Venerable - title for a person who is considered holy by the Roman Catholic Church but who has not yet been made a saint. A Venerable has as of yet no feast day, no churches may be built in his or her honor, and the church has made no statement on the person's probable or certain presence in heaven, but prayer cards and other materials may be printed to encourage the faithful to pray for a miracle wrought by his or her intercession as a sign of God's will that the person be canonized.

A few days ago, Pope Benedict XVI declared both Popes Venerable. (12/19/2009). Pope Pius XII is depicted above, left. Pope John Paul II, above, right.

I've never met either Pontiff in person, but they have done things for me that cause me to think of them as very holy persons. Pope Pius XII, a courageous and holy man, fought for the freedom of those held unjustly by the Nazis during the Second World War. People have denied this for a long time, but they are wrong. Did you know that the Catholic Church under Pius XII was instrumental in saving 860,000 Jews from Nazi death camps? That's a fact! The Holocaust was also anti-Christian! Pope Pius XII was a diplomat - he knew that he first needed to preserve Vatican neutrality so that Vatican City could be a refuge for war victims.

The Nazis did not tolerate any protest and responded severely to those who protested. As an example, the Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht in July 1942 protested in a pastoral letter against the Jewish persecutions in Holland. Immediately the Nazis rounded up as many Jews and Catholic non-Aryans as possible and deported them to death camps, including Blessed Edith Stein. Pope Pius knew that every time he spoke out against Hitler, the Nazis could retaliate against the prisoners. I know something about this, because I was one of these people, and also my mother, who were rounded up as a result of the protest of the Archbishop of Utrecht on August 2, 1942. The fact that Pope Pius had a diplomatic hand in this matter is why I am here to speak to you at all... my mother and I were released again. We were two of the few that were released and after that nobody was released anymore. So I have thoroughly studied this matter and read everything there is to know about this entire situation. Thus I can say that Pope Pius XII is definitely NOT anti-semetic and should be Canonized as soon as possible!

Pope John Paul II, according to his life history touches me again. I have Parkinson's Disease for the past four years, and although it isn't near as bad as he had it, I can see now that he bore his suffering that ended in his death with great courage and holiness. It is not an easy disease to live with. I hope I will have the patience and courage when the condition gets really bad for me. John Paul was also the longest-reigning Pope in the history (27 years) of our Church. It is said that because of his efforts the Cold War ended and the wall separating east and west Germany ceased to exist. He grew up first under the tyranny of war, the Nazi regime, then the Communists, and still this man was strong and courageous. His love for the Blessed Virgin Mary was unique. The bullet that struck him has been incorporated into the crown of the Our Lady of Fatima statue, and he forgave his attacker. A rare gesture of peace and good will that only a very holy person would make.

I hope the path toward beatification, the next step, will be completed rapidly for both of these great popes.

Fred Schaeffer, SFO
December 22, 2009
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The following also arrived from the Vatican Information Service on 12/23/2009:

NOTE CONCERNING DECREE ON THE HEROIC VIRTUES OF PIUS XII

VATICAN CITY, 23 DEC 2009 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today issued the following note concerning the signing of the recent decree on the heroic virtues of Servant of God Pope Pius XII.

"The Pope's signing of the decree 'on the heroic virtues' of Pius XII has elicited a certain number of reactions in the Jewish world; perhaps because the meaning of such a signature is clear in the area of the Catholic Church and of specialists in the field, but may merit certain explanation for the larger public, in particular the Jewish public who are understandably very sensitive to all things concerning the historical period of World War II and the Holocaust.

"When the Pope signs a decree 'on the heroic virtues' of a Servant of God - i.e., of a person for whom a cause for beatification has been introduced - he confirms the positive evaluation already voted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. ... Naturally, such evaluation takes account of the circumstances in which the person lived, and hence it is necessary to examine the question from a historical standpoint, but the evaluation essentially concerns the witness of Christian life that the person showed (his intense relationship with God and continuous search for evangelical perfection) ... and not the historical impact of all his operative decisions".

"At the beatification of Pope John XXIII and of Pope Pius IX, John Paul II said: 'holiness lives in history and no saint has escaped the limits and conditioning which are part of our human nature. In beatifying one of her sons, the Church does not celebrate the specific historical decisions he may have made, but rather points to him as someone to be imitated and venerated because of his virtues, in praise of the divine grace which shines resplendently in them'.

"There is, then, no intention in any way to limit discussion concerning the concrete choices made by Pius XII in the situation in which he lived. For her part, the Church affirms that these choices were made with the pure intention of carrying out the Pontiff's service of exalted and dramatic responsibility to the best of his abilities. In any case, Pius XII's attention to and concern for the fate of the Jews - something which is certainly relevant in the evaluation of his virtues - are widely testified and recognised, also by many Jews.

"The field for research and evaluation by historians, working in their specific area, thus remains open, also for the future. In this specific case it is comprehensible that there should be a request to have open access to all possibilities of research on the documents. ... Yet for the complete opening of the archives - as has been said on a number of occasions in the past - it is necessary to organise and catalogue an enormous mass of documentation, something which still requires a number of years' work.

"As for the fact that the decree on the heroic virtues of Pope John Paul II and Pope Pius XII were promulgated on the same day, this does not mean that from now on the two causes will be 'paired'. They are completely independent of one another and each will follow its own course. There is, then, no reason to imagine that any future beatification will take place together".

"It is, then, clear that the recent signing of the decree is in no way to be read as a hostile act towards the Jewish people, and it is to be hoped that it will not be considered as an obstacle on the path of dialogue between Judaism and the Catholic Church. Rather we trust that the Pope's forthcoming visit to the Synagogue of Rome will be an opportunity for the cordial reiteration and reinforcement of ties of friendship and respect".

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service. Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City
Used with permission

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