Was the Vatican too silent about the Holocaust during the Second World War? Here are testimonies of resistance fighters helped at the time by the Church, words of Church personalities on the silence of the Institution.
The Catholic Church is preparing to officially acknowledge her guilt in the spread of anti-Semitism and her past weaknesses vis-à-vis fascist regimes. Reaction of Bishop Gaston POULAIN of Périgueux, in charge of relations with the consistory: "This is an important question. We are in a process of reconciliation... The Church takes part of responsibilities... Great voices (Vatican II) have spoken out against anti-Semitism".
Report. Pope Francis continues his visit to the Middle East. After his visit to the West Bank, the Supreme Pontiff multiplied the symbols towards the Jewish people. He gathered in front of the Wailing Wall and went to the Yad Vashem Shoah Memorial. Excerpt from his speech and interview with Moshe HAELION, survivor of the concentration camps.
The Most Reverend Olivier de BERRANGER, Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Denis, will read the Catholic Church’s declaration of repentance towards the Jews during the Second World War on September 30, 1997. " It is a shame to have waited so long to recognize that? officially the Church had failed by her silence", he confides.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Jules-Géraud Saliège, Cardinal of Toulouse, Bishop ROCACHER, Archivist of the Diocese of Toulouse, and Father Yves DENIS evoke his action during the Second World War. Monsignor Saliège had had a letter written in the churches of the diocese protesting the fate of the Jews.
Meeting with Marie-Rose GINESTE, resistant. She explains how, thanks to her bike, she travelled hundreds of kilometres, especially in August 1942, to bring the message of the Bishop of Montauban, Bishop Théas, who denounced the arrests of the Jews.
Guest on stage, historian Etienne FOUILLOUX returns to the repentance of the Church about the anti-Jewish laws of 1940 and 1941. He explains that the Church did not approve of them and did not condemn them either. "It is the silence that can be blamed on him," he stresses.
Report of the ceremony of the declaration of repentance of the Catholic Church of France in Drancy. The factual images of the ceremony alternate with excerpts from the speech of the Bishop of Saint Denis, Olivier De BERRANGER, of Henri HAJDENBERG, President CRIF and the interview of an emotional woman.