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> Catholic Church and the Nazi government were known to be one in the same during the lead up to and during WWII yes, that's why the Catholic Church wrote up a

> Catholic Church and the Nazi government were known to be one in the same during the lead up to and during WWII yes, that's why the Catholic Church wrote up an encyclical in 1937 that was condemning nazi ideology...

Ancapistani 3y ago
I was raised in the Church, and from what I remember it's... complicated. Like most everything involving the Vatican. The Church definitely didn't use its voice to actively denounce the NSDAP. In retrospect it's obvious that it should have done so, but at the time it wasn't a foregone conclusion that the Nazis would lose the war - and wouldn't spread. The Church was protecting its ability to continue to exist. You also have to consider the context of the times; the Russians at the time were <20 years into their explicit campaign to stamp out religion in general and convert their nation to state atheism. None of the above excuses the actions of the Church regarding Naziism, of course. I'm just sharing my understanding of why they behaved as they did at the time, based on my recollection of the catechism classes I took ~30 years ago.
- baud147258 3y ago
  I agree. My answer was partial (in both sense of the word), so thank you for providing a more balanced view. I was also raised in the Church (still part of it, too), but my catechism classes didn't really covered much history of the Church (I think I learned just as much from my school classes).
  - Ancapistani 3y ago
    > I was also raised in the Church (still part of it, too), FWIW, I don't really have anything against the RCC - at least, nothing that doesn't apply equally to several Protestant denominations, including the one that I consider myself to belong to :). > but my catechism classes didn't really covered much history of the Church I hear that. My catechism classes were a joke, honestly. I remember keeping a notebook full of questions to ask the parish priest the next time I saw him. After a half dozen times of that, he suggested that he come to our CCD class once a month to answer everyone's questions at once. He put out a "questions box" so people could drop in whatever they were curious about without having to raise their hand and ask.

Ancapistani 3y ago

I was raised in the Church, and from what I remember it's... complicated. Like most everything involving the Vatican. The Church definitely didn't use its voice to actively denounce the NSDAP. In retrospect it's obvious that it should have done so, but at the time it wasn't a foregone conclusion that the Nazis would lose the war - and wouldn't spread. The Church was protecting its ability to continue to exist. You also have to consider the context of the times; the Russians at the time were <20 years into their explicit campaign to stamp out religion in general and convert their nation to state atheism. None of the above excuses the actions of the Church regarding Naziism, of course. I'm just sharing my understanding of why they behaved as they did at the time, based on my recollection of the catechism classes I took ~30 years ago.

baud147258 3y ago
I agree. My answer was partial (in both sense of the word), so thank you for providing a more balanced view. I was also raised in the Church (still part of it, too), but my catechism classes didn't really covered much history of the Church (I think I learned just as much from my school classes).
- Ancapistani 3y ago
  > I was also raised in the Church (still part of it, too), FWIW, I don't really have anything against the RCC - at least, nothing that doesn't apply equally to several Protestant denominations, including the one that I consider myself to belong to :). > but my catechism classes didn't really covered much history of the Church I hear that. My catechism classes were a joke, honestly. I remember keeping a notebook full of questions to ask the parish priest the next time I saw him. After a half dozen times of that, he suggested that he come to our CCD class once a month to answer everyone's questions at once. He put out a "questions box" so people could drop in whatever they were curious about without having to raise their hand and ask.