During the nineteen-thirties, upwards of a quarter-million were imprisoned in these camps. All but a handful would be dead when the first volleys of World War II were fired.
Cesare Orsenigo, Pius XII and the death camps
Orsenigo would eventually become the fall guy for the Vatican. After the war, he was blamed for failing to convey to Pius XII what was going on in the death camps during the war. Some claim he went so far as to block this information flowing from others to the Vatican. His ideology, “The Jew will not fight in behalf of the Fatherland because he is selfish to his own end. He will incite and help others undermine our struggle to bring about a worldwide Christian society.”17
It is inconceivable Pius was unaware of the Holocaust. Orsenigo had for years been his closest confidant. In 1930, when Pius—at the time Eugenio Pacelli—vacated the Nuncio position in Germany, he appointed his closest friend Orsenigo to fill the post.
To see things clearly as they happened, as we have so often, one has to put events in the chronological order in which they occurred.
On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland.
In late September Warsaw and Krakow fell to the Germans.
On October 6th the German occupation of Poland was completed.
On October 14th the ground breaking of Auschwitz took place outside Krakow. It would eventually evolve into a network of forty-eight camps within Poland which would murder over three million.
On November 9th, Pius XII removed Filippo Cortesi as the Polish Nuncio and appointed Orsenigo the additional duty of Pro-Nuncio to Poland. That Pius did this at the exact time it was decided the death camps would be concentrated in Poland is powerful evidence he not only knew of the horrific plan, he had conspired with Hitler to bring it about. Yet, one always has coincidence. One will never know. 18
Orsenigo was permitted to travel freely to Poland including his publicized trips to Auschwitz at Krakow and Treblinka at Warsaw. 19
Orsenigo served as the clandestine contact between what was going on in the death camps and Pius XII. His close friendship with Hitler is documented by hundreds of surviving photos of himself with the Fuhrer. So much so, if Hitler was not so recognizable, one would think him Orsenigo’s bodyguard
The Boxer Rebellion
The young seminarian at Belluno watched and waited.
He knew it had been these same dictates of Christianity that had inspired the Boxer Rebellion in China at the turn of the twentieth century which had driven the Christians out of China. He was about to see it happen all over again in World War II and he would live to see it happen, once more, in the Vietnam War.
Until Christian preachers started to preach bigotry and hatred of people who appear to be different or live their lives differently, the Chinese never knew what the word ‘bigotry’ meant as all people were considered to be children of the same God.
“Love thy neighbor as thyself” is not original to Christ. It was the fundamental thesis of Tao and had been the way of life in China for five hundred years before Christ’s time. It is also the fundamental thesis of communism. As one knows, it has never become the way of life in much of the western world which claims Christ as its God.
The Boxers knew the United States, a Christian nation, held other than whites as inferior peoples. Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics and other ethnic peoples were made to live as outcasts. They were not permitted in white neighborhoods and were confined to live under unbearable conditions in impoverished ghettos. They were not provided equal opportunity in jobs or education.20
Blacks were imprisoned if caught using ‘white’ toilets or riding in the fronts of buses or sitting in the ground-floor pews of churches. They were often taunted, tortured and even killed in hate crimes.
Unlike both the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality, there is no censure of homosexuality in either the ancient Vedas—Hinduism—or in the teachings of Tao—Taoism.
It follows, in China, homosexuals, though considered ill through the ages, were accepted in society and provided basic human rights.
In the United States they were imprisoned for long terms and the victims of the most heinous of hate crimes. In the south, gay teens were more often than not taunted into suicide by Christian parents.
Perhaps, most heartless of all, though mostly kept under the table, born-out-of-wedlock children were shamed in America—the stigma so powerful that disclosuer left only one way out—suicide.
