I Guess the Cardinals Listened to Dershowitz...

So the Roman Catholic Church has a new Pope. Jorge Bergoglio was the Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Argentina before being elected by the College of Cardinals and will now be known as 'Pope Francis'. Bergoglio, an Argentine native who's parents are immigrants from Italy, was ordained in 1969 and became a Cardinal in 2001 after being selected by Pope John Paul II. 

I've waited a few days since his election, curious to see how the jewish establishment would react to Francis's selection. It did not take long for the reviews to begin rolling in and they appear to be nearly unanimous: Francis is a good little goy-boy who will properly obey his Masters: 

The JTA reports: As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio attended Rosh Hashanah services at the Benei Tikva Slijot synagogue in September 2007.

Rabbi David Rosen, the director of interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee, told JTA that the new pope is a "warm and sweet and modest man" known in Buenos Aires for doing his own cooking and personally answering his phone.

After the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994, he "showed solidarity with the Jewish community," Rosen said.

In 2005, Bergoglio was the first public personality to sign a petition for justice in the AMIA bombing case. He also was one of the signatories on a document called "85 victims, 85 signatures" as part of the bombing's 11th anniversary. In June 2010, he visited the rebuilt AMIA building to talk with Jewish leaders.

"Those who said Benedict was the last pope who would be a pope that lived through the Shoah, or that said there would not be another pope who had a personal connection to the Jewish people, they were wrong," Rosen said.

Bergoglio also wrote the foreward of a book by Rabbi Sergio Bergman, a Buenos Aires legislator, and referred to him as “one of my teachers.”

Last November, Bergoglio hosted a Kristallnacht memorial event at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral with Rabbi Alejandro Avruj from the NCI-Emanuel World Masorti congregation.

In his visit to the Buenos Aires synagogue, according to the Catholic Zenit news agency, Bergoglio told the congregation that he was there to examine his heart "like a pilgrim, together with you, my elder brothers."

"Today, here in this synagogue, we are made newly aware of the fact that we are a people on a journey and we place ourselves in God’s presence," Zenit quoted the then-archbishop as saying. "We must look at him and let him look at us, to examine our heart in his presence and to ask ourselves if we are walking blamelessly." jta.org

So, with the quotes above, it is a near certainty that Pope Francis is properly submissive to the chosens. Rabbi Bergman is 'his teacher'. He's attended synagogue. He wants us Catholics to examine are hearts and see if we are truly blameless for all the mean things done to jews over the centuries. 

One comes away from reading the next article (this one appearing in the The New York Jewish Week)  that there's no 'near' certainty about it... this man is purely judeacized - in fact it makes me wonder if there isn't jewish heritage in the man's background: 

The selection of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina to be the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church is being seen as a move that will continue to cement Catholic-Jewish relations and perhaps end the debate over the Church’s actions during World War II.

Bergoglio, 76, who took the name Francis and is the first Jesuit ever to be chosen pope, has publicly called for the opening of the Vatican archives to learn the true role Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust. There have been allegations that Pope Pius XII, who is on track to be canonized by the Church, remained silent in the face of the mass extermination of Jews and that he was friendly to the Nazis...

Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who co-authored a book with the new Pope in 2010, "On Heaven and Earth" told The Jewish Week that they devoted a chapter in which they “analyzed the attitude of Pope Pius XII during the Second World War".

Asked if he believes that with his new authority Pope Francis will order the opening of the archives, Rabbi Skorka replied: “I believe yes, that his attitude will be to search for all of the details and to open all the archives. He will use this opportunity to learn the truth.”

What about Pope Francis's activities during 'the Dirty War' in Argentina? "...in which countless people were murdered or disappeared from 1976 until 1983? Rabbi Skoka pointed out that there were even allegations that Pope Francis who headed the Jesuit order there from 1973 until 1979 was a member of the church hierarchy and supported or conspired to cover-up the junta’s actions.

“Our book deals with the dictatorship and in it he condemned with very sharp words the behavior of those who went along with the torture and killings,” Rabbi Skorka said.

He stressed that none of the allegations against Bergoglio were ever proven and there was no evidence to support the claims.

The primary allegation against him was that he was involved in the kidnapping of two Jesuit priests who were then held under inhumane conditions. Bergoglio claimed that he, in fact, worked secretly to save the lives of the priests and others that he hid from the death squads.

“Not only did he totally deny it, but he also condemned it with the sharpest words all of the clergymen and Catholic priests who stood with the killers during the regime,” Rabbi Skorka said.

He said he and Pope Francis have been friends for 20 years and that last October Bergoglio arranged for him to receive an honorary doctorate from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina (Catholic University of Argentina). Such an award to a rabbi was unprecedented in Latin America and was meant to stress on the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) that the council had truly opened the door to a growing rapprochement between the Catholic Church and Judaism.

