Danusha V. Goska

The Beatification of Pius IX

This is Danusha Goska.

Sometimes it's necessary to raise one's voice in protest, even when doing so is practically futile. This is one of those times. On September third, Pope John Paul beatified Pope Pius the ninth. Beatification is the penultimate step to sainthood. Pius the ninth supported the beheading of a man who merely attempted to assault, with a fork, a high churchman. Pius opposed the separation of church and state, and he opposed free speech. Most tragically, Pius was involved in the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, a six-year-old boy. Papal guards arrived at the Mortara home and demanded the child. Later, Pius adopted him as his own son. The pretext? Edgardo, a Jew, had been baptized by a Christian maid. In spite of international controversy and the boys' parents' legal appeals Edgardo, was never returned to his grieving family; he grew up to become a Catholic priest. My expression of shock and dismay at the beatification of a kidnapper will never reach the ears of the Vatican, and will not change anything. However, as a Catholic, and as Polish American dedicated to Polish Jewish dialogue, I must state, and state publicly, along with the other Catholic protesters who have condemned this action: Pius the ninth is not my saint.

For Speak Your Mind, this has been Danusha Goska.

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