The Boxers knew it was the white Christian preacher who was the driving force behind this kind of hatred. They didn’t want this influence in the east. Western wars had been ethnic cleansing wars. Though China had wars of aggression it had never thought there to be differences among peoples and this extended to all people who lived their lives differently including creeds, atheists, racial and ethnic groups and even homosexuals.21
On the other hand, religious persecution through the years has been widespread in China as it has been in all communist nations which view western religions as the central source of prejudice.
Spelly’s War
Luciani would live to see the Boxers eventually progress into the Vietnam War. After the Boxers threw the Christians out of China, the Vatican continued to hold a presence in French Indo-China which included Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam—countries which bordered China to the south. Other than this, Catholicism had been restricted to the Philippines and other island nations in the east.
In 1954, the French pulled out of Vietnam and the Vatican lost its foothold in mainland Asia which blocked its long range strategy to annihilate atheism and convert China to its fold.
This prompted Cardinal Spellman of New York to mastermind the strategy of the Vietnam War. He arranged a 3-day audience for U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his son Avery Dulles with Pius XII. Avery was a Jesuit priest in Spellman’s diocese.22
Despite the French half-century presence, Vietnam remained overwhelmingly Buddhist—atheist. Unlike one might believe, it was in the hallowed halls of the Vatican and not in the hallowed halls of Washington DC, the Vietnam War began.
The strategy was to force conversion of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos through civil war. Once Catholicism regained a foothold in mainland Asia, it would spread northward into China, annihilating atheism—Buddhism—in its wake.
Avery Dulles was eventually made a cardinal, the only American not a bishop ever given the red hat. His single achievement in life reaping notoriety was that he influenced his father to involve America in Vietnam—which cost upwards of eight million lives.
An important part of the Pius/Dulles/Spellman strategy was to place into power Ngo Dinh Diem—a devout Catholic and a long time personal friend of Spellman. Diem, together with his brothers—one the archbishop and the other the chief of police—rose to power on October 26, 1955 less than a week after the Vatican meeting.
Shortly afterwards, Dulles announced American intervention in Vietnam. The Diems ruled Vietnam with an iron fist, closing temples and ostracizing Buddhist priests, some burning themselves to death in protest of American backed religious persecution.
The Kennedy Assassination
One of the theories surrounding the assassination of President John Kennedy grew out of his intention to pull out of Vietnam—a conspiracy of right wing elements in the Vatican and factions in the CIA to continue the war.22
Kennedy found that though South Vietnam was overwhelmingly Buddhist, there was not a Buddhist in the South Vietnam army which was entirely Catholic. This told him the war was not between South Vietnam and North Vietnam, but between the South Vietnam Catholic army and the entirely Buddhist army of North Vietnam.
When he realized America was fighting a religious war intended to annihilate atheism, Kennedy announced a plan to pull troops out of Vietnam just three weeks before his assassination—devastating to the Vatican’s plan. The CIA-Vatican intrigue went to work.
There has been no war more fundamentally based on religion than the Vietnam War which pitted organized
religion, the Vatican, against organized atheism, Buddhism. So much so, the war gave birth to the misconception communism is synonymous with atheism.
Spellman took on such an active role in organizing the Vietnam War it is rightly remembered today as ‘Spelly’s War.’
Years earlier, in the Korean War, Radio Hanoi had capitalized on America’s discriminatory policies driven by Christian preachers. So much so, black soldiers were reassigned to non-combat duty away from Korea—the reason few of them died in Korea. It didn’t take long for the American Negro to realize he was fighting for a country that considered him a subordinate human being and against the Chinese who considered him an equal human being.
The American Civil War
Back in Belluno, widely read in world history, Luciani knew the American Civil War also had its roots in what Moses had to say. His books told him that Martin Luther’s reformation of the 16th century had moved the Protestants in America toward the left away from Moses and in 1626 Roger Williams brought the Baptist Church to Rhode Island from England which doctrine was intended to move them back to literal belief in what Moses had to say.
