Saints and Nazi Skeletons
A Jewish-born Carmelite nun murdered at Auschwitz and due to be canonised by the Pope in October, is claimed to have been betrayed to the Nazis by a high-ranking Benedictine monk.
Blessed Edith Stein – a Jewish-born Carmelite nun murdered in Auschwitz in August 1942 &150; is to be canonised by Pope John Paul II on October 11th. Though she is undoubtedly a true martyr, she may have been sent unnecessarily to her fate by a Benedictine priest known to have been working with the Nazis.
As the millennium approaches, the Catholic Church is striving to close the books on the nagging issue of its treatment and relationship with the Jews. The moral aftermath of the Second World War still haunts the civilised world, and hardly a day goes by when no new revelations of omission and commission come to light.
While Pope John Paul II has done more for Christian-Jewish relations than any other pope, his decision to canonise the Jewish-born German philosopher Edith Stein, only eleven years after the controversies that surrounded her beatification, is bound to reopen old wounds.
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