[Matthew M.]

The history of the Catholic Church and slavery is a mixed one. I have already seen one response that mentioned that Catholics held slaves. Because we are a universal church, things vary from country to country. In Latin America, the Catholic Church prevented the genocide of our native peoples. A group of Dominicans (an order within the church) in the 1700s decided to preach against slavery in Mexico and stated that all slaveowners were committing crimes against God and man and were going to hell for it. Mexico outlawed slavery more than 100 years before the United States did.

The Holocaust was treated differently in each country. The Bishops of Holland spoke against the Nazis much more openly than Pope Pius XII (who made several public condemnations of the Nazis), but the retaliation was so great that it was decided that only direct and quiet action could help. The convents (cloistered and thus usually closed off from the world) were opened and Jews were hidden in Rome and all over Europe in monasteries and convents, with the Jews dressed as priests, monks and nuns. After the war, many rabbis stated that the Jewish people owed a great debt of gratitude to the Catholic Church.

User Detail :  

Name : Matthew M., Gender : M, Religion : Catholic, Age : 21, City : Pueblo, State : CO, Country : United States, Occupation : Dominican Brother, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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