The Catholic Weekly 28 June 2020

24 NEWS 28, June, 2020 T he Inquisition, the Crusades, the trial of the Knights Templar, the condemnation of Galileo Galilei and the role of Pope Pius XII during World War II are just a few “hot” his- torical events in the life of the church that can still today ig- nite controversy and fiery de- bate. However, most people only have a vague notion of what those events were about, with facts coloured or clouded by political censorship, social biases and urban legends fuelled by fictionalised ac- counts made popular in film and other media. Grzegorz Gorny and Janusz Rosikon – two Polish journalists – wanted to de- bunk some of the myths and fill in the gaps with their il- lustrated book, Vatican Secret Archives: Unknown Pages of Church History , which was published in English by Igna- tius Press. After co-authoring a num- ber of books on such themes as St Faustina Kowalska, the relics of Christ and the events at Fatima, “we decided to familiarise people with the turbulent history of this ex- traordinary institution (the Vatican archives) and with various controversial epi- sodes regarding the history of the church as seen through the prism of the documents housed in the Vatican Secret Archives,” Gorny said. To learn from and assess the past correctly, “one must first thoroughly and accurate- ly ascertain the facts,” which is why the two journalists vis- ited what are now called the Vatican Apostolic Archives and others. They also met with numer- ous historians to look at con- troversial figures and events from a different point of view, they said in the book’s intro- duction. “We are against journal- ism of the Ctrl C-Ctrl V sort” that copies and pastes, Gorny said. “We are doubting Thom- ases,” who have to “touch everything” by spending years visiting the places they were writing about, talking to witnesses and scholars and spending time in archives, he said. Rosikon, who took most Book scrutinises the Church’s controversies of the photographs, said they wanted to give the reader the feeling of “finding himself in the places we described.” The book’s release was timed to coincide with the March opening of the Vati- can archival material relating to the wartime period under Pope Pius XII. The last chapter is devot- ed to how the pope became the centre of controversy with accusations he did not say enough publicly against Nazi atrocities and to what Jesuit historian, Father Pe- ter Gumpel, and others have found in available archives. “There’s just no question that that pope has been ter- ribly slandered,” said Vivian Dudro, senior editor at Igna- tius Press. “But, how do you interpret his silence? How are you go- ing to weigh theman’s actions when so many of them were deliberately kept secret for reasons of safety and security of the people he was trying to help? “When someone’s been si- lent and his actions have been covered up, how are you sup- posed to know what he did?” Historians expect it will take years of combing through the Vatican’s newly available documents to get an even better and clearer understanding of what hap- pened and why. “History teaches us that life is the art of making de- cisions,” Gorny said, so the book describes the people “responsible for the fate of large communities, people who had to make decisions between, for example, secu- rity and freedom, between a greater and a lesser evil.” Dudro said the authors aren’t engaged in “church triumphalism,” but instead show “the good, the bad and the ugly on the part of players on the church’s side or in the church’s interest.” “If you admit that some- times things get done badly, that’s not an act of disloyalty against the church,” she said. But the authors’ approach is, “if all you’ve heard about is terrible things done by the church, there’s more to this story and let’s listen to some scholars who’ve uncovered some of these things,” Dudro said. Gorny said he finds inspi- ration from St Luke, whose Gospel and Acts of the Apos- tles “are classic reportages.” St Luke wrote that he want- ed to depict events as faithful- ly as possible, on the basis of eyewitness accounts, supple- mented with what he himself saw. “That is how a reporter works: he describes what he himself saw or what he had heard from reliable people,” Gorny said. In fact, “journalism is an evangelical profession, as its mission is to bear witness to the truth,” he added. Dundro, who has also worked as a re- porter for the Catholic press, said having an open mind is critical for journalists and readers, too. “Have the humility to ac- cept that you don’t know as much as you think you do, be open to new information and weigh it,” look for people’s vested interests or motives, and “go out of your way to talk to people who think different- ly,” she said. People need accurate in- formation to make good de- cisions and there is too much at stake today to be limited to one polarised side, she said. “If God didn’t want us to go to all this trouble to try to figure out what the truth is, he would have made us like the other animals and we would just be operating on instinct every day,” she said. “But no, he gave us brains so we are supposed to use them to try to apprehend the truth as best we can, to try to conform ourselves to the truth as best we can, and that is an ongoing process that takes your whole life.” - CNS Gorny said he finds inspiration from St Luke, whose Gospel and Acts of the Apostles are classic reportages ... St Luke wrote that he wanted to depict events as faithfully as possible on the basis of eyewitness accounts ...” The signature of astronomer Galileo Galilei from the records of his trial is seen on a document in the Vatican Apostolic Archives. Inset: the new book, Vatican Secret Archives: Unknown Pages of Church History. PHOTOS:VATICAN APOSTOLIC ARCHIVES ¾ ¾ Carol Glatz In brief Catholic leader for abortion Maria Flachsbarth THE PRESIDENT of the Catholic Women’s As- sociation in Germany moonlights as a “cham- pion” for a multi-million dollar radical abortion activist group that was founded four years ago in reaction to US President Donald Trump cutting off funding for international abortion groups. Maria Flachsbarth, a member of parliament for the Christian Democratic Union since 2002, is an outspoken advocate for “SheDecides,” a German pro-abortion organisa- tion, the pro-life website LifeSite News reported. “SheDecides has man- aged to create the positive momentum for sexual and reproductive rights, which we so desperately need in these very chal- lenging times,” Flachs- barth said, according to the SheDecides website. As president of the German Catholic Wom- en’s Association, Flachs- barth represents about 180,000 members across the country. The organi- sation was founded in the early 20th century. Hubert Hüppe, a pro- life member of the Chris- tian Democratic Union, called out Flachsbarth for her involvement with SheDecides, ask- ing, “Who would think that the president of the Catholic Women’s As- sociation, in a sense the highest-ranking Catho- lic woman in Germany, is the German face of an organization that has the legalisation of abortion until birth at the top of its agenda?” In an interview with Catholic weekly newspa- per Die Tagespost , Hüppe demanded the bishops send “a clear message here ... otherwise they will lose their credibility.” NEW

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