In his presentation of the honorary doctorate, the rector of Catholic University of Argentina, the Rev. Victor Fernandez said the council’s actions as well as those or recent pope “have been welcomed in Argentina, and Christian institutions can embrace the wisdom of a rabbi.”

In reporting on the event, the newsletter of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World wrote that Rabbi Skorka, 62, and the father of two, thanked the university with a “Hebrew verb meaning ‘to join, connect.’ He evoked family memories and dialogues with Bergoglio … [and spoke of the] intellectual courage of Pope Paul II. He said that `God is reached by love, and urged [the restoration of] spiritual bonds.’” (The restoration of spiritual bonds btwn Catholic and jew?! Which bonds are those? Like killing Christ 'spiritually' bonded jew and Catholic? I'll bet we witness during this Pope's tenure some remarkable revisions of history)

Rabbi Skorka told The Jewish Week that the university was founded in the 19th century under the supervision of the Vatican and that he was the “first Jew so honored … and through me all of the Jewish community.”

Buenos Aires has the largest Jewish community in Latin America.

In 2005, Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz of the Center for 
Christian-Jewish Understanding at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield,
Conn., praised Bergoglio’s leadership, saying: “He was very concerned with what happened.”


That year, Bergoglio was the first public personality in Argentina to sign a petition calling for justice in the AMIA bombing case, and was a signatory on a document called “85 victims, 85 signatures.”

Argentine investigators believe officials and diplomats in Tehran planned the bombing, and in 2007 Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for them. Iran refused extradition but last month — subject to the approval of the Iranian parliament — agreed to allow Argentine authorities to question the suspects in Iran. (Nevermind that this was a Mossad operation... that doesn't fit with the narrative)

During a 2010 commemoration of the AMIA bombing, Bergoglio called the rebuilt building “a house of solidarity” and stated, “God bless them and help them accomplish their work.”    

With Bergoglio’s active support, the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Chapel, the main Roman Catholic Church in Argentina’s capital, erected a memorial to that bombing and to the victims of the Holocaust.  

Towards the rear of the main sanctuary, a large glass-enclosed case in a silver-wrought frame houses several Jewish artifacts, including a menorah, a Star of David, and sheets of prayer books rescued from Treblinka, Auschwitz and the Warsaw Ghetto.

Elsewhere in the sanctuary, are other framed cases with standard tributes to Catholic individuals and causes. The Holocaust memorial, known as the Commemorative Mural, is the only-such tribute to Holocaust victims in a Christian church, according to the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.

Another rabbi in Buenos Aires, Silvina Chemen, told The Jewish Week she has known Pope Francis for many years and found him to be “a serious man and a very intelligent person...”

In fact, she said, two months ago at an event celebrating a newspaper supplement dealing with religious values “he told me that he has my book of commentaries on the Torah by his night table. I said, `I read you every week.’”

Rabbi Chemen said she found Pope Francis “open not only to Jewish-Catholic dialogue but to inter-religious dialogue in general. Every Chanukah he is invited to our synagogue and he comes and is very impressive. And he opens his house to meetings with the rabbis.”

In addition, he meets with Jewish community leaders, including Jorge Burkman, executive director of B’nai B’rith in Argentina, whose membership numbers 500 families.

“We work with him on interfaith relations because he is very committed to dialogue,” he told The Jewish Week. “He was always sensitive about Jewish issues. And twice in the cathedral in Buenos Aires he has commemorated Kristallnacht, the last time in November of last year.”

At that event, Bergoglio was the keynote speaker and helped to light the menorah. 

Rabbi David Rosen, international director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, agreed: “There couldn’t have been a better choice from a Jewish perspective or from a general perspective. We have reason to celebrate,” he said in a statement.

Although the new pope spent most of his career in South America, “he grew up in the generation of the Shoah” and is sensitive to the importance of Holocaust commemoration, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism, Rabbi Rosen noted.

A “compassionate conservative” dedicated to social justice, he is described as a humble man who would encourage priests to engage in “shoe-leather evangelization.” He is also a staunch defender of the church's traditional sexual teachings on such issues as abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception.

While problems remain in Jewish-Catholic relations, including the Church’s support for the Latin Mass that calls for the conversion of Jews to Christianity, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, spiritual leader of Park East Synagogue on the Upper East Side and a veteran of interfaith work, said he believes “the spirit of Vatican II will prevail” under Pope Francis. The NY Jewish Week

Gee... where to even begin?

It should be obvious to all but the most judeacized 'Catholic' that this pope is easily the most subservient man to ever hold the position. In fact, I strongly doubt the Cardinals could have elected a more compliant man to the office of Pope. 

Reading that Jewish Week article we learn Bergoglio has turned the most important Cathedral in Argentina into a 'Shoal Piece', replete with menorahs and Star of David's... a great palace of remembrances... not for the Life and Death of Jesus, but rather, 'jewish suffering'. 

