“It makes no sense to pray for the recovery of a six year old boy when doctrine guarantees if he dies he will go to heaven. Christ said ‘Blessed are little children for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.’ He said this not once, but many times, as to leave no doubt about it. 3
“If this same boy grows up to be an adult, his chances, according to the same doctrine, are immensely diminished, ‘Many are called, but few are chosen. ’3 The young priest tapped a boy on the shoulder and sent him for the headmaster.
The differences between us…
Albino blinked. “Finally, we have the differences between us.
“The God of Nature—the natural order of God’s creation—the God of the Atheist—creates all of Her children to be equal.
“Again, religion does not accept the God of Nature—the natural order of God’s creation—the God of the Atheist—the God who gives us life. It says ‘No!’
“It tells us women, like other animals, are mere property of men. It tells us little boys are better than little girls. It tells us only we men are worthy to be representatives of God, only we men have the power to mumble a few words and wave our hands over a piece of bread in a cup and change it into a God—the reason there is not a single girl in this room despite, as we proved conclusively the other day, ‘God is more our Mother than She is our Father.’
“It preaches the subordination of black and ethnic peoples and ‘whosoever child that hath a blemish, a blind child, or a lame child, a broken-limbed child, a hunch-backed child, a dwarfed child, a diseased child, a queer child, or a child born out of wedlock is not to approach the altar of the Lord. ’”4 He smiled as he recited the sacred words of the God his seniors and peers gambled their eternity on.
His eyes roamed around the room catching each one of them in a frigid stare. They finally came to rest on Gaio and the headmaster who had just stepped into the room. He dealt the crushing blow.
“When a man does not believe in God—a Ghost someone once wrote about in a book—it does not mean he believes in nothing. It could mean he believes in everything.”1
He held back for a moment or two thinking deeply. Rather than softening the blow he decided to solidify it. Turning toward his master, “Father Gaio, it is said Satan comes in many disguises.”
Gaio jumped at the lure. “Truer words were never spoken. We must be on our guard at all times.”
He looked up at Gaio, he nodded agreement. “Yes. But tell me. How did Moses know who he was talking to in the desert? Why was that ‘Bush’—we accept as our God—burning in flames?
“Where do you think it came from?”
The aftermath
Despite his nickname Piccolo—little one—would be with him all his life, regular meals and sports at Feltre had given him an athlete’s body of envious proportions. After class, he told Giulio—the boy who had raised the question in the first place. “Don’t ever try that again. The next time I will use my fists instead of my eloquence.”
To all history has recorded, Giulio never tried it again. Neither did any of Albino’s other classmates. Perhaps, not so much they feared his fists, as they feared his eloquence.
So it went on for four years, the teenager literally torturing his masters day after day. Each one of them wanted him out of the school as quickly as possible in order that they could survive with their sanity. In that everything he had to say was wrong to them, none of them could rightfully give him passing grades. Yet, it was the only way they could get rid of him for the grant from the boy’s anonymous donor was far too much for the diocese to give up.
So it was on a sunny afternoon in the early summer of nineteen hundred twenty-seven, Albino Luciani graduated at the bottom of his class in the courtyard at the foot of the bell tower in Feltre. The class valedictorian gave his promise to serve God and the wreaths were passed out: catechism, theology, liturgy and so forth. One by one, his classmates strolled to the platform to pick them up.
Had there been wreaths for ancient history, anthropology, archeology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, genetics, language, mathematics, physics, politics, psychology, science, sociology, compassion, courage and change, he would have taken them all.
Yet, he did take one—perfect attendance.5 While at Feltre, he had not missed a class. They couldn’t take that one away from him.
Nevertheless, the following day, the boy Luciani was gone. The masters of Feltre would celebrate. But, they would never forget him. No matter how hard they tried, they would never forget him.
What’s more, they never locked the door to the bell tower, either.
1 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Second Vatican II Council transcript 22 Nov 63. When atheism came up in a discussion of ecumenicalism, Luciani made a similar observation.
2 DNA applications have since proved the boy Luciani right. The Cro-Magnons are the biological ancestors of modern man.
3 John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli) said a similar thing in the Basilica di San Marco in 1955
4 Deuteronomy 23
5 Povera Tigre Belluno22 Jun 27.
Author’s note: Albino was fifteen at the time of this incident. It was related by Bishop Luciani to the author. The author has reconstructed the story to best represent what took place. A fuller rendition of the incident is recounted in the author’s book of short stories, ‘Let’s All Get Behind the Pope,’ in the short story: ‘The Library of the Atheist.’
Chapter 6
The Seminary at Belluno
“…Never risk your king to save a pawn.”1
Giovanni Paulo Luciani
In the following autumn, a grant surfaced from the anonymous donor and the youth Luciani showed up at the seminary in Belluno. There was no easy way out here for those who found themselves in violation of Moses’ laws. No bell tower. One had to resort to a bottle of pills, a straight razor or a combination of a rope and a chair.
Unlike the villages of Canale d’Agordo and Feltre which had an occasional spot of color, Belluno was a sprawling city of sameness. Every house, every building, even the seminary, was of the same shade of beige stucco topped off with orange tiled roofs.
