divine is intensely felt. Being has withheld the presence of the divine from us; we, on our part, are unprepared for that presence. We, nonetheless, desire the divine presence; we want to be religious. Heidegger cautions us, however, not to seek satisfaction of that want by clinging to the gods that are no longer. Silence is the proper response to the absence of God. But it is an expectant silence; this is at once a time of need and a time of preparation. Heidegger is suggesting that our age is similar to the age of Socrates and Aristophanes when old gods were nearing death. Both periods evidence a loss of meaning, a homelessness, a decline of traditional values. Heidegger assumes that Being will again become meaningful when poets arise who will mythically or symbolically give meaning to Being by naming gods. In the interim, Heidegger feels, we should silently dwell within the emptiness of the absence of the divine. Heidegger waits watchfully for the epiphany of the God promised by the Poet. Ohio University Athens, Ohio JAMES L. PEROTTI Theological lnvesti.qations. Volume XIV: Ecclesiology, Questions in the Church, the Church in the World. By KARL RAHNER. Translated by David Bourke. New York: The Seabury Press, A Crossroad Book, 1976. Pp. 842. $12.95. This volume contains nineteen disparate essays on contemporary Church questions, the results of lectures and papers delivered by Karl Rahner during the years 1969-1971. Parenthetical numbers below refer respectively to these essays. The first set of seven essays is pastoral in its intent and deals with uncertainties about faith and ecclesiastical discipline which Catholics experience today. Changeable and unchangeable factors of dogma, ethics, the structure of the Church are difficult to identify in the concrete, and thus conflict arises; but the only point for a Christian to wonder about BOOK REVIEWS 497 is that the unchangeable element endures in the new forms and is opportune for meeting the questions of the day (1). Heresy, being cut off from the Church because of doctrine, is still a possibility in the Church today; but pluralism of ideas which are incapable of a synthesis is a fact of modern life which calls for the individual Christian to develop attitudes toward the official teachings of the Church: Rabner gives a set of guidelines for developing a Christian attitude toward the Church's teaching for today (2). Indirectly Rahncr addresses Hans Kiing's book Unfehlbar? -eine Anfrage, through a complex and difficult study of "ultimate certainties ," both those offered by human trust and the meaningfulness of existence and those which come from belief in Jesus Christ and the acceptance of the Church's teaching (3) . A more concrete article considers the concept of infallibility in the Catholic ecclesiology in historical perspective: its relatively late definition, the likelihood of future definitions of dogma, how the dogma itself has progressed since 1870, i.e. it has come of age (4). A burning and rather caustic defense of a 1967 document of the German Bishops which treated among other things the non-infallible teaching office in the Church reminds us of the pettiness and intrigue which still associate themselves with ecclesiastical enterprise (5) . The nature and function of the Roman Congregation of the Faith and its relation to the newly formed Commission of Theologians is outlined in a paper which Rabner delivered at the first session of the International Papal Commission of Theologians, October 6, 1969, the outline of problems and topics for the Commission to treat is still topical (6). Finally, there is a reflection upon the right of a local synod to...

On Non‐Infallible Pronouncements

On the 22nd September, 1967, the German bishops published a pastoral letter concerning the Church’s doctrinal authority and mission to teach. In view of a certain incident that has occurred since, a few remarks need to be made about one passage in the document. The passage runs as follows:‘17. On this point there is a difficult problem which needs careful appraisal, since it concerns the faith or the relationship to the Magisterium of many Catholics today even more than in the past. We refer to the fact that in the exercise of its task the ecclesiastical magisterium can fall into error, and indeed has been known to do so. The Church has always been aware of this possibility, has catered for it in her theology, and has developed rules of procedure for such a situation. This possibility of error does not arise with those decisions whose promulgation demands the absolute assent of faith, namely those promulgated by the solemn definition of a Pope or General Council or through the ordinary magisterium.It is historically incorrect to maintain that subsequently the Church has been found to be in error on such dogmas, though a given dogma is inevitably liable to be understood differently (while preserving its original sense) as it acquires greater precision in the face of past and contemporary misunderstandings.

Resurrection Faith Today

IN 1964, W. Marxsen published a short essay which triggered an intense discussion among German Protestants concerning the understanding of the Resurrection faith. Marxsen's essay soon influenced Catholic theology, and the discussion spread German Catholic circles. In these circumstances the German bishops wrote a letter to all who are commissioned by the Church preach the faith, dated Sept. 22, 1967. letter rejected an extreme interpretation of the Resurrection and stated: The confession of the Resurrection of Jesus as a real event (wirkliches Ereignis) necessarily belongs the Christian faith and cannot be understood as a time-conditioned interpretation of an inner-historical, inner-worldly or inner-human experience, which can at other times be expressed differently. letter of the bishops did not mention any theologian by name. It did not even say that any theologian expressly taught what it rejected. Rather, in a time of confusion, the letter set a limit beyond which the discussion of German Catholics could not go. It did not seek end all discussion of the meaning of the Resurrection faith. What then have the theologians been saying?

How Progressive is German Catholicism?

That the question should protrude out of English Catholicism and start prodding about in German Catholicism seems like irreverence, biting the hand that fed, or just plain scandalmongery. The revival of theological interest amongst English Catholics owes, after all, much to the activity of German-speaking theologians like Rahner and Kung. Here, we have said, is a Catholicism that takes theology seriously. The German bishops brought this activity in their train to the Council in the form of theological advisers. They were very well advised theologically. The Council was for German Catholicism something like a Trade Fair; its stands were stocked with the latest models of German theology, and the bishops quite overreached themselves in attempting to express it.Meanwhile back in Germany there was considerable surprise in many quarters that the German episcopate should be, as Simplicissimus put it in a front page cartoon, marching like a mitred army on Rome behind its two cardinals. The weekly magazine Der Spiegel rummaged through its considerable files and produced a number on Cardinal Frings setting out dialectically his record as a conservative churchman in Cologne, and his activity as leader of the progressives at the Council. How were the two conflicting images to be reconciled? Certainly the German Church can never be the same again. Things have been said by its leaders in Rome which will have to be said in Germany.

The German Catholics of the Universities

First of all I would like to thank the Executive Committee of Pax Romana and the Chairman for allowing me to address you here to-day and to speak to you about the position in Germany. You know that the German Catholics are not officially represented at this Congress, and I would like to stress the point that my credentials to speak on their behalf consist in nothing but the simple fact that I am a German Catholic myself, and that I was in Germany and in contact with some of the most eminent German Bishops, priests and laymen until the end of 1943.The theme of our discussion to-day is Relief and Reconstruction. It concerns the tasks, with which Pax Romana will have to deal in the near future. I must, therefore, ask your indulgence if, before talking about what lies before us, I shall refer at some length also to the past. There are two reasons why I should like to do this: first, that if you want to find the remedy, you must first know the disease. The problems of Relief and Reconstruction are thus of necessity to some extent retrospective. Second: Pax Romana will have to decide—and I hope that will be some time soon—whether it is going to re-admit as constituent members German University Federations. Monsieur l’Abbés Gremaud has told me—and I am painfully aware how right He is—that the spirit of Pax Romana has found only very few faithful witnesses among the Germans—students and graduates—and that the great question of the future would be how to make sure about the trustworthiness of any new federations that might be formed.