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Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent
Paolo Zampolli (born March 5, 1970) is an Italian-American businessman. After immigrating to the United States and founding a modeling agency, Zampolli became a close friend of Donald Trump, introducing him to his future wife, Melania Knauss, in 1998. After moving out of modeling, Zampolli founded a real estate firm and held roles representing Dominica at the UN. In 2020, Trump named Zampolli to the Kennedy Center's Board of Trustees. In the second Trump administration, Zampolli was named special envoy for global partnerships, in which capacity he has represented the United States in varied settings.
Paolo Zampolli - Wikipedia
Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent
Mr. Zampolli, 56, is known in Washington for flaunting his proximity to the Trumps. In this case, he used his clout to solicit help from an agency beset by allegations of unlawful overreach.
In an interview with The Times, Mr. Zampolli denied asking ICE to detain Ms. Ungaro or seeking any other favors. He said he merely asked Mr. Venturella to explain what was going on with her case.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement that Ms. Ungaro was detained and deported because she was on a long-expired visa and had been charged with fraud. “Any suggestion that she was arrested and removed for political reasons or favors is FALSE,” the statement said.
As the president’s special representative for global partnerships, Mr. Zampolli is a minor character in Mr. Trump’s Washington. But the role keeps him within photo-op range of the Trump family, cabinet secretaries and other prominent figures in and around the administration.
nytimes.com/…0/us/paolo-zampolli-ice-melania- …
Camboya envía a Roma la causa de doce cristianos asesinados por los Jemeres Rojos
Martyrs du Cambodge : Mgr Joseph Chhmar Salas et …
Voici une liste de douze martyrs cambodgiens :
Mgr Joseph Chhmar Salas (1937-1977), évêque, vicaire apostolique de Phnom Penh de 1976 à 1977, il est mort d’épuisement dans les camps de travail des Khmers rouges;
P. Joseph Chhmar Salem, prêtre diocésain;
P. Marcel Truong Sang Samronh, prêtre diocésain ;
P. Pierre Rapin, prêtre de la Société des Missions Étrangères de Paris (MEP) ;
Fr. Charles Jean Badré, religieux de l’Ordre de Saint-Benoît ;
Fr. Damien Dang Ngocan, religieux de la Sainte Famille de Banam ;
Sœur Jaqueline Kim Song, religieuse de la Providence de Portieux;
Sœur Lydie Non Savan, religieuse de la Providence de Portieux ;
Joseph Sam KImsan, laïc;
Pierre Chhum Somchay, laïc;
Joseph Thing, laïc;
Joseph Ross En, laïc.
Mgr Olivier Schmitthaeusler, vicaire apostolique de Phnom Penh, a pris la parole lors de la cérémonie de clôture de l’enquête diocésaine en rendant « grâce à Dieu pour toutes ces années d’enquête, de recherche de témoignages et de documents, qui ont abouti aujourd’hui à un ouvrage de près de 3 000 pages ». « Ces 3 000 pages, a-t-il dit, racontent l’histoire du Cambodge entre 1970 et 1977 ; elles constituent un témoignage de foi incomparable pour les nouvelles générations de chrétiens baptisés d’aujourd’hui. »
Avant de sceller les coffres contenant l’ensemble des documents, qui seront envoyés au Dicastère pour les causes des saints, au Vatican, le vicaire apostolique de Phnom Penh a déclaré : « Je remercie notre postulateur et son équipe, notre promoteur de justice et nos notaires pour leur présence et leur travail. J’ai présidé plus de 20 sessions du tribunal diocésain, j’ai entendu de nombreux témoignages édifiants. »
Et il a conclu : « Continuons à prier pour que nos martyrs soient offerts à l’Église universelle comme un don inestimable et un témoignage de foi de l’Église du Cambodge au monde. ‘Parlez de nous au monde’, disait Mgr Salas avant d’entreprendre le chemin de l’exil et de la mort. C’est ce que nous continuons à faire cinquante ans plus tard. »
Exorcistas piden al Papa que cada diócesis cuente con «uno o más» exorcistas
Papst Leo XIV. empfängt die Spitze der Internationalen Vereinigung der Exorzisten
Papst Leo XIV. empfängt die Spitze der …
Am 13. März 2026 empfing Papst Leo XIV. in einer Privataudienz den Vorsitzenden der Internationalen Exorzistenvereinigung (AIE), Msgr. Karel Orlita, sowie seinen Stellvertreter Pater Francesco Bamonte ICMS. Das Treffen diente dem persönlichen Austausch über die Arbeit und die Zielsetzungen der Vereinigung sowie über die aktuelle Situation des exorzistischen Dienstes in der katholischen Kirche.
Während der rund halbstündigen Unterredung informierten Msgr. Orlita und P. Bamonte den Papst über die Struktur der Vereinigung, ihre satzungsgemäßen Ziele und ihr Engagement für die Aus- und Weiterbildung von Priestern, die als Exorzisten tätig sind und die Dämonenaustreibung vollziehen. Ein Schwerpunkt lag auf der Notwendigkeit, daß in jeder Diözese weltweit mindestens ein Exorzist verfügbar sein sollte, und darauf, daß neue Bischöfe eine Einführung in die exorzistische Pastoral erhalten sollten. Im deutschen Sprachraum sind Diözesen stolz darauf, keinen Exorzisten beauftragt zu haben.
Ebenso erörterten die Gäste die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Exorzisten und medizinischen Fachkräften, Psychologen und Psychiatern, um geistliche und psychologische Betreuung optimal zu verbinden.
Ein weiterer Teil des Gesprächs befaßte sich mit den Gefahren okkulter Praktiken und der zunehmenden Zahl von Personen, die unter ernsthaften Störungen durch dämonische Einflüsse leiden. Die Vereinigung setzt sich dafür ein, das Leiden dieser Menschen im Namen Jesu Christi durch den Exorzismus zu lindern und die Realität des dämonischen Wirkens im Lichte der Heiligen Schrift und des kirchlichen Lehramtes zu vermitteln.
Zu den Aufgaben der Internationalen Exorzistenvereinigung gehört auch die Dämonologie, das systematische Studium der Dämonen, also über deren Wesen, Eigenschaften, Hierarchie und Wirkungsweise. Sie beschäftigt sich mit der Vorstellung von übernatürlichen, bösartigen Geistern oder Mächten, die Einfluß auf Menschen oder die Welt ausüben können.
Im überlieferten Römischen Ritus der Kirche ist der Dienst des Exorzisten eine eigene niedere Weihe. Diese Weihe wird feierlich liturgisch gespendet und verleiht dem Empfänger die geistliche Befugnis, Exorzismen durchzuführen. Sie ist sakramental-artig mit Segensformeln und liturgischer Feier. Der Exorzist ist ein offiziell anerkanntes Amt, ohne jedoch ein Sakrament im eigentlichen Sinne zu sein, wie es bei der Weihe von Diakonen, Priestern oder Bischöfen der Fall ist. Die Niederen Weihen sind die Vorstufe zu diesen.
Im Neuen Ritus, nach den Reformen von 1972/1999, existiert diese eigene niedere Weihe nicht mehr. Die Befugnis, Exorzismen durchzuführen, wird heute nur mehr durch eine formelle Beauftragung des Diözesanbischofs verliehen. Diese Beauftragung ist rein juridischer Natur, erfolgt schriftlich oder mündlich und ersetzt die liturgisch gefeierte Weihe des alten Ritus. Der Priester handelt dabei als Repräsentant der Kirche, ohne daß ihm eine zusätzliche sakramental-artige Weihe verliehen würde.
Daß im Neuen Ritus die niedere Weihe des Exorzisten entfällt und die Befugnis heute nur noch durch eine formelle Beauftragung des Bischofs erteilt wird, läßt sich auch als theologisches Signal deuten: Für Teile der Kirche scheint die Auseinandersetzung mit Dämonen und dämonischer Besessenheit heute nicht mehr im Vordergrund zu stehen. Kritiker sehen hierin eine Anpassung an den weltlichen Zeitgeist, der die Realität übernatürlicher Mächte grundsätzlich in Frage stellt. Gleichzeitig bleibt der Exorzismus zwar formal anerkannt, wird aber in ganzen Landstrichen, konkret weiten Teilen des deutschen Sprachraums, nicht mehr praktiziert. Die bundesdeutschen Bischöfe sekundieren der „materialistischen“ Weltsicht. Auch der amtierende Bischof von Chur, Msgr. Joseph Bonnemain, gab im November 2022 bekannt, die Stelle eines Exorzisten nicht neu zu besetzen, nachdem der bisherige Exorzist verstorben war. Dies begründete er damit, daß es „nicht notwendig sei, mysteriöse Ursachen für vermeintliche Besessenheit zu suchen“, und man sich stärker auf psychologische und pastorale Begleitung konzentrieren wolle.
Zum Abschluß überreichten Msgr. Orlita und P. Bamonte dem Papst als Zeichen der Verbundenheit und Wertschätzung eine Statue des Erzengels Michael vom bedeutenden Michaelsheiligtum in Monte Sant’Angelo auf dem Gargano sowie das 2019 von der Exorzistenvereinigung herausgegebene Handbuch „Leitlinien für den Exorzismusdienst“ in italienischer und englischer Ausgabe. Papst Leo XIV. bedankte sich herzlich für die Geschenke und erwiderte die Geste mit der Übergabe von Rosenkränzen.
Die Audienz unterstreicht die enge Verbindung der Internationalen Exorzistenvereinigung zum Heiligen Stuhl, wie es in einer Presseerklärung der AIE heißt. Gegründet von Pater Gabriele Amorth, stehe die AIE in voller Treue zum Papst und seinem Lehramt und verfolge das Ziel, den Exorzismus in der Kirche als geistlich fundiertes und verantwortungsvolles Amt zu fördern. Die Vereinigung gilt als zentrale Anlaufstelle für die Priesterausbildung in diesem Bereich und bietet Leitlinien, Fortbildungen und Unterstützung für Exorzisten weltweit.
Mit dem Empfang durch Papst Leo XIV. erfährt die Arbeit der 1994 gegründeten Vereinigung nicht nur offizielle Anerkennung, sondern auch eine symbolische Bestätigung der Bedeutung des Exorzismus für die pastorale Fürsorge der Kirche.
In der Bundesrepublik Deutschland wurde der letzte offiziell genehmigte Exorzismus 1976 durchgeführt – im bekannten Fall von Anneliese Michel. Ihr Tod, der zwar nicht ursächlich auf den Exorzismus zurückzuführen war, führte aufgrund einer aufgeheizten öffentlichen Debatte, angefacht von kirchenfeindlichen Kräften und unterstützt durch das damals aufgebrochene progressive Klima in Teilen der Kirche, zu massiven Angriffen auf die katholische Kirche und auf den exorzistischen Dienst. In Reaktion darauf entschied die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK), keine weiteren Exorzismen mehr zu genehmigen.
Diese Entscheidung hatte weitreichende Konsequenzen: Mit dem Verzicht auf den Exorzismus beraubte sich die DBK eines seit Jesus Christus als geistliches Gnadenmittel anerkannten pastoralen Instruments. Vor allem aber wurden die Gläubigen eines kirchlich sanktionierten Mittels beraubt, das in extremen Notlagen konkrete Hilfe gegen dämonische Umsessenheit oder Besessenheit bietet. Die Kirche verzichtete damit auf ein Werkzeug, das Teil der seelsorglichen Fürsorge für Menschen sein kann, die unter außergewöhnlicher geistlicher Bedrängnis leiden und den realen Einfluß dämonischer Mächte erfahren.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
El Opus Dei se prepara para su centenario
Messaggio del prelato (19 marzo 2026)
Carissimi, Gesù protegga le mie figlie e i miei figli!
Tutto è fatto, e tutto resta da fare. Questa frase, tante volte meditata da san Josemaría, ci ha guidato nelcammino di preparazione al Centenario dell’Opera, che stiamo percorrendo. Tutto fatto, perché Dio ispirò l’Opera a nostro Padre; tutto da fare, perché ci apre sempre nuovi orizzonti in fedeltà all’origine.
Oggi celebriamo la festa di san Giuseppe, patrono della Chiesa universale e dell’Opera. Il nostro fondatore era solito chiamarlo «padre e signore mio» e lo definiva «uomo del sorriso permanente e dell’abbandono fiducioso». Quanto possiamo imparare da lui! Come modello e intercessore, ci aiuta a trascorrere la vita, con le sue luci e le sue ombre, le sue pene e le sue gioie, mantenendo il cuore pieno di desideri di amore e di fedeltà.
Stretto a san Giuseppe, torno a parlarvi del Centenario dell’Opera. Il 10 giugno 2021 vi informai che la celebrazione avrebbe compreso i cinquecento giorni dal 2 ottobre 2028 al 14 febbraio 2030, come espressione di unità: donne e uomini, laici e sacerdoti. Vi dicevo anche che era stato costituito un comitato per pensare ai preparativi e organizzare una raccolta di suggerimenti, che ci ha permesso di sperimentare, ancora una volta, ciò che don Javier ribadiva tanto spesso: l’Opera è nelle nostre mani. Desidero ringraziare il comitato e tutti e tutte per l’interesse e la partecipazione.