The seminary here was as large as the one at Feltre had been small. There were as many teachers here in Belluno as there had been students at Feltre where he had groomed his mane.
He was determined not to repeat the record he had at Feltre which had brought him poor grades. This time he would give them what they wanted. He took the early lead and the others would never catch up. Although deeply immersed in his studies, he could not ignore what was going on in the outside world around him.
The Axis Powers
One might ask why Italy was Germany’s ally in the war.
In Hitler’s case, one must consider why he went after the Jews, atheists, homosexuals and other outcasts of Christianity.
These outsiders had for the most part evaded enlistment in the German army in World War I—they would have been fighting against an enemy which had far less discriminatory policies than the country they would be fighting to defend.2
What’s more, a number of them had been caught operating as undercover agents for Russia within Germany during the war. After all, if Christian Germany were to win the war, they were destined to live out their lives in perpetual oppression.
Hitler intended to wage his war against the Slavs—Russia and its eastern allies—countries which had a tolerance of Jews, atheists, homosexuals and other outcasts of Christianity.
Hitler knew if he were to win the war, he must first remove these ‘dissidents’ from his own ranks to prevent the undercover tactics which—in his mind—had cost his Fatherland the First World War.
In Italy’s case, uppermost was the black-white issue.
As devout Catholics, the Italians believed in the superiority of whites. It was for this reason blacks were not allowed in Italy or other predominately Catholic countries of Europe—the reason why few of them died in concentration camps.3
In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia, a country of f
ifty million blacks. Realizing soldiers stationed in Ethiopia might integrate themselves with the natives Mussolini imposed heavy penalties for interracial copulation. The minimum penalty for an Italian was five years and that for an Ethiopian could range up to death.
In any event, pregnancies were aborted and offsprings if any disappeared. Although it was mostly kept under the table, Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia likely surpassed the Holocaust in infanticide.4
Although the United States was no angel itself concerning the treatment of blacks, the atrocities were so great in Ethiopia that it joined together with its allies and placed sanctions on Italy. These sanctions which remained in place at the start of the war together with its fascist convictions made Italy the great ally of Germany.
Yet, there was a more basic reason Italy was Germany’s ally.
The Tri-Axis Powers
When the war began, by a whisker over Italy, Germany was the most Christian nation in the world split evenly between Catholics and Protestants. Ninety-nine percent of its population was Christian and the others—Jews and atheists—were destined for the camps.
The entire Italian army was Catholic—the mind of every single soldier was controlled by the sitting Pontiff—each one of them would do whatever Pius told them to do.
Unlike the allied armies which spanned many religions, the Axis army was entirely Christian. There was not a Jew, a black, a Muslim or for that matter an atheist in the German and Italian armies. What’s more—true of all Christians of that time—these soldiers were devout Christians who thought it a mortal sin not to attend services on Sunday and fell on their knees and prayed to Christ each night.
The Nazi uniform had a small zippered pocket. In the standard issue, if the recruit was Catholic, it contained a pair of rosary beads. If he was Protestant, it contained a small book containing passages from the Bible including the 23rd Psalm “…Though I shall walk through the shadow of death… the Lord is my Shepherd…” The reason battlefield photographs of fallen German soldiers usually show either rosary beads or a prayer book in the hands.
The Axis powers had the largest chaplain corps of any army in history. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and other services were available each day. If a soldier was caught not attending services, he ran the risk of being tabbed an atheist and sent to a camp.
The British hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ could be heard in German and Italian for miles in and about battlefields.
Motion pictures and books portraying German troops shooting up churches in Poland and other occupied countries could not be further from the truth. This may have been somewhat true of the Russians, but not of the Germans—Vatican propaganda designed to separate modern day Catholicism from what it was then and continues to be today—fascism.
Nevertheless, it was this more than anything else which made the Vatican the great ally of the Axis powers. They shared a common ideology—fascism—some kinds of people are better than others. This gave them a common enemy—communism—all children are created equal and are entitled to share equally in earth’s province.
The embers of war
Fascism had been implanted in Italy and Germany years earlier. When one plans to take over the world in the future, one starts with the young who will carry out the plan in the future.
The Italian Scouts 5
Early in the twentieth century, the Vatican used the Catholic Scouts of Italy to indoctrinate Italy’s youth into fascism. In 1925, Pius XI and Mussolini began graduating children from the Catholic Scouts—a social group—to the Fascist Scouts—a military troop.
In December 1926, Pius issued an order to elementary schools in Italy requiring enrollment of all children in the Fascist Youth Organization; as already discussed, this action prompted thirteen year old Albino Luciani to make his debut onto the public stage.
That Mussolini and Pius were grooming these children for war was apparent in that they dispensed with the angelic dress of the Catholic Scouts in favor of military uniforms for the newly formed Fascist Scouts and trained them in military tactics. As early as the age of eight, young boys were trained in the use of firearms and, more importantly, they were brainwashed in an enormous Vatican propaganda program to hate children growing up in Slavic countries.
