When was the last...no, the FIRST time a church sacked its neighborhood to help the poor?
The Church sacked the poor to feed itself!
Jan 24, 2010
Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity | Catholic Church
Extreme controversy surrounds any discussion of the Catholic Church's role in genocide and crimes against humanity. Several issues need to be highlighted in seeking to unravel this controversy. First is the allegation that the Church was directly responsible for the drive toward colonialism in issuing papal bulls that commanded states such as Portugal to spread Catholicism. One might argue that these declarations led European nation-states to believe that it was their right to acquire territories abroad. The fact that crimes against humanity were committed during colonial conquest is uncontested. A second criticism often leveled against the Church is that it has failed in its moral duty to condemn or guide leaders and populations in curbing genocidal tendencies. Such an argument claims that the Church, by virtue of its proclaimed aim of spiritual guidance, ought to have played a more significant role in the prevention of crimes against humanity and genocide. The third and fiercest criticism of the Church, however, is that it has furthered genocidal tendencies. This remains the harshest criticism and goes beyond moral arguments to an examination of evidence suggesting that elements of the Church have colluded with forces perpetrating crimes against humanity and genocide.
The Papal Bulls
Many processes concurrent with colonization can be attributed to the Church and traced to a series of edicts issued by the Pope. These edicts, referred to as "bulls," were commands or grants the Church gave to its followers. One of the more well-known bulls was delivered by Pope Alexander III to the King of Portugal on May 21, 1179. In this edict the Pope declared:
All the regions which you will have rescued from the hands of the Saracens, and where other neighboring Christian princes could not acquire any legal rights, are conceded by us to your Excellency (Consilia, 1547, p. 137).
As Bartolus points out in his treatise, although the papal bulls did not directly bestow territories on princes, they "legalized, recognized [and] sanctioned ex post facto territorial integrity which already existed in fact, or they gave assent, and thereby legal sanction
ex ante to an intended occupancy, to a condition anticipated in the future" (p. 137).
Thus, it might be argued with some force of authority that an examination of the role of the Catholic Church within the context of genocide and crimes against humanity ought to take into account the Church's impact during the period of colonization, when European powers competed against each other for the pursuit of Christianity, civilization, and commerce. Again, the responsibility attributed to the Church may be characterized as direct and indirect: direct responsibility for the actions of people it directly commanded to pursue such ends, as in the case of the papal bulls, and indirect responsibility for its failure to condemn the immoral actions of others, including Church members, and its attempts to justify its own doctrine. Within this rubric the missionary work legitimized by the Catholic Church also needs to be assessed.
The Church and the Jews
The most significant issue in discussing the Church within the context of genocide concerns its role prior to and during the Holocaust. Once again, an analysis of the Church's role differentiates between acts of commission and acts of omission in the condemnation of activities directed toward the minority Jewish population. In many respects the tenuous relationship that existed between the Catholic Church and Jewish minorities who lived in various parts of Europe in the 1930s dated back to much earlier times. Many suggest it was the Church that in previous centuries had instigated, or at any rate fanned the flames of, the anti-Semitism which was to take such a high toll on the Jewish population in later years.
In terms of acts of commission, an argument may be made that anti-Semitism, to an extent, is linked to the teachings of the Catholic Church, one being the assignment of blame for the death of Jesus to the Jews. The ghettoization of the Jewish community all across Europe in the 1930s and 1940s can in some part be ascribed to the fervor with which Jewish lifestyles and beliefs were condemned by the Church. This is captured in the sentiments expressed by the Third Lateran Council (a gathering of 302 bishops under the aegis of the Pope to restore ecclesiastical discipline) in 1179—the same year that Pope Alexander III delivered his famous edict to the King of Portugal. The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 went a step further in passing anti-Jewish decrees that included, among a host of other measures, the requirement for Jews to wear special badges clearly identifying them in the general population. The Church also encouraged monarchs to expel Jews from their states—a notable example being King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella's decision to expel Jews from Spain in 1492.
In places such as Venice, the Church prevailed on city authorities to segregate Jews and prevent them from living among Christians. Although Venice did not undertake such measures to segregate its Jewish population until 1516, Jews at a much earlier period in the city's history regularly faced the wrath of Catholic clergy who actively advocated their removal and exclusion, especially during the Easter season.
Thus in terms of the Holocaust, the Church among other parties bears some moral responsibility for stoking anti-Semitism throughout European history, or at the very least, for failing to condemn such dangerous levels of antagonism on moral and spiritual grounds.
Much has been written about the Church and its role during the Holocaust. Great emphasis has been placed on the work of Pope Pius XII: described by many as a leading advocate of Jewish rights, and by others as having done too little during the Holocaust. A brief examination of this pontiff's views and actions casts significant light on the role of the Church during World War II.
http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/catholic-church/print
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cru1.htm