Come sapete, le ultime Assemblee regionali hanno avuto per tema “Cammino verso il Centenario dell’Opera”. Considerando la risposta autenticamente corale proveniente da quasi settanta Paesi, ringrazio Dio per lo spirito di unità e di fedeltà, fondamento del rinnovamento apostolico e spirituale permanente, che desideriamo vivere per rispondere alle sfide di ogni epoca. Giovani e meno giovani, membri dell’Opera, cooperatori, amici e tante persone che hanno fatto parte dell’Opera in qualche momento della loro vita, vi siete soffermati a considerare come incarnare oggi, con fedeltà dinamica, lo spirito che san Josemaría ricevette da Dio per servire la Chiesa. Gratitudine per il passato, accompagnata da un esame umile, e uno sguardo di speranza rivolto al futuro: ciò è quanto vorrei trasmettervi in questo messaggio per vivere, insieme, il Centenario.
I vostri contributi hanno sottolineato con particolare forza tre ambiti della nostra esistenza in mezzo al mondo: la famiglia, il lavoro e la formazione. Leggendo le vostre riflessioni sulla famiglia, si percepisce il desiderio rinnovato che ognuna sia vera «Chiesa domestica», immagine della casa di Nazareth. Inoltre, avete rimarcato che il lavoro non è soltanto un impegno umano, ma anche un ambito di incontro personale con Cristo. I continui cambiamenti nelle realtà professionali e sociali ci sollecitano a far sì che il Vangelo impregni il senso del lavoro e contribuisca a umanizzare e, pertanto, a cristianizzare le relazioni professionali e qualsiasi genere di lavoro, trasformando l’attività quotidiana in un servizio generoso e pieno di significato. La formazione che riceviamo è uno stimolo a configurarci a Cristo e vivificare il mondo dal di dentro.
Nei prossimi anni si continuerà a valorizzare questo prezioso materiale, che riassume le aspirazioni e le necessità di tutti. La situazione della Chiesa e della società è al tempo stesso entusiasmante e delicata, e constatiamo che la grazia di Dio continua ad agire. L’Opera, come parte della Chiesa, non è mai estranea alle vicissitudini di questo mondo. Al di là delprocesso di adattamento degli Statuti, iniziato quasi quattro anni fa e ancora allo studio della Santa Sede, ci si presentano numerose sfide e opportunità per servire la Chiesa come oggi desidera essere servita.
Percorreremo questo cammino grati a Dio per l’incremento di persone che lo cercano e partecipano ai mezzi di formazione, per le conversioni che il Signore suscita grazie ai rapporti di amicizia e per le nuove iniziative apostoliche. Tutta questa vitalità ci rivela l’azione di Dio, dal quale provengono i frutti, e dimostra la dedizione di molti miei figli, vostri fratelli e sorelle, che hanno dato la vita per gli altri.
Questa tappa della continuità non è però esente da sfide analoghe a quelle che incontrano tutti i cristiani. Per esempio, nella maggior parte delle regioni si nota la difficoltà dei giovani di percepire la bellezza della chiamata al celibato apostolico. D’altra parte, con il passare del tempo, dovremo affrontare la difficoltà del ricambio generazionale, sia di laici che di sacerdoti. Ciò renderà necessario cercare in ogni regione nuovi modi per continuare a compiere la nostra missione. Richiederà, come hanno sottolineato in modo unanime le Assemblee regionali, focalizzarsi prioritariamente sull’apostolato con i giovani e che i soprannumerari ne siano davvero protagonisti, continuando a migliorare la loro formazione, per essere tutti in prima linea in questo apostolato capillare, spiegati a ventaglio.
Sono passati quasi cinque anni dal mio primo messaggio sul Centenario e ci stiamo avvicinando alla ricorrenza. D’accordo con l’Assessorato Centrale e il Consiglio Generale, vi propongo di prepararci spiritualmente a quel momento meditando l’esempio dei primi cristiani: uomini e donne di ogni condizione e provenienza che testimoniarono la fede in Cristo fino a trasformare la società. Nostro Padre ricordava che «se si vuole fare un paragone, il modo più facile per capire l’Opera è di pensare alla vita dei primi cristiani. Essi vivevano a fondo la loro vocazione cristiana; cercavano seriamente la perfezione alla quale erano chiamati per il fatto, semplice e sublime, di aver ricevuto il Battesimo. Non si distinguevano esteriormente dagli altri cittadini» (Colloqui, n. 24).
In questo scenario, vorrei che nei prossimi anni riflettessimo più profondamente su alcuni aspetti centrali dello spirito dell’Opus Dei, che san Josemaría sintetizzò in frasi ed espressioni che conosciamo e che sono per noi un dono e un compito. Il 19 febbraio scorso, in un incontro con sacerdoti, Leone XIV ha richiamato le parole di Gesù alla samaritana: «Se tu conoscessi il dono di Dio» (Gv 4,10). Il Papa diceva: «Il dono, come sappiamo, è anche un invito a vivere una responsabilità creativa (...). Con la nostra creatività e i nostri carismi, siamo chiamati a collaborare con l’opera di Dio. A questo proposito, sono illuminanti le parole che l’Apostolo Paolo rivolge a Timoteo: “Ti ricordo di ravvivare il dono di Dio che è in te” (2Tm 1,6)».
Ravvivare il dono di Dio è ciò che desideriamo fare in modo speciale nei prossimi anni. In particolare, suggerisco di approfondire, tra il 2 ottobre 2026 e il 2 ottobre 2027 il concetto di essere contemplativi in mezzo al mondo, nel quale nostro Padre compendiava molti elementi dello spirito dell’Opus Dei: la filiazione divina, la Messa come centro e radice della nostra esistenza, il valore della vita ordinaria e la bellezza nello scoprire quel «qualcosa di divino» nascosto nelle realtà più comuni del lavoro, della famiglia e della vita sociale.
Nel corso dell’anno successivo, fino all’inizio del Centenario il 2 ottobre 2028, desidererei che tenessimo più presenti gli insegnamenti di san Josemaría sull’amicizia e sulla confidenza, per essere, ognuna e ognuno di noi, «Gesù che passa» per gli altri e scoprendo questo stesso Gesù anche in loro. Nella nostra vocazione, l’amicizia è luogo privilegiato di evangelizzazione, perché nei legami di amicizia condividiamo il Vangelo cuore a cuore.
Infine, dal 2 ottobre 2028 al 14 febbraio 2030 vi invito a meditare sul lavoro, nell’ottica della secolarità, a partire dal pensiero di san Josemaría – «Santificare il lavoro, santificarsi nel lavoro e santificare gli altri con il lavoro» – ispirando a trasformare il mondo secondo il cuore di Gesù. Il messaggio di san Josemaría acquista particolare valore quando l’idea del lavoro come luogo di santificazione non è affatto scontata, e dinanzi ai cambiamenti tecnologici e culturali che influiscono in modo decisivo sulle persone. Con la grazia di Dio e con l’esempio, nonostante i nostri limiti e difetti, molti potranno incontrare Cristo nella loro vita, riempiendola di significato.
Nei prossimi anni ci prepareremo spiritualmente, riflettendo su questi tre insegnamenti centrali di san Josemaría, con il desiderio di servire meglio le persone che ci stanno accanto, la Chiesa e l’intera società. Nostro Padre vedeva le sue figlie e i suoi figli come «seminatori di pace e di gioia». Aspiriamo a rendere realtà il sogno.
Continuiamo a pregare per queste intenzioni, in sintonia con l’invito tante volte ribadito da nostro Padre: «Fin dall’inizio della nostra Opera non mi sono stancato di insegnare la stessa cosa: la nostra unica arma è la preghiera, pregare giorno e notte. E ora ve lo ripeto di nuovo: pregate, pregate, perché ce n’è molto bisogno!» (Lettera 28-III-1973, n. 5).
La vita di san Giuseppe fu dedicata completamente a contemplare, amare e custodire Gesù e Maria, nella sua condizione di padre di famiglia e di lavoratore nella Galilea del suo tempo. Gli chiediamo di accompagnarci in questo cammino verso il Centenario.
Naturalmente, mentre consideriamo questi temi, vogliamo unirci sinceramente alla preghiera del Santo Padre per la pace nel mondo, solcato da tante guerre e devastazioni in numerosi Paesi e nazioni, e cerchiamo di essere nel nostro contesto strumenti di pace. Cristo, Principe della Pace, abbia misericordia di questo nostro mondo, la sua grazia consoli coloro che soffrono e trasformi l’odio di tanti cuori in sentimenti di amore e di perdono.
Con grandissimo affetto vi benedice
vostro Padre
Roma, 19 marzo 2026
The Church against Hitler pt. 4 March 22 Blessed Clemens August von Galen. by Darsham. Also known as …
Der Löwe von Münster: Widerstand gegen Hitler und Leid des Krieges
Der Löwe von Münster: Widerstand gegen Hitler …
Am 22. März 1946 starb der „Löwe von Münster“, den die New York Times 1942 als „den hartnäckigsten Gegner des Nationalsozialismus“ bezeichnet hatte und der die Bombardements der Alliierten anprangerte, die deutsche Städte dem Erdboden gleichmachten. Seine Korrespondenz mit Pius XII., der ihn zum Kardinal ernannte, enthält viele aktuelle Anknüpfungspunkte.
"Senza rispetto del diritto non ci sarà mai pace", 80 anni fa la morte del beato von Galen
Stefania Falasca - Vatikanstadt*
Ein Augenzeuge beschreibt, wie er den Bischof nach einem Angriff unter freiem Himmel zwischen rauchenden Ruinen sah, wie er sich „an die einzige noch stehende Wand klammerte... wie durch ein Wunder am Leben“.
Diese Dokumente beschreiben nicht nur die Zerstörung des Doms und die Berge von Leichen auf dem Marienplatz, sondern erinnern vor allem an die moralische Standhaftigkeit eines Mannes, des seligen Clemens August von Galen, dem Bischof von Münster – an dessen Tod am 22. März 1946 sich nun zum achtzigsten Mal jährt.
Ein Widerstand aus dem Herzen Westfalens
Von Galen wurde zum Epizentrum jenes „anderen Deutschlands“. Unterstützt und ermutigt von Papst Pius XII., widersetzte er sich offen Hitler und dem Kult um Blut und Rasse. In seinem Dom erhob er seine Stimme, um die Verbrechen des Nazismus zu entlarven. Er erklärte öffentlich, keine „Volksgemeinschaft mit jenen zu wollen, welche die Menschenwürde mit Füßen treten“.
Besonders bedeutsam war sein Einsatz für die Schwächsten: In seinen berühmten Predigten, die ihm den Beinamen „Löwe von Münster“ einbrachten, entlarvte und verurteilte er mit Nachdruck das NS-Projekt T4 zur Eliminierung „lebensunwerten Lebens“. Diese Predigten waren so wirkungsvoll, dass Hitler schwor, nach dem Krieg mit ihm „bis auf den letzten Pfennig abzurechnen“. Die britische Royal Air Force warf die Texte seiner Predigten sogar über Berlin ab, und die jüdische Gemeinschaft zollte ihm Anerkennung.
Die Korrespondenz mit Pius XII.
Archivfunde belegen die enge Abstimmung zwischen von Galen und Papst Pacelli. Doch die Briefe ab 1943 zeigten eine neue, tragische Facette. Am 4. November 1943 schrieb der Bischof an den Papst über den Zustand Münsters. Ihn quälte nicht nur das Leid der Bevölkerung, sondern auch die Zerstörung von zweihundert Kirchen seiner Diözese. Er konnte, wie Priester Theodor Holling im Prozess aussagte, nie verstehen, warum die Alliierten den Dom absichtlich zum Ziel gemacht hatten.
Das „Moral Bombing“
Was Hitler nicht gelang, vollendete die Strategie des „Moral Bombing“. Unter diesem von Churchill geprägten Begriff sollte der Widerstandswille der Deutschen durch die systematische Zerstörung ihrer Städte gebrochen werden. Münster wurde im Jahr 1943 allein von 49 Luftangriffen getroffen. Bis zum Kriegsende folgten weitere 53. Am schwersten wogen die Angriffe vom 30. September und 22. Oktober 1944, als 5.000 Sprengbomben und 200.000 Brandbomben auf die Stadt mit damals nur 66.000 Einwohnern niedergingen.
Münster gehörte zwar nicht zu den Städten, die durch das gezielte „Maximum use of fire“ (wie Hamburg oder Dresden) komplett dem Erdboden gleichgemacht wurden, doch die Agonie des Feuers prägte das Land und das Wirken des Bischofs bis zu seinem Tod kurz nach Kriegsende.
(*Deutsche Zusammenfassung des Berichts für L´Osservatore Romano, Original auf Italienisch)
Jérôme Fehrenbach présente son livre "Von Galen : un évêque contre Hitler"
80 ans de la mort du bienheureux von Galen, visionnaire de la paix
80 ans de la mort du bienheureux von Galen, …
Le 22 mars 1946 mourait le Lion de Münster, «l’opposant le plus acharné au nazisme» comme l’avait défini en 1942 le New York Times, et qui dénonçait les bombardements alliés qui rasaient les villes allemandes. Dans sa correspondance avec le Pape Pie XII qui le créa cardinal, figurent de nombreuses réflexions toujours d’actualité.
