As recently as March 21, 2010, the Roman Catholic Pope, Benedict XVI stoked religious anger over what many viewed was an inadequate apology for priests abusing children, (Nick Pisa, "Pope Benedict faces new criticism on sexual abuse record", The Telegraph, March 21, 2010). It was not the first time a pope was involved in scandals over children. Nor was it the first time that religious feuding would debase and abuse the vulnerable. When there is zeal, intolerance is close behind.
Three anniversaries come to mind:
- the 10th anniversary on Sept. 3 of the beatification of Pius IX who was directly involved in a child abduction;
- the 67th anniversary of the roundup of Rome's Jewish Ghetto, Oct. 16, an event where Pius XII committed a sin of omission by non-protest; and
- the 60th anniversary in November of the trial for "possession" of Maria Hertogh and the Hertogh Riots.
Child Kidnapping, Jews and the Catholic Papacy in Italy
In September 2000, Pope John Paul II declared the beatification of Pope Pius IX amid controversy. The Jewish community in particular was offended because of Pio Nono's role in the Edgardo Mortara case.
Edgardo Mortara, born in 1851, was one of eight children belonging to Jewish parents. A Roman Catholic servant girl of the family purportedly baptized him secretly when he was two and ill so that his soul would not be lost. When the boy was six, the Papal States' Inquisition in Bologna entered the family home and abducted the boy. At that time it was illegal for a Christian child to be raised by non-Christians and the baptism perforce meant Edgardo was a Christian.
So the boy was placed in a Catholic institution and forcibly taught the Catholic faith. Despite pleas by the Jewish parents, Napoleon III of France, and Emperor Franz Josef of Austria to return the boy, Pope Pius IX adopted the child. Edgardo was raised in a monastery in Rome and became a priest at age 19. He died in 1940.
David Keitzer, author of "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara" (Random, 1998), believed the case was a direct cause for trimming the Pope's temporal power. In the Italian unification movement, nationalists seized the Papal States as the last step to declaring a modern Italy in 1870 and left the Pope with only a truncated Vatican City. The Pope's secular wings were clipped but too late for the Mortara family.
Jews were supposed to live in ghettos and both Bologna and Rome had such demarcated zones where Jews had to wear identification badges. In fact, Pius IX re-established the ghetto in 1849. Although theologically legal by canon law, the fact that the Pope and the Inquisitors kidnapped a Jewish boy and raised him as a Catholic was beyond the pale. In 1870, Pius IX declared that the Pope was infallible in matters of Catholic faith. The behaviour of that pope and his successor towards those of the Jewish faith seem very fallible indeed.
John Cornwell included information about the event in his book "Hitler's Pope", (Penguin, 1999, pp. 11-14) because both the grandfather and father of Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pius XII, worked for Pius IX and shared anti-liberal and anti-democratic views that influenced Pius XII's putative anti-semitism in Nazi and Fascist times. The Vatican stood by while over 1,000 Roman Jews were rounded up on Oct. 16, 1943. It is the 67th anniversary of that event and over 80%, many of them children, died in concentration camps.
Religion and Abduction in Singapore, Christian and Muslim Antagonisms
The 60th anniversary of the Maria Hertogh case and ensuing riots in Singapore, Dec. 11-13, 1950 mark a very complex event. Maria Hertogh was born to Catholic Dutch parents in Malaysia in 1937. With the Japanese invasion in World War II, Maria's father was captured and imprisoned. Mrs. Hertogh's world was in turmoil and she gave Maria to a Malaysian woman, a friend of her grandmother, in 1942. Was Maria given up for safekeeping or for adoption?
After the war, the Hertoghs tried to find their daughter but Maria, now 13, had adopted Malaysian ways including practicing Islam. From April to July, Maria stayed in custody while two hearings occurred, one returning her to her biological parents and an appeal overturning that decision. Then the situation became more complicated.
In August, Maria married a 22-year-old Malaysian man in a Muslim ceremony. Again, the Hertoghs tried to get their daughter back and in another two-week hearing (November 20 to December 2, 1950) the judge nullified the wedding and ordered Maria back to her biological parents. Maria was taken to the Roman Catholic Convent of the Good Shepherd to await the appeal on December 11. After a five minute hearing the judge upheld the decision. Muslims in Singapore were outraged and went on the rampage.
Muslim leaders at the Sultan Mosque urged holy war and race riots ensued. For 3 days Malay and Indian Muslims rioted against Europeans, even trying to get into the convent where Maria was kept. Eighteen people died, 173 were injured and numerous cars and houses were set ablaze. By the end of 1950, Maria had been absconded back to Holland where she had to learn Dutch and became a Catholic. She died at 72 of leukemia in July 2009.
Sadly, religion underpinned death and racial intolerance as well as untold agony to families and children. These anniversaries are poignant and sobering. Once again religious concerns trumped kindness.
James Ellsworth - Now I am a Feature Writer for Suite 101 where I have almsot 60 articles. Also I am contributing regularly to Senior Living magazine.
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