Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an important event at the United Nations today:
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day at the U.N., an annual event that mobilizes public awareness of the Nazi-led genocide of the Jewish people. This year the Permanent Observer Mission of the U.N., along with the Pave the Way Foundation, are sponsoring an event titled, “Remembering the Holocaust: The Documented Efforts of the Catholic Church to Save Lives.”
Gary Krupp leads Pave the Way Foundation. He is the only Jewish man to be knighted; the honor was bestowed by Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict XVI raised him in rank to the Order of St. Gregory. His work detailing the extraordinary lengths that Pope Pius XII went to in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust is outstanding. He will be speaking today at the event.
Also speaking at the U.N. event will be Professor Ronald J. Rychlak, a noted expert on the Holocaust and a member of the Catholic League’s Board of Advisors. He will speak on “Soviet Disinformation and the Campaign against Pope Pius XII.”
He will address the role the KGB played in smearing the Catholic Church: The Soviet authorities were integrally behind efforts to blame the Church for the Holocaust. Indeed, the KGB was responsible for producing “The Deputy,” the German play that did more to poison the public mind against the Church than any other event. Rychlak has also written voluminously on how Pope Pius XII worked to help Jews by opposing Hitler.
Among the other scholars who will be speaking today is Mark Riebling, author of Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler. He wrote about the role of Pope Pius XII in planning an assassination of Hitler.
You can watch this event live at http://webtv.un.org. It runs from 3 to 6 p.m.