In 1841, the Baptist Church split into the southern church and the northern church, the former believing in the 10th Commandment as had allegedly been handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai which protected the right of one man to enslave another, “Thou shalt not covet (desire or take from) thy neighborships slaves” and the latter no longer accepting slavery as the word of God. This division in the Baptist Church set the stage for the Civil War.23
Luciani saw this happening all over again as he witnessed the glowing embers—the fascist scouts, the concentration camps, the prejudices and, perhaps, most dangerous of all, the fusion of the Tri-Axis Powers which was about to launch World War II.
During this trying period, though often tempted to do so, he never approached the press. He knew to do so would demolish his ability to carry out the commission his father had given him—to change the Church back to what Christ had intended.
“…faith and the conviction with which we speak.”
Luciani spoke at length of humility at his graduation ceremony. He reminded his classmates to never forget they are mere men.
“The preacher is unique among entrepreneurs.
All businessmen know immensely more about their products and services than do their customers—the reason they are able to sell their wares.
Yet, we as preachers know no more about the existence of a God, or for that matter which God is the true God, than do our customers.
As a matter-of-fact, we will know nothing about the afterlife until after we are dead. Then, perhaps, we may never know.
All we have is our faith and the conviction with which we speak. We came here with one of these. The good fathers gave us the other.
Let us take them with us. Let us feed them - nourish them - train them - cherish them - protect them. For these are the horses of the carriage that will one day take us to our destiny.
Let us never use them—our faith and the conviction with which we speak—to spread hatred of any of God’s children no matter how different they may appear to be or how they live their lives.
Rather, let us use them to help bring about a day when all men and women—no matter how scorned by doctrine—will be accepted with equal human dignity under the laws of nations…”24
On July 7, 1935, in a city of beige stucco topped off with orange terra cotta roofs, Don Albino Luciani was ordained a priest.
He had learned to heed his father’s words, “Play the game carefully…Never risk your king to save a pawn.”
1 Albino Luciani’s papa’s last words to him as he started his long journey to Rome
2 Over 2 million Christian crosses mark the World War I dead in military cemeteries in Germany. The Star of David marks less than a hundred of them. See photos of these on the Internet.
3 ‘The Red Faced Captain’ in the author’s book ‘Let’s All Get Behind the Pope’ tells the story of General Patton defying Pius XII by marching his black battalion into Italy
4 Search any Italian history book – Occupation of Ethiopia.
5 Search any Italian history book – Fascist Scout Organization
6 Search any German history book – Hitler Scouts
7 La Repubblica 25 Mar 29. Although Mussolini had assumed some dictatorial powers before this time, he had not been previously been recognized by the people as dictator
8 Berliner Zeitung 3 Feb 33
9 Berliner Zeitung 13 Mar33 ‘Nazi Party Coalition’
10 Berliner Zeitung 15 Apr 33 ‘Oranienburg’
11 L Osservatore Romano 19 Mar 33
12 Washington Post 24 Mar 33 ‘Enabling Act, Berlin’
13 L Osservatore Romano 29 Mar 33
14 Berliner Zeitung 22 Jul 33 L Osservatore Romano 22 Jul 33
15 Berliner Morgenpost 25 Aug 33
16 Berliner Zeitung 24 Mar 33
17 Berliner Morgenpost 10 Sep 39. Phayer 2000. Search Wikipedia: Cesare Orsenigo
18 L Osservatore Romano 2 Nov 39 Berliner Morgenpost 9 Nov 39
19 L Osservatore Romano 1 May 40 Zycie Warszawy 15 Jul 42
20 Still true today. Blacks comprise 12% of the population and 40% of the prison population. Native Americans and Hispanics are three times more likely to be incarcerated than whites.
21 In the 20th century, as parts of China became westernized (Christians and Muslims) racial, ethnic and sexual orientation problems surfaced in some provinces.