Stefania Falasca
«Des bombes explosives et incendiaires ont été larguées sur Münster: elles ont touché la cathédrale et détruit la résidence de notre évêque. Alors que les avions volaient encore au-dessus de la ville, j’ai vu Monseigneur tout en haut, à ciel ouvert, parmi les ruines enfumées… il s’était agrippé au seul mur encore debout… miraculeusement vivant. Plus tard, je l’informai de la mort du vicaire, des prêtres et des fidèles, de toutes les religieuses cloîtrées, de l’horreur des piles de corps à demi calcinés, déchiquetés, entassés sur les décombres de la Marienplatz, de la Groitgasse… et de ceux qui, en fouillant ces décombres, essayant encore de séparer les morts des vivants, se sont retrouvés face au spectacle effroyable des enchevêtrements de cadavres de femmes et d’enfants étouffés, bouillis dans les abris».
C'est ainsi que, dans les actes du procès canonique du bienheureux Clemens August von Galen, évêque de Münster – dont on commémore le quatre-vingtième anniversaire de la mort, survenue le 22 mars 1946 –, est décrit le bombardement mené par les Alliés en 1943 sur cette ville allemande de Westphalie. Cette ville avait été l’épicentre de cette autre Allemagne – qui, avec Mgr Clemens August von Galen, soutenu et encouragé par Pie XII, avait ouvertement résisté à Adolph Hitler et au culte du sang et de la race. N’était-ce pas en effet depuis cette cathédrale que l’évêque avait élevé la voix pour dénoncer et condamner les crimes aberrants et les barbaries du nazisme? Qu'il avait ouvertement défié les violations des droits en déclarant ne pas vouloir «de communauté de peuple avec ceux qui bafouent la dignité humaine»? Qu'il avait démasqué et dénoncé, dans ses célèbres sermons qui lui valurent le surnom de Lion de Münster, le projet nazi T4 visant à éliminer les vies inutiles? À tel point que, pour son courage audacieux et indomptable, publiquement reconnu, à peine un an auparavant, il avait fait la Une du New York Times en tant que «l’opposant le plus acharné au régime national-socialiste» et que ses célèbres sermons – pour lesquels, fou de haine, Adolph Hitler jura qu’il lui «ferait payer jusqu’au dernier centime» – furent même largués dans le ciel au-dessus de Berlin par la Royal Air Force britannique.
Des sermons pour lesquels il reçut la reconnaissance de la communauté juive et qui, sous le Troisième Reich, furent encouragés et appréciés par Pie XII lui-même qui – comme en témoigne la correspondance entre l'évêque allemand et le Pape Pacelli, retrouvée et reconstituée dans son intégralité lors des recherches archivistiques menées dans le cadre du procès de canonisation de von Galen – révèle le soutien du Pape à son action et leur volonté commune de lutter contre la folie nazie.
Un portrait du Lion de Münster
Le 4 novembre 1943 également, Mgr von Galen avait écrit à Pie XII, mais cette fois-ci pour lui faire part de la situation catastrophique dans laquelle se trouvait la ville de Münster et de sa douleur face aux victimes du bombardement allié. «Outre la souffrance de la population, la destruction des deux cents églises du diocèse l’attristait profondément, et plus encore celle de la cathédrale, à tel point qu’il ne parvint jamais à comprendre pourquoi les Alliés l’avaient délibérément fait», déclare le prêtre Theodor Holling lors du procès.
Ce qu’Adolph Hitler n’avait pas réussi à accomplir, le «moral bombing» l’a fait: c’est ainsi que Winston Churchill avait traduit le concept stratégique de la «juste guerre aérienne», destinée à «racheter le moral par l’affaiblissement systématique de la résistance morale des Allemands». Au cours de l’année 1943, Münster fut «rachetée» par 49 raids, auxquels s’en ajouteraient 53 autres avant la fin de la guerre: les plus violents furent ceux du 30 septembre et du 22 octobre 1944. Au total, 5 000 bombes explosives et 200 000 bombes incendiaires furent larguées sur une ville de 66 000 habitants. Un destin qui la lia à tant d’autres villes allemandes, dans cette «obstination thérapeutique» délibérée au milieu de l’agonie de feu qui conduisit à l’anéantissement du pays. Münster ne fit toutefois pas partie de ces villes privilégiées par le Bomber Command allié, sur lesquelles furent mises au point les techniques sophistiquées du «Maximum use of fire», avec les effets spéciaux des «tempêtes de feu» qui provoquèrent leur désertification: des villes comme Potsdam, Lübeck, Hambourg, Dresde... les fleurons d’Arthur Harris, le génie incontesté du «moral bombing», qui avait baptisé «Opération Gomorrhe» les succès de «nettoyage» et d’anéantissement obtenus.
Lorsque «l’utilisation stratégique» des bombardements intensifs s’intensifia en Allemagne, l’évêque anglais de Chichester, Mgr George Bell, avait déclaré devant la Chambre des lords: «Les Alliés ne peuvent pas se comporter comme des divinités qui foudroient leurs ennemis depuis le ciel! Le mot clé inscrit sur nos drapeaux est “droit”. Nous devons mettre notre force au service du droit. Et le droit s’oppose au bombardement des villes ennemies, en particulier au bombardement intensif!». Et il avait poursuivi: «Mettre sur le même plan les assassins nazis et le peuple allemand, sur lequel ils ont commis toutes sortes d’atrocités, revient à propager la barbarie». Telles étaient les mêmes constatations lucides et courageuses que, de l’autre côté, dans l’Allemagne dévastée par le «moral bombing», Mgr von Galen avait osé prononcer devant les forces alliées. C’est précisément à Münster, en octobre 1945, que von Galen et l’évêque anglican de Chichester se sont rencontrés au siège du gouvernement militaire en présence du général de brigade Chadwick. L’évêque Bell, qui se trouvait en Allemagne en tant que représentant de l’Église anglicane, a exprimé son estime et sa pleine adhésion à l’évêque allemand qui «avec un amour pastoral ardent s’était dévoué pour protéger le troupeau qui lui était confié» et n’avait pas craint «de dire un chien est un chien et un chat un chat pour défendre les droits de Dieu et de la dignité humaine bafouée, même aujourd’hui encore que le chaos et la barbarie font rage à cause des exactions, des pillages et des violences qui ont suivi l’entrée des troupes alliées.»
Portrait du cardinal von Galen (VATICAN MEDIA Divisione Foto)
À l'occasion du premier pèlerinage d'après-guerre que la population de Münster effectua le 1er juillet 1945 au sanctuaire marial de Telgte, Mgr von Galen avait en effet protesté publiquement et avec vigueur contre l'attitude du gouvernement militaire allié, qui ne respectait pas les droits du peuple allemand. «Les fidèles», témoigne son secrétaire Heinrich Portmann, «qui retrouvèrent à cette occasion leur grand défenseur au milieu des tribulations et des souffrances, furent profondément réconfortés, mais il n’en fut pas de même pour les chefs des troupes d’occupation, à tel point que l’évêque fut convoqué pour rendre des comptes devant le commandant militaire de Warendorf». Cette rencontre est documentée par la déposition du prêtre Federico Sühling lors du procès de canonisation de Mgr von Galen: «Le commandant Jackson demanda à l’évêque des éclaircissements sur les paroles prononcées. Il répondit fermement: “En tant que forces d’occupation, vous avez aussi des devoirs et si vous ne les remplissez pas, j’agirai exactement comme j’ai agi contre les injustices et la barbarie du national-socialisme”. Il mentionna ensuite certains points qui lui tenaient particulièrement à cœur: les actes d’agression et les violences contre les civils, en particulier les viols de femmes, commis par les troupes d’occupation. En évoquant surtout les cas de violence, l’évêque s’irrita fortement, frappa du poing sur la table et dit à l’interprète: “Traduisez mot pour mot ce que j’ai dit”, et il ne retira pas un iota de son sermon.»
Le 20 août 1945, von Galen avait écrit à Pie XII: «Même les nouveaux journaux allemands dirigés par les forces d’occupation doivent publier sans cesse des déclarations qui visent à imputer à l’ensemble du peuple allemand, y compris à ceux qui n’ont jamais adhéré aux doctrines erronées du national-socialisme et qui, au contraire, ont résisté dans la mesure de leurs moyens, une culpabilité collective et la responsabilité de tous les crimes commis par les anciens détenteurs du pouvoir.» C'est avec amertume qu'il avait ensuite constaté: «Il semble que cet état d'esprit soit à l'origine de l'acceptation des campagnes de pillage et de saccage [...] et de la déportation impitoyable de la population allemande hors de sa patrie».
Et il n’hésita pas à affirmer avec une force lucide: «Il est vraiment terrifiant que le nationalisme exacerbé, qui culmine dans le culte de la race propre au national-socialisme, règne aujourd’hui même parmi les vainqueurs, à tel point qu’à Potsdam, il a été décidé d’expulser l’ensemble de la population allemande des territoires attribués à la Pologne et à la Tchécoslovaquie et de la regrouper dans les territoires occidentaux».
Dans la lettre suivante, datée du 25 septembre 1945, décrivant encore en détail à Pie XII «les conditions terribles des territoires occupés», il l’avait supplié d’intervenir par «une aide directe au moyen de protestations auprès des puissances victorieuses».
La veille de Noël 1945, Radio Vatican annonça que Pie XII avait nommé cardinal l’évêque Clemens August von Galen.
Cérémonie de béatification du cardinal von Galen par Benoît XVI le 9 octobre 2005 (VATICAN MEDIA Divisione Foto)
À Rome, l'arrivée du Lion de Münster avait été triomphale. Les étudiants de l’Université pontificale grégorienne l’avaient accueilli au cri de «vox populi vox Dei». Pie XII, à Saint-Pierre, lui conféra la dignité cardinalice en même temps qu’à deux autres évêques allemands qui s’étaient distingués dans leur lutte contre la folie nazie: l’archevêque de Cologne Joseph Frings et l’évêque de Berlin Konrad von Preysing. Pour l’épiscopat et le peuple allemand, ces nominations étaient la preuve que Pie XII n’était pas disposé à se joindre à ceux qui, à l’époque, étaient «enclins à considérer tous les Allemands comme une bande de délinquants»; elles étaient en même temps «le signe d’une juste récompense pour la résistance courageuse au nazisme que des hommes comme ceux-ci avaient opposée, et parmi eux, la première place revenait à Mgr von Galen». La presse rapportait donc ce qui était évident pour tous: Mgr von Galen avait osé attaquer publiquement et de front le régime; il était le symbole de cette autre Allemagne qui avait résisté à Adolph Hitler. Et dans l’attribution de la dignité cardinalice ad personam par Pie XII, il voyait à la fois «le rejet de la culpabilité collective» et «la reconnaissance envers le défenseur viril de la vérité chrétienne et des droits inaliénables de l’homme qui, dans l’État totalitaire, devaient être éradiqués».
Le 6 janvier 1946, l’évêque von Galen écrivit sa dernière lettre à Pie XII avant de se rendre à Rome pour recevoir la barrette cardinalice. Ce jour-là, il souhaita célébrer l’Épiphanie dans les ruines du sanctuaire de Telgte. C'est par ces mots qu'il conclut sa dernière homélie au sanctuaire: «Sous le nazisme, j'ai déclaré publiquement, et je l'ai également écrit directement à Hitler en 1939, alors qu'aucune puissance n'intervenait pour contrecarrer ses visées expansionnistes: “La justice est le fondement de l'État; si la justice n'est pas rétablie, alors notre peuple mourra de pourriture interne”. Aujourd’hui, je dois dire: si le droit n’est pas respecté entre les peuples, alors la paix et la concorde entre les peuples ne viendront jamais».
La Croce et la Svastika Beato Clemente Augusto von Galen Vescovo 22 marzo. Luca Utili 30 giugno 2012…
"Senza rispetto del diritto non ci sarà mai pace", 80 anni fa la morte del beato von Galen
"Senza rispetto del diritto non ci sarà mai …
Il 22 marzo 1946 moriva il Leone di Münster, "l'oppositore più ostinato del nazismo" come l’aveva definito nel ’42 il New York Times, che denunciò i bombardamenti alleati che rasero al suolo le città tedesche. Molti spunti attuali nella sua corrispondenza con Pio XII che lo creò cardinale
di Stefania Falasca*
«Bombe dirompenti e incendiare vennero sganciate su Münster: centrarono il Duomo e distrussero la residenza del nostro vescovo. Mentre gli aerei volavano ancora sulla città, vidi il reverendissimo monsignore su in alto, sotto il cielo aperto tra le rovine in fumo… era rimasto aggrappato all’unica parete rimasta in piedi… miracolosamente vivo. Più tardi lo informai della morte del vicario, dei sacerdoti e dei fedeli, di tutte le suore di clausura, dell’orrore delle pile di corpi mezzi inceneriti, dilaniati, ammonticchiati sopra le macerie della Marienplatz, di Groitgasse… e di chi scavando tra quelle macerie, cercando ancora di separare i morti dai vivi, si ritrovò lo spettacolo agghiacciante dei grovigli di cadaveri di donne e bambini soffocati, bolliti nei rifugi».