We learn Bergoglio has an exceedingly close relationship with the B'nai B'rith, the jewish version of the masonic lodge... In the old days the Church taught that lodges were inherantly evil. Yet there's been ample evidence that Masonic infiltration has been rampant in The Vatican over the past 100 years. Now we can expect to see an official new attitude towards both the masonic lodge AND b'nai b'rith.

We learn he's 'very impressive' when he attends service at the synagogue...

We learn he's a 'compassionate conservative'... oh dear God, no. 

We learn he's going to 'get to the bottom' of Catholic complicity for the shoah.... (that's really going to be something to look forward to...)

And so much more.

Where I'd like to focus, however, is on this excerpt:

What about Pope Francis's activities during 'the Dirty War' in Argentina? "...in which countless people were murdered or disappeared from 1976 until 1983? Rabbi Skoka pointed out that there were even allegations that Pope Francis who headed the Jesuit order there from 1973 until 1979 was a member of the church hierarchy and supported or conspired to cover-up the junta’s actions.

Rabbi Skorka stressed that none of the allegations against Bergoglio were ever proven and there was no evidence to support the claims.

The primary allegation against him was that he was involved in the kidnapping of two Jesuit priests who were then held under inhumane conditions. Bergoglio claimed that he, in fact, worked secretly to save the lives of the priests and others that he hid from the death squads.

“Not only did he totally deny it, but he also condemned it with the sharpest words all of the clergymen and Catholic priests who stood with the killers during the regime,” Rabbi Skorka said.

Actually, some would claim there is indeed evidence of Bergoglio's connection to the atrocities.

The following quote is from a radio interview given by Argentinian journalist (and jew) Horacio Verbitzky on 'Democracy Now: 

 He was accused by two Jesuit priests of having surrendered them to the military. They were a group of Jesuits that were under Bergoglio’s direction. He was the provincial superior of the order in Argentina... During a period of great political activity in the Jesuits’ company, he stimulated the social work of the Jesuits. But when the military coup overthrow the Isabel Perón government, he was in touch with the military that ousted this government and asked the Jesuits to stop their social work. And when they refused to do it, he stopped protecting them, and he let the military know that they were not more inside the protection of the Jesuits’ company, and they were kidnapped. And they accuse him for this deed. He denies this. He said to me that he tried to get them free, that he talked with the former dictator, Videla, and with former dictator Massera to have them freed.

...I heard two versions (of the story): the version of the two kidnapped priests that were released after six months of torture and captivity, and the version of Bergoglio. This was an issue divisive in the human rights movement to which I belong, because the president founding of CELS, Center for Legal and Social Studies, Emilio Mignone, said that Bergoglio was a accomplice of the military, and a lawyer of the CELS, Alicia Oliveira, that was a friend of Bergoglio, tell the other part of the story, that Bergoglio helped them. This was the two—the two versions.

But during the research for one of my books, I found documents in the archive of the foreign relations minister in Argentina, which, from my understanding, gave an end to the debate and show the double standard that Bergoglio used. The first document is a note in which Bergoglio asked the ministry to—the renewal of the passport of one of these two Jesuits that, after his releasing, was living in Germany, asking that the passport was renewed without necessity of this priest coming back to Argentina. The second document is a note from the officer that received the petition recommending to his superior, the minister, the refusal of the renewal of the passport. And the third document is a note from the same officer telling that these priests have links with subversion—that was the name that the military gave to all the people involved in opposition to the government, political or armed opposition to the military—and that he was jailed in the mechanics school of the navy, and saying that this information was provided to the officer by Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio, provincial superior of the Jesuit company. This means, to my understanding, a double standard. He asked the passport given to the priest in a formal note with his signature, but under the table he said the opposite and repeated the accusations that produced the kidnapping of these priests.

Well, he was released—both of them were released, drugged, confused, transported by helicopter to—in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, were abandoned, asleep by drugs, in very bad condition. They were tortured. They were interrogated. One of the interrogators had externally knowings about theological questions, that induced one of them, Orlando Yorio, to think that their own provincial, Bergoglio, had been involved in this interrogatory.  Democracy Now

Interestingly, there was an article published in January 2011's The Guardian, written by Dan O'Shaughnessy where the writer makes many of the same points in reference to Verbitzky's investigative work. That article stood, unedited, until March 14 of this year when, after Bergoglio's elevation to Pope, most of Verbitzky's accusations were excised. 

What we have here likely is a powerful accusation that can wheeled out at any time and used to blackmail Pope Francis whenever needed. Some of Argentina's jews today appear to fully support Francis... a few others have named him as a co-conspirator of a brutal regime's police force. By all appearances Francis is another spokesman for judaism. But should Francis stray from the reservation, these accusations will immediately return to the light of day. 

Oh, for anyone not understanding the Dershowitz reference in the Title of this post, see : Alan Advises the Cardinals