22 America’s involvement in the Vietnam War is recounted in the author’s book of short stories ‘Let’s All Get Behind the Pope’: See stories: ‘Why Am I Killing These People?’ – ‘The Fog of War’ which outline the Vatican plot involving the CIA in the Vietnam War and the murder of John Kennedy
23 History of the Baptist Church in the United States Wikipedia or any library
24 Il Corriere delle Alpi 12 Jun 35
Photo Battlefield graves - German propaganda photo
Photo German soldiers at mass - German propaganda photo
Photo Hitler leaving Mass - Berliner Kurier
Photo Neukolln Stadium - source unknown
Photo Bishops at Dachau - German propaganda photo
Photo Orsenigo-Hitler-Ribbentrop - German propaganda photo
Photo Orsenigo-Hitler - German propaganda photo
Chapter 7
The Politics of Albino Luciani
“It is the inalienable right of no man to accumulate wealth beyond his needs while other men starve to death because they have nothing.”1
Albino Luciani
There is great controversy concerning Luciani’s political agenda; both those on the right and those on the left claim him as their own.
In that the Vatican destroyed much of the controversial record of Albino Luciani, one can say most anything.
In the first edition of Murder in the Vatican, I wrote, ‘In the mid-eighties, I visited Vittorio Veneto and was lucky enough to pick up a collection of drafts of his sermons for a couple hundred bucks… ’2
Drafted on what I recognized as diocese stationary and thinking them real I incorporated some of what they had to say in that edition.
An astute reader—a renowned paleographer—exposed them a fraud. Forensic testing resolved them, indeed, a fraud. So well executed, they had likely been planted by Vatican censors in their efforts to annihilate the true record of Luciani after his death.
If you take the time to visit the Veneto country, as I have many times, you, too, can pick up ‘original’ drafts of his work. Yet, unlike those I acquired, which came from the top, they are likely to be creations of locals who capitalize on the rarity of the find.
The tab for a small note might be 10 Euros, a complete sermon as much as 200-300 Euros—phony diocese letterheads carefully bathe in tea to give them a tinge of age and typed on vintage typewriters—easy bait for the everyday sucker. Just recently, I paid 25 Euros for a postcard sent to Luciani from his sister. It, too
, did not pass the test.
The market for these ‘fakes’ exploded in 1984 when Yallop’s In God’s Name established the rarity of the find. Although not as proliferated as they were in the eighties, you can find ‘original’ drafts of his work today. With very rare exception, authentic Luciani documents are confined to the archives of the Apostolic Library.
Regardless, among the unbiased referees are his books. Yet, even here one must dig up the original editions published before his death as the Vatican went to work on ‘original editions’ published after his death. If you are lucky enough to find one of the uncensored copies of Luciani’s Illustrissimi, interspersed between the lines of its rather heavy theology can be found the ideology of his political agenda.
“Dear Pinocchio,
I was seven years old when I first read your adventures. I can’t tell you how much I liked them. In you, I recognized myself as a boy, and in your surroundings I saw my own…
My dear Pinocchio, there are two famous remarks about the young. I commend the first by Lacordaire, to your attention: ‘Have an opinion and assert it!’ This is one of reason. It is the lion. It will win for you.
The second is by Clemenceau, and I do not recommend it to you at all, ‘He has no ideas of his own, but he defends them with ardor!’ This is one of belief. It is the sheep. It will lose for you…
Think of this, as you go through life, as you run through the woods with the Cat and the Fox and the Poodle Medoro,
Your magical friend, Albino”3
Luciani contrasts Lacordaire, the progressive democrat on the left, and Clemenceau, the conservative republican on the right. One need not go further than his letter to his dear friend Pinocchio, one of his most famous, to determine on which side of the aisle he stood.
Again, in his Illustrissimi, he points to the socialist and away from the self-serving republican in his expedition beyond the wall,
“Dear Casella,
I have had the good fortune to have visited those places which, as we all know, lie beyond the wall.
For each of us, I have found that we will live beyond the wall as we have chosen to live on this side of the wall.
Murder in the Vatican Page 9