Così agli atti del processo canonico del beato Clemens August von Galen, il vescovo di Münster – di cui ricorrono ottant’anni dalla sua morte, avvenuta il 22 marzo 1946 – è descritto il bombardamento compiuto dagli Alleati nel ’43 sopra la città tedesca della Westafalia. Proprio quella città che era stata l’epicentro di quell’altra Germania – che con il vescovo Clemens August von Galen, sostenuto e incoraggiato da Pio XII – aveva apertamente opposto resistenza a Hitler e al culto del sangue e della razza. Non era infatti da quel Duomo che il vescovo aveva alzato la sua voce smascherando e condannando gli aberranti crimini e le barbarie del nazismo? Che sfidò a viso aperto le violazioni dei diritti dichiarando di non volere «comunanza di popolo con chi calpesta la dignità umana»? Che nelle sue famose prediche, che gli valsero l’appellativo di Leone di Münster, smascherò e denunciò con forza il progetto T4 nazista per l’eliminazione delle vite inutili? Tanto che per il suo ardito e indomito coraggio, pubblicamente riconosciuto, appena un anno prima, si era guadagnato le pagine del New York Times come «il più accanito oppositore del regime nazionalsocialista» e le sue famose prediche – per le quali furente d’odio, Hitler giurò che avrebbe fatto «i conti con lui fino all’ultimo centesimo» – vennero persino lanciate nel cielo sopra Berlino dalla Royal Air Force inglese. Prediche per le quali ricevette il riconoscimento dalla comunità ebraiche e nel corso del Terzo Reich furono incoraggiate e apprezzate dallo stesso Pio XII che – come documenta la corrispondenza tra il vescovo tedesco e papa Pacelli, rinvenuta e ricostruita integralmente nell’indagine archivistica compiuta nel corso del processo di canonizzazione di von Galen – rivela il sostegno del Papa all’azione e il comune intento contro la follia nazista.
Un ritratto del "Leone di Münster"
Anche il 4 novembre 1943 il vescovo von Galen aveva scritto a Pio XII, ma questa volta comunicandogli le catastrofiche condizioni in cui versava la città di Münster e il dolore per le vittime del bombardamento alleato. «Insieme alla sofferenza della popolazione, anche le distruzioni delle duecento chiese della diocesi lo addoloravano profondamente e, più di tutte, quella del Duomo, tanto che non arrivò mai a capire perché gli alleati deliberatamente lo avessero fatto», dichiara al processo il sacerdote Theodor Holling.
Quello che Hitler non era riuscito a compiere lo fece il moral bombing, così Churchill aveva tradotto il concetto di strategia della «giusta guerra dell’aria» destinata a «redimere la morale attraverso l’abbattimento sistematico della resistenza morale dei tedeschi». Nel corso del ’43 Münster venne “redenta” da 49 incursioni, alle quali se ne sarebbero aggiunte altre 53 prima della fine della guerra: le più pesanti furono quelle del 30 settembre e del 22 ottobre del ’44. Scaricarono in totale 5000 bombe dirompenti e 200mila bombe incendiarie su una città di 66mila abitanti. Un destino che la unì a tante altre città tedesche, in quel deliberato “accanimento terapeutico” nell’agonia di fuoco che portò alla cancellazione il Paese. Münster tuttavia non rientrò nel novero di quelle città privilegiate dal Bomber Command alleato, sulle quali si misero a punto le sofisticate tecniche del Maximum use of fire, con gli effetti speciali delle “Tempeste di fuoco” che ne provocarono la desertificazione: città come Potsdam, Lubecca, Amburgo, Dresda... i fiori all’occhiello di Arthur Harris, il genio indiscusso del moral bombing, che aveva battezzato con il nome Operazione Gomorra i successi di «pulizia» e annientamento raggiunti.
Quando si intensificò «l’impiego strategico» dei bombardamenti a tappeto in Germania, il vescovo inglese di Chichester, George Bell, davanti alla Camera dei Lord, aveva dichiarato: «Gli alleati non possono comportarsi come divinità che fulminano i nemici dal cielo! La parola cruciale scritta sulle nostre bandiere è diritto. Noi dobbiamo mettere la nostra forza al servizio del diritto. E il diritto è contrario al bombardamento delle città nemiche, specialmente il bombardamento a tappeto!». E aveva continuato: «Mettere sullo stesso piano gli assassini nazisti e il popolo tedesco, su cui essi hanno compiuto ogni tipo di malefatta, significa diffondere la barbarie». Erano, queste, le stesse lucide e coraggiose constatazioni che, dall’altra parte, nella Germania devastata dal moral bombing, il vescovo von Galen osò pronunciare davanti alle Forze Alleate. Proprio a Münster, nell’ottobre del ’45, von Galen e il vescovo anglicano di Chichester si incontrarono nella sede del governo militare in presenza del generale di brigata Chadwick. Il vescovo Bell, che si trovava in Germania come rappresentante della Chiesa anglicana, espresse la sua stima e la sua piena sintonia con il vescovo tedesco che «con ardente amore pastorale si era prodigato nel proteggere il gregge affidatogli» e non aveva avuto timore «di dire bianco al bianco e nero al nero in difesa dei diritti di Dio e della dignità umana calpestata, anche adesso che il caos e la barbarie imperversano a causa dei soprusi, dei saccheggi, delle violenze seguite all’entrata delle truppe alleate».
Clemens August von Galen (VATICAN MEDIA Divisione Foto)
In occasione del primo pellegrinaggio dopo la guerra che la popolazione di Münster compì il 1° luglio 1945 al santuario mariano di Telgte, von Galen aveva infatti sollevato pubblicamente una dura protesta per il comportamento del governo militare alleato che non faceva rispettare i diritti del popolo tedesco. «I fedeli» testimonia il suo segretario Heinrich Portmann «che ritrovarono nell’occasione il loro grande avvocato in mezzo alle tribolazioni e alle sofferenze, furono tanto beneficamente confortati, ma non così avvenne per i capi delle truppe d’occupazione, tant’è che il vescovo venne chiamato a dare un rendiconto dal comandante militare di Warendorf». L’incontro è documentato dalla deposizione del sacerdote Federico Sühling nel processo di canonizzazione di von Galen: «Il comandante Jackson chiese al vescovo chiarimenti riguardo alle parole dette. Egli rispose fermamente: “Come forze occupanti avete anche dei doveri e se non li adempite agirò proprio come ho agito contro le ingiustizie e la barbarie del nazionalsocialismo”. Menzionò poi alcuni punti che gli stavano particolarmente a cuore: gli atti di aggressione e le violenze contro i civili, in particolare gli stupri verso le donne, usate dalle truppe di occupazione. Riferendosi soprattutto ai casi di violenza il vescovo si irritò fortemente, batté col pugno sul tavolo e disse all’interprete: “Traduca alla lettera ciò che ho detto” e non revocò neppure uno iota della sua predica».
Il 20 agosto 1945 von Galen aveva scritto a Papa Pacelli: «Persino i nuovi giornali tedeschi diretti dalle forze d’occupazione debbono pubblicare di continuo dichiarazioni che vogliono imputare all’intero popolo tedesco, anche a quelli che mai hanno reso omaggio alle erronee dottrine del nazionalsocialismo, e che anzi secondo le proprie possibilità vi hanno opposto resistenza, una colpa collettiva e la responsabilità per tutti i crimini commessi dai precedenti detentori del potere». Con amarezza aveva poi constatato: «Sembra che questa disposizione d’animo sia il fondamento per l’ammissione di campagne di rapina e di saccheggio [...] e per la spietata deportazione della popolazione tedesca dalla sua patria».
E non risparmiò di affermare con lucida forza: «È veramente terrificante che il nazionalismo esasperato culminante nel culto della razza proprio del nazionalsocialismo domini oggi anche tra i vincitori, a tal punto che a Potsdam si è deciso di espellere l’intera popolazione tedesca dai territori assegnati alla Polonia e alla Cecoslovacchia e di ammassarli nei territori occidentali».
Nella successiva lettera del 25 settembre 1945, descrivendo in dettaglio ancora a Pio XII «le terribili condizioni dei territori occupati», lo aveva supplicato di intervenire con «un aiuto diretto per mezzo di rimostranze verso le potenze vincitrici».
Alla vigilia di Natale del 1945 Radio Vaticana comunicò la notizia che Pio XII aveva nominato cardinale il vescovo Clemens August von Galen.
Benedetto XVI durante la celebrazione a San Pietro per la beatificazione di van Galen, il 9 ottobre 2005 (VATICAN MEDIA Divisione Foto)
A Roma l’arrivo del Leone di Münster era stato trionfale. Gli studenti della Pontificia Università Gregoriana lo avevano accolto al grido di «vox populi vox Dei». Pio XII, in San Pietro, gli conferì la dignità cardinalizia insieme ad altri due vescovi tedeschi che si erano distinti nel fronteggiare la follia nazista: l’arcivescovo di Colonia Joseph Frings e il vescovo di Berlino Konrad von Preysing. Per l’episcopato e il popolo tedesco quelle nomine erano la dimostrazione che Pio XII non era disposto a partecipare alle voci di coloro che in quei tempi erano «incline a considerare tutti i tedeschi un gruppo di delinquenti» e al tempo stesso erano «il segno di un giusto premio per la resistenza coraggiosa al nazismo che uomini come questi avevano fatto, e tra di essi, il primo posto spettava al vescovo von Galen». La stampa, dunque, riportava ciò che era a tutti evidente: von Galen aveva osato attaccare pubblicamente e frontalmente il regime: egli era il simbolo di quell’altra Germania che aveva resistito a Hitler. E nel conferimento della dignità cardinalizia ad personam da parte di Pio XII vedeva sia «il rifiuto della colpa collettiva» sia «la riconoscenza per il virile difensore della verità cristiana e dei diritti inalienabili dell’uomo che nello Stato totalitario dovevano essere estirpati».
Il 6 gennaio del ’46 il vescovo von Galen scrive l’ultima lettera a Pio XII prima di giungere a Roma per ricevere la berretta cardinalizia. Quel giorno volle celebrare l’Epifania nelle rovine del santuario di Telgte. Con queste parole chiuse la sua ultima omelia al santuario: «Sotto il nazismo dissi pubblicamente, e lo scrissi direttamente anche a Hitler nel ’39, quando nessuna potenza intervenì allora per ostacolare le sue mire espansionistiche: “La giustizia è il fondamento dello Stato; se la giustizia non viene ristabilita, allora il nostro popolo morirà per putrefazione interna”. Oggi devo dire: se tra i popoli non viene rispettato il diritto, allora non verrà mai la pace e la concordia tra i popoli».
* Postulatore della Causa
La Croce et la Svastika Beato Clemente Augusto von Galen Vescovo 22 marzo. Luca Utili 30 giugno 2012…
Sermon Against the Gestapo, by Blessed Clemens, 13 July 1941
SERMON DELIVERED BY BISHOP CLEMENS AUGUST COUNT OF GALEN ON JULY 13, 1941
AT THE CHURCH OF ST. LAMBERT, MUENSTER
My dear Catholics of St. Lambert:
Today I had intended to speak my personal episcopal message from the pulpit of the town and market church concerning the events of the past week, and especially to express my very deep sympathy to my former congregation. The devastation and losses have been particularly great in certain parts of the parish of St. Lambert's, though also in other parts of the town. I hope that some of the distress will be alleviated by the efforts of the municipal and state authorities and also by your brotherly love and the results of today's collections for the Charitable Fund and the Parish charity.
I had made up my mind to speak a few words about the purpose of these visitations, how God tries by this means to call us back to Himself. God wants to call Munster to him. How truly our forefathers were at home with God and in God's holy Church! How entirely their lives were borne up by faith in God, led by the fear and the love of God, public life as well as family and society life! Has it been thus in our own days? God wants to fetch Munster home to Himself!
I had meant to speak to you on these lines today but I must leave that aside now, for I find it necessary to speak here publicly for another matter, a terrible occurrence which overtook us yesterday at the end of this week of horror.
The whole of Munster is still beneath the shadow of the terrible devastation which the outside enemy and opponent in war has caused us during the past week, and yesterday, on July 12, 1941, the secret Police took possession of the two settlements of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Order in our town, Haus Sentmaring on the Weselerstrasse, and the Ignatiushaus in the Konigstrasse, drove the inmates out of their property, forced the priests and brothers immediately on the same day to leave not only our town, but also the provinces of Westphalia and Rhineland. And the same hard fate was yesterday imposed also on the Sisters in the Steinfurtherstrasse. Their house too was confiscated and they must leave Westphalia and Munster by 6 this evening. The houses and properties of the Order with inventory were taken over for the "Gauleitung" of Northern Westphalia.
So now the storming of the monasteries, which has already raged long in the Ostmark, in South Germany, in the newly acquired territories, in the Warthegau, in Luxemburg, in Lorraine and in other parts of the country, has broken out here in Westphalia. We must expect such alarming items of news to pile up in the next few days, when one monastery after another is confiscated by the Gestapo, when its inmates, our brothers and sisters, children of our families, faithful German citizens, are thrown into the streets like worthless rascals, chased from the country like criminals, and at that time when all the trembles before new night attacks which kill us all, which can make every one of us homeless refugees; then innocent, highly respected men and women beloved by many are driven out of their modest possessions, and German citizens, fellow townsmen in Munster, are turned into homeless refugees.
