The Vatican Museum diaries kept during the period of the Second World War have been opened. They show a slice of life in the Holy See, thanks to a former Museum director. Read more
Posts Tagged ‘World War II’
Nazi genocide research leads to priest’s award
Monday, October 30th, 2017
A French priest has received a human rights award for research uncovering millions of previously unaccounted-for Nazi genocide victims. Father Patrick Desbois was awarded the Lantos Foundation’s Human Rights Prize last week for being a “vital voice standing up for the values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice.” The prize is named after a Holocaust Read more
Catholic bishop apologises for Jews massacred in WWII Poland
Wednesday, July 12th, 2017
Seventy-six years ago during World War II over 300 Jews were massacred in their Polish home town of Jedwabne. They were forced into a barn and burned alive by a few dozen perpetrators. On Monday, a Catholic bishop apologized in the name of the Catholic Church for their murder, at a ceremony to mark their Read more
After 67 years Catholics included in WWII honours board
Monday, May 1st, 2017
It has taken 67 years but at last an honours board immortalising 23 of the the district’s World War II soldiers has been placed in St Alban’s, a little Anglican church in Pauatahanui, Porirua. The project first saw the light of day in 1950, but it did not come to fruition because the Reverend Maurice Pirani, the Read more
New book: Pius XII co-operated in plots against Hitler
Tuesday, October 27th, 2015
Wartime Pope Pius XII co-operated in plots against Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, a new book claims. “Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler” by intelligence specialist Mark Riebling details actions by Pius to stop Hitler. The author wrote that Pius cooperated in a variety of plots, initiated by patriotic, anti-Nazi Germans, to assassinate Hitler Read more
A Japanese Sister’s experience of war
Tuesday, August 25th, 2015
The seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II is a good reason to tell my dreadful experience of war – and in the end – how it led me to the Good Samaritan Sisters. On December 8, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. This brought Japan into World War II. At that time I Read more
Poland to Pahiatua – war refugees remember
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014
Eric Lepionka and Halina Melgies recently celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary. They are two of the 733 Polish children who, 70 years ago, arrived in Wellington Harbour as New Zealand’s first official refugees. While the majority were orphans, 13-month-old Halina, now 71, arrived with her mother, one of the 102 caregivers who joined the children. Read more
Catholic couple married for 73 years die 28 hours apart
Friday, October 24th, 2014
A Catholic couple in Ohio in the United States who were married for 73 years have died within 28 hours of each other. When Helen Auer, 94, died last week, she was sitting in a chair, and her husband Joe came into the room and knew what had happened. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Joe Read more
Middle East has greatest humanitarian crisis since WWII
Friday, September 19th, 2014Conflict in Iraq, Syria and Gaza has led to the greatest humanitarian crisis the world has seen since World War II, a senior cardinal says. Caritas Internationalis president Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga told a Rome conference on Monday that there are 13 million Syrians in desperate need. More than four million Iraqis and Syrians are Read more
Israel’s Knesset honours St John XXIII
Tuesday, May 20th, 2014
In an unprecedented event, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has held a special session to commemorate St John XXIII. During the Second World War, Archbishop Angelo Roncalli’s efforts are believed to have helped save thousands of Jews from Nazi death camps Archbishop Roncalli was elected Pope in 1958 and took the name John XXIII. His pontificate Read more