The Nazi Scouts6
By 1933, the process had been completed and Italy’s youth had been indoctrinated into its Fascist Youth Organization. Yet, less than fifty thousand had been enrolled in its counterpart in Germany—the Hitler Youth. As had been true of Italy, established scout troops in Germany operated mainly in Catholic dioceses.
As Mussolini had before him, Hitler appealed to Pius. Overnight Germany’s youth had been enrolled in the Hitler Youth.
By 1938, the scouts of the Axis powers were ready for war.
In February 1929, Pius and Mussolini entered into the Lateran Treaty formally uniting the Roman Catholic Church with the fascist movement in Italy. There began a campaign to preach fascism—some kind of people are better than others—openly from the pulpit. An election referendum was held which invited the populace to vote its support of the new fascist government.
Pius XI issued a letter to Catholics in Italy who comprised 99.9% of its population. It was read from every pulpit throughout the country and published in every newspaper telling them to vote ‘Yes.’ The voters went to the polling stations on March 24, 1929. The vote was 8,519,539 ’Yes’ and 155,761 ‘No.’ Mussolini became the recognized dictator of Italy.7
This demonstrates the immense power the Pope had upon the Italian people at the time. Although Mussolini would never waiver from the mission his people had given him, the Italians would string him up in Milan just fifteen years later.
On January 30, 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and established his New World Order: “The Federal Government must preserve and defend those Christian principles upon which our nation has been built and which define our morality and values”8
He drafted the Enabling Act intended to make himself dictator of Germany. On March 12, 1933, he shaped the Coalition of the National Socialist (NAZI) Party and the Nationalist People’s Party.9
The coalition’s first action was to open the first concentration camp—a converted factory just south of Berlin at Oranienburg. Members of the Communist Party and Social Democratic Party, who otherwise would have voted against him, were its first inmates.10
Yet, the measure required a two-thirds majority of the Federal Assembly and his new Nazi coalition controlled only 340 of its 647 seats. The balance of the votes lay in the Catholic Centre Party. Ludwig Kaas, a priest and pawn of the Vatican, headed the Centre Party. As Mussolini had before him, Hitler appealed to the Pope.11
On March 23, 1933, Kaas gave the order and the Catholic Centre Party cast the decisive block of votes passing the Enabling Act.
In an act of ironic symbolism, Kaas, himself, cast the specific vote which made Hitler dictator of Germany.12 Kaas’ vote changed Germany from a democracy to an autocracy. The Vatican was the first foreign state to recognize the new government.13
A few months later on July 20, 1933, Pius XI and Hitler entered into the German Concordat—the union of the Vatican with the Nazi Party of Germany. This together with the Italian Concordat of 1929 completed the fusion of the Tri-Axis Powers—Germany, Italy and the Vatican. The table had been set for World War II.14
Yet, there was an enormous difference between the Italian Concordat—the Lateran Treaty—and the German Concordat.
In the Italian Concordat, the Vatican had, among other things, gained its sovereignty and title to the lands which make up the Vatican State today in exchange for its allegiance to Mussolini.
In the case of the German Concordat, the situation was much different. Pius formalized his allegiance with Hitler solely because he shared the dictator’s philosophies as set forth in Mein Kampf—some kinds of people are better than others—which remains the central canon of the Roman Catholic Church today.
As a part of the strategy, Pius
and Kaas dissolved the Catholic Centre Party as to leave no organized challenge to the Nazi Party’s march to war—its votes merging into the Nazi Party.
On August 24, 1933, Hitler held a huge rally in Neukolln Stadium in Berlin to celebrate the German Concordat. Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli (Pius XII) and Papal Nuncio Orsenigo joined him on the podium. Over three hundred priests and bishops lined the wall of the stadium.15
One is on solid ground when one says the success of the fascist movement in Europe rested entirely upon papal decisions. Neither the Italian nor German referendums would have passed without sanction of the Pope. Mussolini would have never become dictator of Italy and Hitler would have never become dictator of Germany.
It was clearly the Pontiff who was the puppeteer who held the strings which controlled the marionettes which would eventually act and dance their way into World War II and cost fifty million lives.
The concentration camps
The day before he became dictator, Hitler opened the camp at Dachau—a model for the vast network of death camps which would eventually follow. Because he was tied up with the Enabling Act, Hitler did not attend opening ceremonies. Vice Chancellor, Franz von Papen and the German Papal Nuncio Cesare Orsenigo did the honors.16 As they entered the gates of the prison, they were saluted by a group of bishops and Nazi officers gathered there.
The early inmates included social revolutionary activists, union and party leaders, Jews, gypsies and gay youths who had been rounded up in gay meeting places. Initially, Hitler went after those who opposed the Enabling Act and those who were suspected of having spied for the Russians in the First World War.
Inmates were branded with serial numbers and forced to wear patches which identified them by color: red for political dissidents - violet for anti-Christians - black for social revolutionary activists - pink for homosexuals - yellow for Jews - brown for gypsies. Gypsies incarcerated were nomadic Slavs who had wandered into Germany.
Murder in the Vatican Page 8