Why? I was told: for state-political reasons! No further reasons were given. Not one inhabitant of these monasteries has been accused of any offense, or brought before law or condemned. And if any one were guilty, then let him be brought before the law. But should the innocent also be punished?
I ask you, before those whose eyes the Jesuit brothers and the sisters of the Immaculate have for years led their quiet lives devoted only to the honour of God and the welfare of their fellow human beings: who thinks these men and women guilty of any punishable offense? Who dares to bring an accusation against them? Let him who dares, prove it. Not even the Gestapo has brought such an accusation, let alone a court of justice. I bear witness here publicly as Bishop to whom is entrusted the supervision of the Orders, that I have the greatest respect for the quiet, unassuming Missionary Sisters of Wilkinhege who are today being driven out. They were founded by my very honored episcopal friend and fellow countryman the Bishop Amandus Bahlmann, who started the Order mainly for the Mission in Brazil, in which he, earning the gratitude of Germans in Brazil, worked untiringly up to the time of his death three years ago.
I bear witness as a German man and as bishop that I have the greatest respect and admiration for the Jesuit Order which I have known from my earliest youth and for 50 years from close observation; that I shall be bound to the Society of Jesus, my teachers and friends, in love and gratitude until my last breath, and that I have an even greater admiration for them now in this moment when Christ's prophecy to His disciples is again being fulfilled: "As they have persecuted me, so they will persecute you also. If you were of this world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of this world, but I have chosen you from the world, [sic] therefore the world hates you."
So I greet you with deep love from this place in the name of all faithful Catholics of the town of Munster and the Bishopric of Munster, as those chosen by Christ and hated by the world, as you go out into undeserved banishment.
May God reward them for all the good they have done for us! May God not punish us and our town for the unjust treatment and banishment which has been meted out to his disciples. May almighty God bring back our beloved brothers and sisters.
My dear diocesans! Because of the terrible visitations which have come upon us through enemy attacks, I meant to be silent in public over other recent measures taken by the Gestapo, which call for my public protest. But if the Gestapo takes no consideration for the events which make hundreds of our fellow citizens homeless, if just at this time they continue to throw innocent citizens into the streets and drive them from the country, then I can no longer hesitate to utter my just protest and earnest warning.
Often in recent times we have had the experience that Gestapo robbed innocent and highly respected Germans of their freedom without any sentence, drove them out of their homes and interned them somewhere. Within the last few weeks two of my closest advisors, members of the Chapter of our Cathedral, were suddenly fetched from their homes, taken away from Munster and banished to far away places where they were told to stay permanently. I have had no answer whatsoever to my protests to the Minister of State. But this much could be established by means of telephone inquiries from the Gestapo: there is no suspicion or accusation of any punishable act on the part of either of the members of the Cathedral Chapter. They have been punished by banishment without any guilt on their part, without any accusation or the possibility to defend themselves.
Christians, listen carefully! It has been officially confirmed to us that no accusation of any punishable act is made against the members of the Chapter, Vorwerk and Echelmeyer.. They have done nothing punishable, and yet they are punished with banishment.
And why? Because I have done something which did not please the Government. At the four appointments to the Cathedral Chapter in the last two years the Government informed me in three instances that the nominations were not acceptable. Because according to the Prussian Concordat of 1929 intervention on the part of the Government is specifically excluded, I completed the nominations in two out of the four cases. If it is thought that I have acted against the law, let me be brought before the law. I am certain that no independent German Court will be able to condemn me for my actions in filling the vacancies.
Is it for this reason that not a court of justice but the Gestapo, whose activities in Germany are unfortunately not subject to any legal examination, have been used? Every German citizen is entirely unprotected and defenceless in face of the physical superiority of the Gestapo- entirely defenceless and unprotected. That is a thing that my fellow Germans have discovered in recent years, as for instance our beloved teacher of religion, Friedrichs, who is held captive without trial and without sentence. Thus the two gentlemen of the Chapter who are in exile and thus also the members of our Orders, who yesterday and today have suddenly been driven out of their property and out of town and country.
No one of us is sure, however faithful and conscientious a citizen he may be and however convinced he may be of his own innocence, that he will not one day be fetched from his home, deprived of his liberty and locked up in the cellars and concentration camps of the Gestapo.
I am quite clear about that, it may happen to me, today, any day. Because I shall then no longer be able to speak publicly, I want today to give a public warning against continuing on this path which, according to my firm conviction, will bring God's judgment on humanity and will lead to misery and destruction for our people and our country.
If I protest against these measures and punishments by the Gestapo, if I publicly demand an end to these conditions and a juridical examination or the withdrawal of these Gestapo measures, then I am only doing what the Governor General, Minister of State Dr. Frank, did when he wrote in February of this year in the publication of the Academy for German Justice-- "We want that dependable balance of internal order which will not allow the penal code to be debased to absolute authoritarianism of the power to prosecute against the accused who is already condemned from the beginning and deprived of every means of defence. The law must give the individual the legal possibility of defence, of explaining the circumstances of the deed and thereby of security against arbitrariness and injustice... otherwise it is better not to speak of a penal code, but of penal force. It is impossible to combine the idea of the Building of Justice with that of condemnation without any manner of defence... It is our task, like others, to represent authority in every form, and to give expression to the fact that we have to defend courageously the authority of justice as an important part of a lasting power." Thus wrote the Minister of State, Dr. Hans Frank.
I am fully aware that I, as bishop and as exponent and defender of divinely appointed justice and moral order, which gives to each individual those original rights and that liberty before which it is God's will that all human opposition must cease; that I, like Minister Frank, am called to defend courageously the authority of justice and to condemn the undefended condemnation of innocent people as an injustice that cries out to Heaven.
Christians! The imprisonment of many innocent people without the opportunity of defence and without a court sentence; the case of two members of the Cathedral Chapter who have been deprived of their liberty; the dissolution of the monasteries and the banishment of the innocent members of their orders, our brothers and sisters; all these things cause me today to recall publicly the old truth: "Justitia est fundeamentum regnorum", justice is the only secure foundation of every form of government.
The right to live, to be unmolested, the right to liberty is an indispensable part of every ordered community life. Certainly the State is justified in limiting this right of its citizens by way of punishment; but this authority the State only has vis-à-vis offenders against the law whose guilt can be proved by means of impartial legal proceedings. The state which oversteps this divinely willed limit and allows or causes the punishment of innocent people, undermines its own authority and every regard for its sovereignty in the minds of the citizens.
Unfortunately during the last few years we have repeatedly had to observe that more or less heavy penalties, mostly in the form of deprivation of liberty, were imposed without any crime having been proved against the victims by a regular legal procedure, and without their being given the opportunity to defend their rights or to prove their innocence.
How many Germans are languishing in police detention or concentration camps, who were ejected from their homes, who were never condemned by a public court or who, after being acquitted by a court or after serving the sentence imposed by the court, have again been taken into custody by the Gestapo and held captive. How many have been driven out of their home and out of the place where they work! I recall again the Reverend Bishop of Rottenburg, Johannes Baptista Sproll, an old man of 70 years, who recently had to celebrate his 25-years jubilee as bishop far from his diocese, because three years ago the Gestapo turned him out of his bishopric. I mention once more the two members of our Cathedral Chapter, the Reverend Gentlemen Vorwerk mad Echelmeyer. I recall our most honoured teacher of religion, Friedrichs, who is languishing in a concentration camp. I will refrain from mentioning any further names today. The name of an evangelical man, who risked his life for Germany as a German officer and submarine commander during the World War, and who has for years been deprived of his liberty, is well known to all of you, and we have the greatest regard for the bravery and religious courage of this noble German. (Pastor Niemoller is meant-remark of the copier.)
From this example you can see, my Christians, that it is not merely a Catholic concern about which I speak to you publicly today, but a Christian, yes a human and national, a religious matter.
"Justice is the foundation of States"! We observe with great sorrow today how the foundation is being shaken, how justice, how natural and Christian virtue, indispensable for the ordered existence of every human community, is not being preserved and held up unmistakably recognizable for all. Not only because of the rights of the church, not only for the right of human personality, but also for love of our nation and in deep concern for our country, we ask, we demand: "Justice"! Who would not fear for the existence of a house when he sees the foundations being undermined?
"Justice is the foundation of states"! Only when the possessors of state power bow in reverence before the royal majesty of Justice and use the sword of retribution only in the service of Justice; only then can the power of the State stand with sincerity and the chance of lasting success before the illegal use of force by those who are accidentally the stronger, before the suppression of the weaker and their debasement to unworthy servitude.
That holder of office will be able to count on an honest following and the free service of honorable men, whose measures and Judgments prove themselves in the light of unbiased opinion to be far from all arbitrariness and weighed by the incorruptible scales of Justice. Therefore the practice of condemnation and punishment without the chance of defence, without sentence, "the undefended damnation of those who are already condemned beforehand", as Minister of State Frank called it, creates a feeling of being without rights, and a mental attitude of fearfulness and servile cowardice, which in the long run must ruin the character of a nation and tear up its feeling of unity.
This is the conviction and the sorrow of all right-minded German men and women. This was openly and courageously expressed by a high official of the law in the year 1937 in the "Reichsverwaltungsblatt". He wrote: - "The greater the absolute power of an authority, the greater is the need for a guarantee of unimpeachable dealings; because errors are felt more heavily, and the danger of arbitrariness and wrong use is greater. If recourse to administrative Justice is excluded, there must in every case be a regular way for unbiased control, so that there can be no feeling of lack of rights, which in any case would be bound in the long run to harm the feeling of national unity.
This recourse to administrative Justice is excluded in the penal measures of the Gestapo. As none of us know of any means for the unbiased control of the measures taken by the Gestapo, of their limitations of liberty, their prohibitions of residence, their arrests and their imprisonment of German citizens in concentration camps, therefore in the furthest parts of the German nation a feeling of lack of rights, yes, of cowardly fear, has already taken hold, which is causing great harm to German national unity.
The obligations of my episcopal office to protect moral order, and the obligation of the oath which I took before God and the representative of the Reich Government in which I promised to prevent with all my power any harm which might threaten the German State, force me in face of the deeds of the Gestapo to pronounce this fact in a public warning.
My Christians: It may be said against me that by this frank speech I am weakening the internal Front of the German people now in this time of war. In reply I state: It is not I who am the cause of any weakening of the internal front, but those who, regardless of war, regardless of external tribulation, here in Munster at the end of a terrible week of grim enemy attacks, impose heavy punishment on innocent citizens without sentence and without the chance to defend themselves, robbing our fellow-countrymen, our brothers and sisters, of their property, throwing them into the street and hunting them from the country! They destroy the security of right, they undermine the consciousness of right, they destroy faith in the government of our State! I therefore, in the name of the upright German people, in the name of the Majesty of Justice, in the interests of peace and the unity of the internal front, raise my voice; therefore I call aloud as a German man, as an honourable citizen, as representative of the Christian religion, as a Catholic bishop:
We demand Justice!
If this call remains unheard, then the reign of Queen Justice will not be restored, then our German nation and country will go to pieces through inner putrefaction and rotting, in spite of the heroism of our soldiers and their glorious victories!
Let us pray for all who are in need, especially for the exiled members of our Religious Orders, for our town of Munster, that God may withhold further trials from us, for our German nation and country and for its Leader-
Our Father . . . . . . .
La Croce et la Svastika Beato Clemente Augusto von Galen Vescovo 22 marzo. Luca Utili 30 giugno 2012…
Sermon Against Euthanasia, by Blessed Clemens, 3 August 1941
Sermon Delivered by Bishop Clemens August Count of Galen on August 3, 1941
The Third Sermon, preached in the Church of St. Lambert's on August 3rd, 1941,in which
the Bishop attacks the Nazi practice of euthanasia and condemns the ‘mercy killings’
taking place in his own diocese. Note: Some words were printed in boldface by this website.
My Beloved Brethren,
In today's Gospel we read of an unusual event: Our Saviour weeps. Yes, the Son of God sheds tears. Whoever weeps must be either in physical or mental anguish. At that time Jesus was not yet in bodily pain and yet here were tears. What depth of torment He must have felt in His heart and Soul, if He, the bravest of men, was reduced to tears. Why is He weeping? He is lamenting over Jerusalem, the holy city He loved so tenderly, the capital of His race. He is weeping over her inhabitants, over His own compatriots because they cannot foresee the judgment that is to overtake them, the punishment which His divine prescience and justice have pronounced. ‘Ah, if thou too couldst understand, above all in this day that is granted thee, the ways that can bring thee peace!’ Why did the people of Jerusalem not know it? Jesus had given them the reason a short time before. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and thou didst refuse it! I your God and your King wished it, but you would have none of Me. . . .’ This is the reason for the tears of Jesus, for the tears of God. . . . Tears for the misrule, the injustice and man's willful refusal of Him and the resulting evils, which, in His divine omniscience, He foresees and which in His justice He must decree. . . . It is a fearful thing when man sets his will against the will of God, and it is because of this that Our Lord is lamenting over Jerusalem.
