Pope’s Meeting With Waldheim
One does not have to agree with the Vatican decision to receive Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, or even with the Vatican policy of informal (though sustained and cordial) relations with the State of Israel, in order to resent the Wasserman cartoon (Editorial Pages, June 24). That cartoon repeats the baseless charge of Roman Catholic collaboration with Nazism.
It is easy to criticize Pius XII for not having done enough to help Jewish and other victims of Nazi murder. But the real question is, who did more? The New York Times hailed Pius XII as the only Western leader to denounce Nazi barbarism in 1941 and 1942. He issued an encyclical letter condemning Nazism as heretical. He is credited with saving 800,000 Jews from the camps. Yet today he alone of the leaders of the age is accused of collaboration.
The Catholic League declares its solidarity with the anguish of our Jewish brothers and sisters, and with all the victims of the Shoah. With them, and with our Holy Father, we join in the pledge and the prayer: Never Again!
GEORGE FORSYTH
Executive Director
Catholic League of California
Los Angeles
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