(J. T. A. Mail Service)
The Pope intends to issue an Encyclical on the Jewish question, the well-known Catholic writer Chaplain Franz Roedel of Munich, writes in the “Abwehrblaettern,” the organ of the German Society for Combating anti-Semitism. Speaking as a member of the International Catholic Society, Friends of Israel, he states that the main purpose of the Society is to combat anti-Semitism. It is a Society consisting solely of priests of the Roman Catholic Church, none other being eligible.
“At various times,” he writes, “it has appeared as if the attitude of the Vatican on the Jewish question was an uncertain one, because there have been times when anti-Jewish declarations have been found in the official organ of the Vatican, the ‘Osservatore Romano.’ The fact is, however, that the Vatican Press Bureau does not represent the Church. The Society Friends of Israel will extend its influence to the Vatican Press Department and will bring about a complets change there in the attitude towards Judaism and the Jewish question.
“The views of Pius XI. himself on anti-Semitism were made clear,” the writer declares, “at the time when he received in audience the founder of the Society Friends of Israel and expressly declared to him that anti-Semitism was opposed to Christianity. This has remained for a long time the only Papal pronouncement on the question, but it can now be stated that the Pope is watching the further development of the Friends of Israel with great interest. The Friends of Israel is working quietly and steadily for the time when it will be able to approach the Pope with a large membership of Bishops and priests, and this occasion will be utilized for the issuance of a Papal statement in the form of an Encyclics’ on the Jewish question.
“So long as anti-Semitism exists with its crude outgrowths,” the writer concludes, “so long will it be impossible to have a unity of our people, and so long will the united front of our people be nothing more than a phrase.”
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