My faithful brethren! In the pastoral letter drawn up by the German Hierarchy on the 26th of June at Fulda and appointed to be read in all the churches of Germany on July 6th, it is expressly stated: ‘According to Catholic doctrine, there are doubtless commandments which are not binding when obedience to them requires too great a sacrifice, but there are sacred obligations of conscience from which no one can release us and which we must fulfil even at the price of death itself. At no time, and under no circumstances whatsoever, may a man, except in war and in lawful defence, take the life of an innocent person.’
When this pastoral was read on July 6th I took the opportunity of adding this exposition:
For the past several months it has been reported that, on instructions from Berlin, patients who have been suffering for a long time from apparently incurable diseases have been forcibly removed from homes and clinics. Their relatives are later informed that the patient has died, that the body has been cremated and that the ashes may be claimed. There is little doubt that these numerous cases of unexpected death in the case of the insane are not natural, but often deliberately caused, and result from the belief that it is lawful to take away life which is unworthy of being lived.
This ghastly doctrine tries to justify the murder of blameless men and would seek to give legal sanction to the forcible killing of invalids, cripples, the incurable and the incapacitated. I have discovered that the practice here in Westphalia is to compile lists of such patients who are to be removed elsewhere as ‘unproductive citizens,’ and after a period of time put to death. This very week, the first group of these patients has been sent from the clinic of Marienthal, near Münster.
Paragraph 21 of the Code of Penal Law is still valid. It states that anyone who deliberately kills a man by a premeditated act will be executed as a murderer. It is in order to protect the murderers of these poor invalids—members of our own families—against this legal punishment, that the patients who are to be killed are transferred from their domicile to some distant institution. Some sort of disease is then given as the cause of death, but as cremation immediately follows it is impossible for either their families or the regular police to ascertain whether death was from natural causes.
I am assured that at the Ministry of the Interior and at the Ministry of Health, no attempt is made to hide the fact that a great number of the insane have already been deliberately killed and that many more will follow.
Article 139 of the Penal Code expressly lays down that anyone who knows from a reliable source of any plot against the life of a man and who does not inform the proper authorities or the intended victim, will be punished. . . .
When I was informed of the intention to remove patients from Marienthal for the purpose of putting them to death I addressed the following registered letter on July 29th to the Public Prosecutor, the Tribunal of Münster, as well as to the Head of the Münster Police:
‘I have been informed this week that a considerable number of patients from the provincial clinic of Marienthal are to be transferred as citizens alleged to be "unproductive" to the institution of Richenberg, there to be executed immediately; and that according to general opinion, this has already been carried out in the case of other patients who have been removed in like manner. Since this sort of procedure is not only contrary to moral law, both divine and natural, but is also punishable by death, according to Article 211 of the Penal Code, it is my bounden obligation in accordance with Article 139 of the same Code to inform the authorities thereof. Therefore I demand at once protection for my fellow countrymen who are threatened in this way, and from those who purpose to transfer and kill them, and I further demand to be informed of your decision.’
I have received no news up till now of any steps taken by these authorities. On July 26th I had already written and dispatched a strongly worded protest to the Provincial Administration of Westphalia which is responsible for the clinics to which these patients have been entrusted for care and treatment. My efforts were of no avail. The first batch of innocent folk have left Marienthal under sentence of death, and I am informed that no less than eight hundred cases from the institution of Waestein have now gone. And so we must await the news that these wretched defenceless patients will sooner or later lose their lives. Why? Not because they have committed crimes worthy of death, not because they have attacked guardians or nurses as to cause the latter to defend themselves with violence which would be both legitimate and even in certain cases necessary, like killing an armed enemy soldier in a righteous war.
No, these are not the reasons why these unfortunate patients are to be put to death. It is simply because that according to some doctor, or because of the decision of some committee, they have no longer a right to live because they are ‘unproductive citizens’. The opinion is that since they can no longer make money, they are obsolete machines, comparable with some old cow that can no longer give milk or some horse that has gone lame. What is the lot of unproductive machines and cattle? They are destroyed. I have no intention of stretching this comparison further. The case here is not one of machines or cattle which exist to serve men and furnish them with plenty. They may be legitimately done away with when they can no longer fulfil their function. Here we are dealing with human beings, with our neighbours, brothers and sisters, the poor and invalids . . . unproductive—perhaps! But have they, therefore, lost the right to live? Have you or I the right to exist only because we are ‘productive’? If the principle is established that unproductive human beings may be killed, then God help all those invalids who, in order to produce wealth, have given their all and sacrificed their strength of body. If all unproductive people may thus be violently eliminated, then woe betide our brave soldiers who return home, wounded, maimed or sick.
Once admit the right to kill unproductive persons . . . then none of us can be sure of his life. We shall be at the mercy of any committee that can put a man on the list of unproductives. There will be no police protection, no court to avenge the murder and inflict punishment upon the murderer. Who can have confidence in any doctor? He has but to certify his patients as unproductive and he receives the command to kill. If this dreadful doctrine is permitted and practised it is impossible to conjure up the degradation to which it will lead. Suspicion and distrust will be sown within the family itself.A curse on men and on the German people if we break the holy commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ which was given us by God on Mount Sinai with thunder and lightning, and which God our Maker imprinted on the human conscience from the beginning of time! Woe to us German people if we not only licence this heinous offence but allow it to be committed with impunity!
I will now give you a concrete example of what is taking place here. A fifty-five-year-old peasant from a country parish near Münster—I could give you his name—has been cared for in the clinic of Marienthal for some years suffering from some mental derangement. He was not hopelessly mad, in fact he could receive visitors and was always pleased to see his family. About a fortnight ago he had a visit from his wife and a soldier son who was home on leave from the front. The latter was devoted to his sick father. Their parting was sad, for they might not see each other again as the lad might fall in battle. As it happens this son will never set eyes on his father again because he is on the list of the ‘unproductives’. A member of the family who was sent to see the father at Marienthal was refused admission and was informed that the patient had been taken away on the orders of the Council of Ministers of National Defence. His whereabouts was unknown. The family would receive official notification in due course. What will this notice contain? Will it be like all the others, namely that the man is dead and that the ashes of his body will be sent on the receipt of so much money to defray expenses? And so the son who is now risking his life at the front for his German compatriots will never again see his father. These are the true facts and the names of all those concerned are available.
‘Thou shalt not kill.’ God engraved this commandment on the souls of men long before any penal code laid down punishment for murder, long before any court prosecuted and avenged homicide. Cain, who killed his brother Abel, was a murderer long before courts or states came into existence, and plagued by his conscience he confessed, ‘Guilt like mine is too great to find forgiveness . . . and I shall wander over the earth, a fugitive; anyone I meet will slay me.’
Because of His love for us God has engraved these commandments in our hearts and has made them manifest to us. They express the need of our nature created by God. They are the unchangeable and fundamental truths of our social life grounded on reason, well pleasing to God, healthful and sacred. God, Our Father, wishes by these precepts to gather us, His children, about Him as a hen shelters her brood under her wings. If we are obedient to His commands, then we are protected and preserved against the destruction with which we are menaced, just as the chicks beneath the wings of the mother. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and thou didst refuse it!’
Does history again repeat itself here in Germany, in our land of Westphalia, in our city of Münster? Where in Germany and where, here, is obedience to the precepts of God? The eighth commandment requires ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour’. How often do we see this commandment publicly and shamelessly broken? In the seventh commandment we read, ‘Thou shalt not steal’. But who can say that property is safe when our brethren, monks and nuns, are forcibly and violently despoiled of their convents, and who now protects property if it is illegally sequestered and not given back?
The sixth commandment tells us, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’. Consider the instructions and assurances laid down on the question of free love and child-bearing outside the marital law in the notorious open letter of Rudolf Hess, who has since vanished, which appeared in the Press. In this respect look at the immorality and indecency everywhere in Münster today. Our young people have little respect for the propriety of dress today. Thus is modesty, the custodian of purity, destroyed, and the way for adultery lies open.
How do we observe the fourth commandment which enjoins obedience and respect to parents and superiors? Parental authority is at a low ebb and is constantly being enfeebled by the demands made upon youth against the wishes of the parents. How can real respect and conscientious obedience to the authority of the State be maintained, to say nothing of the Divine commandments, if one is fighting against the one and only true God and His Faith?
The first three commandments have long counted for nothing in the public life of Germany and here also in Münster . . .. The Sabbath is desecrated; Holy Days of Obligation are secularized and no longer observed in the service of God. His name is made fun of, dishonoured and all too frequently blasphemed. As for the first commandment, ‘Thou shalt not have strange gods before me’, instead of the One, True, Eternal God, men have created at the dictates of their whim, their own gods to adore Nature, the State, the Nation or the Race. In the words of St. Paul, for many their god is their belly, their ease, to which all is sacrificed down to conscience and honour for the gratification of the carnal senses, for wealth and ambition. Then we are not surprised that they should claim divine privileges and seek to make themselves overlords of life and death.
‘And as He drew near, and caught sight of the city, He wept over it, and said: "Ah, if thou too couldst understand, above all in this day that is granted thee, the ways that can bring thee peace! As it is, they are hidden from thy sight. The days will come upon thee when thy enemies will fence thee round about, and encircle thee, and press thee hard on every side, and bring down in ruin both thee and thy children that are in thee, not leaving one stone of thee upon another; and all because thou didst not recognize the time of My visiting thee."’
Jesus saw only the walls and towers of the city of Jerusalem with His human eye, but with His divine prescience He saw far beyond and into the inmost heart of the city and its inhabitants. He saw its wicked obstinacy, terrible, sinful and cruel. Man, a transitory creature, was opposing his mean will to the Will of God. That is the reason why Jesus wept for this fearful sin and its inevitable punishment. God is not mocked.
Christians of Münster! Did the Son of God in His omniscience see only Jerusalem and its people? Did He weep only on their behalf? Is God the protector and Father of the Jews only? Is Israel alone in rejecting His divine truth? Are they the only people to throw off the laws of God and plunge headlong to ruin? Did not Jesus, Who sees everything, behold also our German people, our land of Westphalia and the Lower Rhine, and our city of Münster? Has He not also wept for us? For a thousand years He has instructed us and our forbears in the Faith. He has led us by His law. He has nourished us with His grace and has gathered us to Him as the hen does her brood beneath its wings. Has the all-knowing Son of God seen that in our own time He would have to pronounce on us that same dread sentence? ‘Not leaving one stone of thee upon another; and all because thou didst not recognize the time of My visiting thee.’ That would indeed be a terrible sentence.
My dearly Beloved, I trust that it is not too late. It is time that we realized today what alone can bring us peace, what alone can save us and avert the divine wrath. We must openly, and without reserve, admit our Catholicism. We must show by our actions that we will live our lives by obeying God's commandments. Our motto must be: Death rather than sin. By pious prayer and penance we can bring down upon us all, our city and our beloved German land, His grace and forgiveness.
But those who persist in inciting the anger of God, who revile our Faith, who hate His commandments, who associate with those who alienate our young men from their religion, who rob and drive out our monks and nuns, who condemn to death our innocent brothers and sisters, our fellow human beings, we shun absolutely so as to remain undefiled by their blasphemous way of life, which would lay us open to that just punishment which God must and will inflict upon all those who, like the thankless Jerusalem, oppose their wishes to those of God.
O my God, grant to us all now on this very day, before it is too late, a true realization of the things that are for peace. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, oppressed even unto tears by the blindness and sins of men, help us by Thy grace to seek always what is pleasing to Thee and reject what is displeasing, so that we may dwell in Thy Love and find rest in our souls. Amen.
Source: The above is from the book, Cardinal von Galen, by Rev. Heinrich Portmann, translated by R.L. Sedgwick, 1957, pp. 239-246.
Other Links:
Sermon of Bishop Clemens von Galen (July 13, 1941) against the Gestapo.
Clemens von Galen Approved by Pope John Paul II for Beatification (2004).
Return to the Euthanasia Home Page.
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Blessed Clemens August von Galen March 22
SERMON DELIVERED BY BISHOP CLEMENS AUGUST COUNT OF GALEN ON JULY 13, 1941
AT THE CHURCH OF ST. LAMBERT, MUENSTER
My dear Catholics of St. Lambert:
Today I had intended to speak my personal episcopal message from the pulpit of the town and market church concerning the events of the past week, and especially to express my very deep sympathy to my former congregation. The devastation and losses have been particularly great in certain parts of the parish of St. Lambert's, though also in other parts of the town. I hope that some of the distress will be alleviated by the efforts of the municipal and state authorities and also by your brotherly love and the results of today's collections for the Charitable Fund and the Parish charity.
I had made up my mind to speak a few words about the purpose of these visitations, how God tries by this means to call us back to Himself. God wants to call Munster to him. How truly our forefathers were at home with God and in God's holy Church! How entirely their lives were borne up by faith in God, led by the fear and the love of God, public life as well as family and society life! Has it been thus in our own days? God wants to fetch Munster home to Himself!
I had meant to speak to you on these lines today but I must leave that aside now, for I find it necessary to speak here publicly for another matter, a terrible occurrence which overtook us yesterday at the end of this week of horror.
The whole of Munster is still beneath the shadow of the terrible devastation which the outside enemy and opponent in war has caused us during the past week, and yesterday, on July 12, 1941, the secret Police took possession of the two settlements of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit Order in our town, Haus Sentmaring on the Weselerstrasse, and the Ignatiushaus in the Konigstrasse, drove the inmates out of their property, forced the priests and brothers immediately on the same day to leave not only our town, but also the provinces of Westphalia and Rhineland. And the same hard fate was yesterday imposed also on the Sisters in the Steinfurtherstrasse. Their house too was confiscated and they must leave Westphalia and Munster by 6 this evening. The houses and properties of the Order with inventory were taken over for the "Gauleitung" of Northern Westphalia.
