Cyrus Shahrad > Quotes

“New evidence uncovered in the Vatican Secret Archives suggests that the wartime Pope Pius XII – formerly an influential Vatican diplomat named Eugenio Pacelli – may have done more to facilitate Hitler's rise to power than most secular leaders.”
― Cyrus Shahrad, Secrets of the Vatican

“It was no surprise when, in 1950, Pius became the first pope to invoke 'papal infallibility' – the doctrine whereby certain papal declarations, delivered under certain conditions, are regarded as incapable of being wrong.”
― Cyrus Shahrad, Secrets of the Vatican

“Pope Urban II convened a council in France, where he made a rousing speech urging the faithful to pick up swords in the service of God, promising his holy warriors an automatic pardon for their sins and a guaranteed place in Heaven.”
― Cyrus Shahrad, Secrets of the Vatican

“The current Bishop Prelate of Opus Dei caused a huge outcry in 1997, when he asserted that 90% of disabled children, according to 'scientific research', were born to couples who had 'not entered into marriage in a pure state', and were thus paying for the sinfulness of their parents.”
― Cyrus Shahrad, Secrets of the Vatican

“Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Much to the bafflement of the Allies, however, Pope Pius XII said nothing. He refused to condemn the Nazis even as war escalated and casualties mounted on both sides, although it was in 1942, when the world woke up to the reality of the Final Solution, that the papal silence became most unsettling.”
― Cyrus Shahrad, Secrets of the Vatican