Jewish Students Tear Down and Destroy Anti-vatican Posters

Teen-age Jewish students in Corpus Christi, Texas, systematically tore down and destroyed anti-Vatican posters that had been plastered all over that south Texas port city of 200,000. Their action, over a three-day period last month, was reported by the National Catholic News Service (NCNS).

Many of the posters carried offensive messages similar to the canards used by anti-Semites against Jews. They accused the Vatican of controlling the media to “exalt and exonerate themselves (sic) from crimes they have done and are currently doing.” The messages began with the word “Warning” and alleged Vatican ownership of major American magazines, newspapers and television networks.

“It reminds me of the Nazis and the Holocaust,” one student was quoted as saying by the NCNS. Another student, Laura Hopkins, 15, said “Whoever is doing this is not only hurting the Christian community but the whole city as well.”

Most of the posters were glued to windows of abandoned buildings. Some were attached to lamp posts and garbage cans. According to the NCNS, they appeared in cities throughout the U.S., beginning in Des Moines, lowa last February II and spread to the Middle West, the South and East. They were first noticed in Corpus Christi on March 21.

Harold Alberts, a local lawyer who is Jewish and helped organize the student removal campaign, said all the posters had been destroyed by March 23. “One day is too long for these signs to be in our city,” he said.

The person or persons responsible are unknown. According to Bob Gilmartin, communications director of the Corpus Christi Diocese, “whoever is involved in this is using transients to put them up during the cover of night.” The students said they were prepared to remove the posters if they appear again.