So now the storming of the monasteries, which has already raged long in the Ostmark, in South Germany, in the newly acquired territories, in the Warthegau, in Luxemburg, in Lorraine and in other parts of the country, has broken out here in Westphalia. We must expect such alarming items of news to pile up in the next few days, when one monastery after another is confiscated by the Gestapo, when its inmates, our brothers and sisters, children of our families, faithful German citizens, are thrown into the streets like worthless rascals, chased from the country like criminals, and at that time when all the trembles before new night attacks which kill us all, which can make every one of us homeless refugees; then innocent, highly respected men and women beloved by many are driven out of their modest possessions, and German citizens, fellow townsmen in Munster, are turned into homeless refugees.
Why? I was told: for state-political reasons! No further reasons were given. Not one inhabitant of these monasteries has been accused of any offense, or brought before law or condemned. And if any one were guilty, then let him be brought before the law. But should the innocent also be punished?
I ask you, before those whose eyes the Jesuit brothers and the sisters of the Immaculate have for years led their quiet lives devoted only to the honour of God and the welfare of their fellow human beings: who thinks these men and women guilty of any punishable offense? Who dares to bring an accusation against them? Let him who dares, prove it. Not even the Gestapo has brought such an accusation, let alone a court of justice. I bear witness here publicly as Bishop to whom is entrusted the supervision of the Orders, that I have the greatest respect for the quiet, unassuming Missionary Sisters of Wilkinhege who are today being driven out. They were founded by my very honored episcopal friend and fellow countryman the Bishop Amandus Bahlmann, who started the Order mainly for the Mission in Brazil, in which he, earning the gratitude of Germans in Brazil, worked untiringly up to the time of his death three years ago.
I bear witness as a German man and as bishop that I have the greatest respect and admiration for the Jesuit Order which I have known from my earliest youth and for 50 years from close observation; that I shall be bound to the Society of Jesus, my teachers and friends, in love and gratitude until my last breath, and that I have an even greater admiration for them now in this moment when Christ's prophecy to His disciples is again being fulfilled: "As they have persecuted me, so they will persecute you also. If you were of this world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of this world, but I have chosen you from the world, [sic] therefore the world hates you."
So I greet you with deep love from this place in the name of all faithful Catholics of the town of Munster and the Bishopric of Munster, as those chosen by Christ and hated by the world, as you go out into undeserved banishment.
May God reward them for all the good they have done for us! May God not punish us and our town for the unjust treatment and banishment which has been meted out to his disciples. May almighty God bring back our beloved brothers and sisters.
My dear diocesans! Because of the terrible visitations which have come upon us through enemy attacks, I meant to be silent in public over other recent measures taken by the Gestapo, which call for my public protest. But if the Gestapo takes no consideration for the events which make hundreds of our fellow citizens homeless, if just at this time they continue to throw innocent citizens into the streets and drive them from the country, then I can no longer hesitate to utter my just protest and earnest warning.
Often in recent times we have had the experience that Gestapo robbed innocent and highly respected Germans of their freedom without any sentence, drove them out of their homes and interned them somewhere. Within the last few weeks two of my closest advisors, members of the Chapter of our Cathedral, were suddenly fetched from their homes, taken away from Munster and banished to far away places where they were told to stay permanently. I have had no answer whatsoever to my protests to the Minister of State. But this much could be established by means of telephone inquiries from the Gestapo: there is no suspicion or accusation of any punishable act on the part of either of the members of the Cathedral Chapter. They have been punished by banishment without any guilt on their part, without any accusation or the possibility to defend themselves.
Christians, listen carefully! It has been officially confirmed to us that no accusation of any punishable act is made against the members of the Chapter, Vorwerk and Echelmeyer.. They have done nothing punishable, and yet they are punished with banishment.
And why? Because I have done something which did not please the Government. At the four appointments to the Cathedral Chapter in the last two years the Government informed me in three instances that the nominations were not acceptable. Because according to the Prussian Concordat of 1929 intervention on the part of the Government is specifically excluded, I completed the nominations in two out of the four cases. If it is thought that I have acted against the law, let me be brought before the law. I am certain that no independent German Court will be able to condemn me for my actions in filling the vacancies.
Is it for this reason that not a court of justice but the Gestapo, whose activities in Germany are unfortunately not subject to any legal examination, have been used? Every German citizen is entirely unprotected and defenceless in face of the physical superiority of the Gestapo- entirely defenceless and unprotected. That is a thing that my fellow Germans have discovered in recent years, as for instance our beloved teacher of religion, Friedrichs, who is held captive without trial and without sentence. Thus the two gentlemen of the Chapter who are in exile and thus also the members of our Orders, who yesterday and today have suddenly been driven out of their property and out of town and country.
No one of us is sure, however faithful and conscientious a citizen he may be and however convinced he may be of his own innocence, that he will not one day be fetched from his home, deprived of his liberty and locked up in the cellars and concentration camps of the Gestapo.
I am quite clear about that, it may happen to me, today, any day. Because I shall then no longer be able to speak publicly, I want today to give a public warning against continuing on this path which, according to my firm conviction, will bring God's judgment on humanity and will lead to misery and destruction for our people and our country.
If I protest against these measures and punishments by the Gestapo, if I publicly demand an end to these conditions and a juridical examination or the withdrawal of these Gestapo measures, then I am only doing what the Governor General, Minister of State Dr. Frank, did when he wrote in February of this year in the publication of the Academy for German Justice-- "We want that dependable balance of internal order which will not allow the penal code to be debased to absolute authoritarianism of the power to prosecute against the accused who is already condemned from the beginning and deprived of every means of defence. The law must give the individual the legal possibility of defence, of explaining the circumstances of the deed and thereby of security against arbitrariness and injustice... otherwise it is better not to speak of a penal code, but of penal force. It is impossible to combine the idea of the Building of Justice with that of condemnation without any manner of defence... It is our task, like others, to represent authority in every form, and to give expression to the fact that we have to defend courageously the authority of justice as an important part of a lasting power." Thus wrote the Minister of State, Dr. Hans Frank.
I am fully aware that I, as bishop and as exponent and defender of divinely appointed justice and moral order, which gives to each individual those original rights and that liberty before which it is God's will that all human opposition must cease; that I, like Minister Frank, am called to defend courageously the authority of justice and to condemn the undefended condemnation of innocent people as an injustice that cries out to Heaven.
Christians! The imprisonment of many innocent people without the opportunity of defence and without a court sentence; the case of two members of the Cathedral Chapter who have been deprived of their liberty; the dissolution of the monasteries and the banishment of the innocent members of their orders, our brothers and sisters; all these things cause me today to recall publicly the old truth: "Justitia est fundeamentum regnorum", justice is the only secure foundation of every form of government.
The right to live, to be unmolested, the right to liberty is an indispensable part of every ordered community life. Certainly the State is justified in limiting this right of its citizens by way of punishment; but this authority the State only has vis-à-vis offenders against the law whose guilt can be proved by means of impartial legal proceedings. The state which oversteps this divinely willed limit and allows or causes the punishment of innocent people, undermines its own authority and every regard for its sovereignty in the minds of the citizens.
Unfortunately during the last few years we have repeatedly had to observe that more or less heavy penalties, mostly in the form of deprivation of liberty, were imposed without any crime having been proved against the victims by a regular legal procedure, and without their being given the opportunity to defend their rights or to prove their innocence.
How many Germans are languishing in police detention or concentration camps, who were ejected from their homes, who were never condemned by a public court or who, after being acquitted by a court or after serving the sentence imposed by the court, have again been taken into custody by the Gestapo and held captive. How many have been driven out of their home and out of the place where they work! I recall again the Reverend Bishop of Rottenburg, Johannes Baptista Sproll, an old man of 70 years, who recently had to celebrate his 25-years jubilee as bishop far from his diocese, because three years ago the Gestapo turned him out of his bishopric. I mention once more the two members of our Cathedral Chapter, the Reverend Gentlemen Vorwerk mad Echelmeyer. I recall our most honoured teacher of religion, Friedrichs, who is languishing in a concentration camp. I will refrain from mentioning any further names today. The name of an evangelical man, who risked his life for Germany as a German officer and submarine commander during the World War, and who has for years been deprived of his liberty, is well known to all of you, and we have the greatest regard for the bravery and religious courage of this noble German. (Pastor Niemoller is meant-remark of the copier.)
From this example you can see, my Christians, that it is not merely a Catholic concern about which I speak to you publicly today, but a Christian, yes a human and national, a religious matter.
"Justice is the foundation of States"! We observe with great sorrow today how the foundation is being shaken, how justice, how natural and Christian virtue, indispensable for the ordered existence of every human community, is not being preserved and held up unmistakably recognizable for all. Not only because of the rights of the church, not only for the right of human personality, but also for love of our nation and in deep concern for our country, we ask, we demand: "Justice"! Who would not fear for the existence of a house when he sees the foundations being undermined?
"Justice is the foundation of states"! Only when the possessors of state power bow in reverence before the royal majesty of Justice and use the sword of retribution only in the service of Justice; only then can the power of the State stand with sincerity and the chance of lasting success before the illegal use of force by those who are accidentally the stronger, before the suppression of the weaker and their debasement to unworthy servitude.
That holder of office will be able to count on an honest following and the free service of honorable men, whose measures and Judgments prove themselves in the light of unbiased opinion to be far from all arbitrariness and weighed by the incorruptible scales of Justice. Therefore the practice of condemnation and punishment without the chance of defence, without sentence, "the undefended damnation of those who are already condemned beforehand", as Minister of State Frank called it, creates a feeling of being without rights, and a mental attitude of fearfulness and servile cowardice, which in the long run must ruin the character of a nation and tear up its feeling of unity.
This is the conviction and the sorrow of all right-minded German men and women. This was openly and courageously expressed by a high official of the law in the year 1937 in the "Reichsverwaltungsblatt". He wrote: - "The greater the absolute power of an authority, the greater is the need for a guarantee of unimpeachable dealings; because errors are felt more heavily, and the danger of arbitrariness and wrong use is greater. If recourse to administrative Justice is excluded, there must in every case be a regular way for unbiased control, so that there can be no feeling of lack of rights, which in any case would be bound in the long run to harm the feeling of national unity.
This recourse to administrative Justice is excluded in the penal measures of the Gestapo. As none of us know of any means for the unbiased control of the measures taken by the Gestapo, of their limitations of liberty, their prohibitions of residence, their arrests and their imprisonment of German citizens in concentration camps, therefore in the furthest parts of the German nation a feeling of lack of rights, yes, of cowardly fear, has already taken hold, which is causing great harm to German national unity.
The obligations of my episcopal office to protect moral order, and the obligation of the oath which I took before God and the representative of the Reich Government in which I promised to prevent with all my power any harm which might threaten the German State, force me in face of the deeds of the Gestapo to pronounce this fact in a public warning.
My Christians: It may be said against me that by this frank speech I am weakening the internal Front of the German people now in this time of war. In reply I state: It is not I who am the cause of any weakening of the internal front, but those who, regardless of war, regardless of external tribulation, here in Munster at the end of a terrible week of grim enemy attacks, impose heavy punishment on innocent citizens without sentence and without the chance to defend themselves, robbing our fellow-countrymen, our brothers and sisters, of their property, throwing them into the street and hunting them from the country! They destroy the security of right, they undermine the consciousness of right, they destroy faith in the government of our State! I therefore, in the name of the upright German people, in the name of the Majesty of Justice, in the interests of peace and the unity of the internal front, raise my voice; therefore I call aloud as a German man, as an honourable citizen, as representative of the Christian religion, as a Catholic bishop:
We demand Justice!
If this call remains unheard, then the reign of Queen Justice will not be restored, then our German nation and country will go to pieces through inner putrefaction and rotting, in spite of the heroism of our soldiers and their glorious victories!
Let us pray for all who are in need, especially for the exiled members of our Religious Orders, for our town of Munster, that God may withhold further trials from us, for our German nation and country and for its Leader-
Our Father . . . . . . .
Our Lady of Sorrows of Castelpetroso
Our Lady of the Seven Veils
—
Avitus of Périgord
Basil of Ancyra
Basilissa of Galatia
Benevenuto Scotivoli of Osimo
Bronislaw Komorowski
Callinica of Galatia
Clemens August von Galen
Darerca of Ireland
Deghitche
Diogène of Arras
Elbod of Bangor
Epaphroditus of Terracina
Failbhe of Iona
François-Louis Chartier
Harlindis of Arland
Hugolinus Zefferini
Lea of Rome
Lukarda of Oberweimar
Marian Górecki
Nicholas Owen
Octavian of Carthage
Paul of Narbonne
Saturninus the Martyr
Trien of Killelga
—
Antonio Cocq
Antonio Rubino
Blessed Clemens August von Galen March 22
Sermon Delivered by Bishop Clemens August Count of Galen on August 3, 1941
The Third Sermon, preached in the Church of St. Lambert's on August 3rd, 1941,in which
the Bishop attacks the Nazi practice of euthanasia and condemns the ‘mercy killings’
taking place in his own diocese. Note: Some words were printed in boldface by this website.
My Beloved Brethren,
In today's Gospel we read of an unusual event: Our Saviour weeps. Yes, the Son of God sheds tears. Whoever weeps must be either in physical or mental anguish. At that time Jesus was not yet in bodily pain and yet here were tears. What depth of torment He must have felt in His heart and Soul, if He, the bravest of men, was reduced to tears. Why is He weeping? He is lamenting over Jerusalem, the holy city He loved so tenderly, the capital of His race. He is weeping over her inhabitants, over His own compatriots because they cannot foresee the judgment that is to overtake them, the punishment which His divine prescience and justice have pronounced. ‘Ah, if thou too couldst understand, above all in this day that is granted thee, the ways that can bring thee peace!’ Why did the people of Jerusalem not know it? Jesus had given them the reason a short time before. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and thou didst refuse it! I your God and your King wished it, but you would have none of Me. . . .’ This is the reason for the tears of Jesus, for the tears of God. . . . Tears for the misrule, the injustice and man's willful refusal of Him and the resulting evils, which, in His divine omniscience, He foresees and which in His justice He must decree. . . . It is a fearful thing when man sets his will against the will of God, and it is because of this that Our Lord is lamenting over Jerusalem.
My faithful brethren! In the pastoral letter drawn up by the German Hierarchy on the 26th of June at Fulda and appointed to be read in all the churches of Germany on July 6th, it is expressly stated: ‘According to Catholic doctrine, there are doubtless commandments which are not binding when obedience to them requires too great a sacrifice, but there are sacred obligations of conscience from which no one can release us and which we must fulfil even at the price of death itself. At no time, and under no circumstances whatsoever, may a man, except in war and in lawful defence, take the life of an innocent person.’
When this pastoral was read on July 6th I took the opportunity of adding this exposition:
For the past several months it has been reported that, on instructions from Berlin, patients who have been suffering for a long time from apparently incurable diseases have been forcibly removed from homes and clinics. Their relatives are later informed that the patient has died, that the body has been cremated and that the ashes may be claimed. There is little doubt that these numerous cases of unexpected death in the case of the insane are not natural, but often deliberately caused, and result from the belief that it is lawful to take away life which is unworthy of being lived.
This ghastly doctrine tries to justify the murder of blameless men and would seek to give legal sanction to the forcible killing of invalids, cripples, the incurable and the incapacitated. I have discovered that the practice here in Westphalia is to compile lists of such patients who are to be removed elsewhere as ‘unproductive citizens,’ and after a period of time put to death. This very week, the first group of these patients has been sent from the clinic of Marienthal, near Münster.
Paragraph 21 of the Code of Penal Law is still valid. It states that anyone who deliberately kills a man by a premeditated act will be executed as a murderer. It is in order to protect the murderers of these poor invalids—members of our own families—against this legal punishment, that the patients who are to be killed are transferred from their domicile to some distant institution. Some sort of disease is then given as the cause of death, but as cremation immediately follows it is impossible for either their families or the regular police to ascertain whether death was from natural causes.
I am assured that at the Ministry of the Interior and at the Ministry of Health, no attempt is made to hide the fact that a great number of the insane have already been deliberately killed and that many more will follow.
Article 139 of the Penal Code expressly lays down that anyone who knows from a reliable source of any plot against the life of a man and who does not inform the proper authorities or the intended victim, will be punished. . . .
When I was informed of the intention to remove patients from Marienthal for the purpose of putting them to death I addressed the following registered letter on July 29th to the Public Prosecutor, the Tribunal of Münster, as well as to the Head of the Münster Police:
‘I have been informed this week that a considerable number of patients from the provincial clinic of Marienthal are to be transferred as citizens alleged to be "unproductive" to the institution of Richenberg, there to be executed immediately; and that according to general opinion, this has already been carried out in the case of other patients who have been removed in like manner. Since this sort of procedure is not only contrary to moral law, both divine and natural, but is also punishable by death, according to Article 211 of the Penal Code, it is my bounden obligation in accordance with Article 139 of the same Code to inform the authorities thereof. Therefore I demand at once protection for my fellow countrymen who are threatened in this way, and from those who purpose to transfer and kill them, and I further demand to be informed of your decision.’
I have received no news up till now of any steps taken by these authorities. On July 26th I had already written and dispatched a strongly worded protest to the Provincial Administration of Westphalia which is responsible for the clinics to which these patients have been entrusted for care and treatment. My efforts were of no avail. The first batch of innocent folk have left Marienthal under sentence of death, and I am informed that no less than eight hundred cases from the institution of Waestein have now gone. And so we must await the news that these wretched defenceless patients will sooner or later lose their lives. Why? Not because they have committed crimes worthy of death, not because they have attacked guardians or nurses as to cause the latter to defend themselves with violence which would be both legitimate and even in certain cases necessary, like killing an armed enemy soldier in a righteous war.
No, these are not the reasons why these unfortunate patients are to be put to death. It is simply because that according to some doctor, or because of the decision of some committee, they have no longer a right to live because they are ‘unproductive citizens’. The opinion is that since they can no longer make money, they are obsolete machines, comparable with some old cow that can no longer give milk or some horse that has gone lame. What is the lot of unproductive machines and cattle? They are destroyed. I have no intention of stretching this comparison further. The case here is not one of machines or cattle which exist to serve men and furnish them with plenty. They may be legitimately done away with when they can no longer fulfil their function. Here we are dealing with human beings, with our neighbours, brothers and sisters, the poor and invalids . . . unproductive—perhaps! But have they, therefore, lost the right to live? Have you or I the right to exist only because we are ‘productive’? If the principle is established that unproductive human beings may be killed, then God help all those invalids who, in order to produce wealth, have given their all and sacrificed their strength of body. If all unproductive people may thus be violently eliminated, then woe betide our brave soldiers who return home, wounded, maimed or sick.
Once admit the right to kill unproductive persons . . . then none of us can be sure of his life. We shall be at the mercy of any committee that can put a man on the list of unproductives. There will be no police protection, no court to avenge the murder and inflict punishment upon the murderer. Who can have confidence in any doctor? He has but to certify his patients as unproductive and he receives the command to kill. If this dreadful doctrine is permitted and practised it is impossible to conjure up the degradation to which it will lead. Suspicion and distrust will be sown within the family itself.A curse on men and on the German people if we break the holy commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ which was given us by God on Mount Sinai with thunder and lightning, and which God our Maker imprinted on the human conscience from the beginning of time! Woe to us German people if we not only licence this heinous offence but allow it to be committed with impunity!
I will now give you a concrete example of what is taking place here. A fifty-five-year-old peasant from a country parish near Münster—I could give you his name—has been cared for in the clinic of Marienthal for some years suffering from some mental derangement. He was not hopelessly mad, in fact he could receive visitors and was always pleased to see his family. About a fortnight ago he had a visit from his wife and a soldier son who was home on leave from the front. The latter was devoted to his sick father. Their parting was sad, for they might not see each other again as the lad might fall in battle. As it happens this son will never set eyes on his father again because he is on the list of the ‘unproductives’. A member of the family who was sent to see the father at Marienthal was refused admission and was informed that the patient had been taken away on the orders of the Council of Ministers of National Defence. His whereabouts was unknown. The family would receive official notification in due course. What will this notice contain? Will it be like all the others, namely that the man is dead and that the ashes of his body will be sent on the receipt of so much money to defray expenses? And so the son who is now risking his life at the front for his German compatriots will never again see his father. These are the true facts and the names of all those concerned are available.
‘Thou shalt not kill.’ God engraved this commandment on the souls of men long before any penal code laid down punishment for murder, long before any court prosecuted and avenged homicide. Cain, who killed his brother Abel, was a murderer long before courts or states came into existence, and plagued by his conscience he confessed, ‘Guilt like mine is too great to find forgiveness . . . and I shall wander over the earth, a fugitive; anyone I meet will slay me.’
Because of His love for us God has engraved these commandments in our hearts and has made them manifest to us. They express the need of our nature created by God. They are the unchangeable and fundamental truths of our social life grounded on reason, well pleasing to God, healthful and sacred. God, Our Father, wishes by these precepts to gather us, His children, about Him as a hen shelters her brood under her wings. If we are obedient to His commands, then we are protected and preserved against the destruction with which we are menaced, just as the chicks beneath the wings of the mother. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and thou didst refuse it!’
Does history again repeat itself here in Germany, in our land of Westphalia, in our city of Münster? Where in Germany and where, here, is obedience to the precepts of God? The eighth commandment requires ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour’. How often do we see this commandment publicly and shamelessly broken? In the seventh commandment we read, ‘Thou shalt not steal’. But who can say that property is safe when our brethren, monks and nuns, are forcibly and violently despoiled of their convents, and who now protects property if it is illegally sequestered and not given back?
The sixth commandment tells us, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’. Consider the instructions and assurances laid down on the question of free love and child-bearing outside the marital law in the notorious open letter of Rudolf Hess, who has since vanished, which appeared in the Press. In this respect look at the immorality and indecency everywhere in Münster today. Our young people have little respect for the propriety of dress today. Thus is modesty, the custodian of purity, destroyed, and the way for adultery lies open.
How do we observe the fourth commandment which enjoins obedience and respect to parents and superiors? Parental authority is at a low ebb and is constantly being enfeebled by the demands made upon youth against the wishes of the parents. How can real respect and conscientious obedience to the authority of the State be maintained, to say nothing of the Divine commandments, if one is fighting against the one and only true God and His Faith?
The first three commandments have long counted for nothing in the public life of Germany and here also in Münster . . .. The Sabbath is desecrated; Holy Days of Obligation are secularized and no longer observed in the service of God. His name is made fun of, dishonoured and all too frequently blasphemed. As for the first commandment, ‘Thou shalt not have strange gods before me’, instead of the One, True, Eternal God, men have created at the dictates of their whim, their own gods to adore Nature, the State, the Nation or the Race. In the words of St. Paul, for many their god is their belly, their ease, to which all is sacrificed down to conscience and honour for the gratification of the carnal senses, for wealth and ambition. Then we are not surprised that they should claim divine privileges and seek to make themselves overlords of life and death.
‘And as He drew near, and caught sight of the city, He wept over it, and said: "Ah, if thou too couldst understand, above all in this day that is granted thee, the ways that can bring thee peace! As it is, they are hidden from thy sight. The days will come upon thee when thy enemies will fence thee round about, and encircle thee, and press thee hard on every side, and bring down in ruin both thee and thy children that are in thee, not leaving one stone of thee upon another; and all because thou didst not recognize the time of My visiting thee."’
Jesus saw only the walls and towers of the city of Jerusalem with His human eye, but with His divine prescience He saw far beyond and into the inmost heart of the city and its inhabitants. He saw its wicked obstinacy, terrible, sinful and cruel. Man, a transitory creature, was opposing his mean will to the Will of God. That is the reason why Jesus wept for this fearful sin and its inevitable punishment. God is not mocked.
Christians of Münster! Did the Son of God in His omniscience see only Jerusalem and its people? Did He weep only on their behalf? Is God the protector and Father of the Jews only? Is Israel alone in rejecting His divine truth? Are they the only people to throw off the laws of God and plunge headlong to ruin? Did not Jesus, Who sees everything, behold also our German people, our land of Westphalia and the Lower Rhine, and our city of Münster? Has He not also wept for us? For a thousand years He has instructed us and our forbears in the Faith. He has led us by His law. He has nourished us with His grace and has gathered us to Him as the hen does her brood beneath its wings. Has the all-knowing Son of God seen that in our own time He would have to pronounce on us that same dread sentence? ‘Not leaving one stone of thee upon another; and all because thou didst not recognize the time of My visiting thee.’ That would indeed be a terrible sentence.
My dearly Beloved, I trust that it is not too late. It is time that we realized today what alone can bring us peace, what alone can save us and avert the divine wrath. We must openly, and without reserve, admit our Catholicism. We must show by our actions that we will live our lives by obeying God's commandments. Our motto must be: Death rather than sin. By pious prayer and penance we can bring down upon us all, our city and our beloved German land, His grace and forgiveness.
But those who persist in inciting the anger of God, who revile our Faith, who hate His commandments, who associate with those who alienate our young men from their religion, who rob and drive out our monks and nuns, who condemn to death our innocent brothers and sisters, our fellow human beings, we shun absolutely so as to remain undefiled by their blasphemous way of life, which would lay us open to that just punishment which God must and will inflict upon all those who, like the thankless Jerusalem, oppose their wishes to those of God.
O my God, grant to us all now on this very day, before it is too late, a true realization of the things that are for peace. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, oppressed even unto tears by the blindness and sins of men, help us by Thy grace to seek always what is pleasing to Thee and reject what is displeasing, so that we may dwell in Thy Love and find rest in our souls. Amen.
Source: The above is from the book, Cardinal von Galen, by Rev. Heinrich Portmann, translated by R.L. Sedgwick, 1957, pp. 239-246.
Other Links:
Sermon of Bishop Clemens von Galen (July 13, 1941) against the Gestapo.
Clemens von Galen Approved by Pope John Paul II for Beatification (2004).