|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Order Jamie Glazov’s new book, ‘United in Hate: The Left’s Romance with Tyranny, Terror, and Hamas’: HERE.
Editor’s note—this article is based on a video at The Edwin Black Show, which includes visual documentation of all facts. The video can be seen here.
During the final ceremony of the most recent March of the Living at Auschwitz, I was quite moved when Israel Defense Forces Chief Cantor LTC Shai Abramson sang the song of the fighting partisans who waged war from the forests, and he sang it in Yiddish — just like my father and mother sang it when they were partisans fighting in the Polish woods [ed. note: see all the MotL recordings]. My parents told me that every day, they prayed to God to deliver them just one more day. As the cantor’s voice pierced the air, I also recalled the brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, praying to the heavens as they did. The speakers on stage reminded us as well that every day the brave men and women of the IDF also pray to God as they fight to preserve life and the nation.
We are reminded of the Talmudic injunctions for self-defense and warfare to save lives. It is the principle of self-defense, and the mandate to preserve life, the principle of Pikuach Nefesh, which overrules all other religious tenets in Judaism — Save Life.
And then my mind went to Pope Leo XIV, who on Palm Sunday declared that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
Pope Leo says this about men who stormed Normandy, about every Jew in the IDF, and about my parents who fought as partisans. At the same time, he condemned President Trump’s war to save humanity from nuclear conflagration by religious fanatics in Iran. Pope Leo, who are you to tell us whose prayers God hears?
I know the world sees you as a great Holy Man. But I see you as just another product of the Catholic Church in Chicago, one of the most criminal and corrupt organizations in American history. I’m from Chicago myself. So, you, Pope Leo, know what I know about Chicago.
I spent some of my early professional years investigating the Catholic Church in Chicago, as did a cadre of Catholic reformers and Catholic journalists. Fact: The Catholic Church in Chicago completely partnered with the corrupt Democratic political machine and the Chicago Mob’s worst gangsters to make millions of dollars and accrue power. Let’s go back a few decades.
The Chicago Archdiocese was led by Cardinal John P. Cody. He lived in a mansion and had a mistress — effectively a wife — Helen Dolan Wilson, who he showered with a missing million dollars of church money that funded a Boca Raton vacation home and many other benefits. The Chicago Sun-Times was among the leaders in exposing this. A federal grand jury was close to indicting Cardinal Cody for embezzlement when he died in April 1982.
The Chicago Archdiocese was also loaded with child predator priests. Scores of priests assaulted young boys and girls, and when these priests were exposed, the archdiocese transferred them to out-of-the-way parishes, such as in Arizona, where they often remained in teaching, counseling, and coaching roles — and could and did repeat offend. Around Thanksgiving of 2025, the Chicago archdiocese was hit with the so-called “Predator Pipeline” lawsuit, accusing the Church of reassigning pervert priests, enabling them to re-offend against new child victims. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said, “This wasn’t just a series of bad decisions — it was a system … For decades, the Archdiocese relied on secrecy and reassignment … putting children in harm’s way.”
The Church was partners with the Daley political machine, participating in their power and control schemes. Somehow, everywhere there was a Chicago public school, a few hundred feet away, there was a church parish property, generally a stately rector’s home. In 2021, the archdiocese listed $1 billion in cash and assets, including millions in banks. Yet the Church served so many impoverished communities, especially on Chicago’s South Side.
But since the days of Al Capone, the Catholic Church has partnered with the mob. America’s most famous gangster was regularly given communion at a South Side church, St. Columbanus, now known as St. Moses the Black, located on 71st Street near the highway — and there were lots of mob church weddings in and around Chicago.
Capone was so comfortable operating in the church, he ordered two murders on the church steps of Chicago’s biggest cathedral, Holy Name. Capone’s favorite assassin, Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, shot Dion O’Banion and later Hymie Weiss. The bullet holes are still visible on at the cathedral entrance.
A stronghold of the Chicago mob was the suburb of Cicero. One of the local enforcers was a big guy who later became known as “The Gorilla.” The Gorilla was Paul Marcinkus. Eventually, Marcinkus became an archbishop — and the bodyguard for Pope Paul VI. Despite zero experience in banking, Pope Paul appointed Marcinkus secretary and then chairman of the Vatican Bank. The Vatican Bank was a mob front. In the 1970s, for example, it held the funds of Michele Sindona, who was heavily involved in money laundering heroin profits from both the Italian and American mobs. When Sindona’s personal investment portfolio collapsed, the Vatican Bank reportedly lost some $80 million. The Vatican Bank set up Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed after discovering $1.3 billion missing. In 1973, the heads of the organized crime and racketeering section of the US Department of Justice, William Aronwald and Bill Lynch, questioned Marcinkus in his Vatican office. Topic: his alleged delivery of $14.5 million in counterfeit bonds to the Vatican years earlier. Italian grand juries wanted to indict Marcinkus, but he was shielded by Vatican immunity. Eventually, Marcinkus was given a remote church post in Sun City, Arizona, where he died, leaving a half-million dollar home and estate. His partner in crime, Robert Calvi, general manager of Banco Ambrosiana, was not so lucky. He lost the mob’s money, and in 1982 the mob rubbed him out. The day after he was fired, Calvi’s body was found hanging from scaffolding beneath a bridge in London. He had five bricks in his pockets. Calvi’s secretary, Teresa Corrocher, jumped — or was pushed — to her death out of a five-story window. Chief suspect in these deaths was fascist gangster Licio Gelli, who ran the secretive Italian Blackfriars terror society known as Propaganda 2 (P2). Gelli lost a lot of money when Banco Ambrosiana collapsed. He was arrested and escaped more than once and ultimately died peaceably in his home in Italy. At all times, the Chicago mob had a direct link to Pope Paul through their Cicero gangland stooge, Marcinkus the Gorilla.
Also remember that when Hitler came to power Pope Pius XI wasted no time, and on July 20, 1933, sealed a concordat with the Hitler regime to stay quiet during all Nazi activity. Article 16 binds all Catholic bishops to swear allegiance to the German Reich before assuming their Church offices — and to not interfere with Reich policies. That’s why the Church said nothing when the camps were set up, when the Nuremberg Laws were decreed, when Kristallnacht burned through the synagogues of Germany, and even during war itself, which killed millions. This Reichskonkordat has never been annulled. It’s still in force. And let’s remember that Hitler would have never gotten his early powers, beginning with the so-called “Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich” — the Enabling Law — and his cabinet’s ability to enact laws without parliament or the president — without the Zentrum Party — Catholic Center Party — giving its 11.2 percent of votes to elevate Hitler to dictator. The party was led by Monsignor Ludwig Kaas, who reported directly to the Vatican.
The Church was comfortable with fascists. In 1929, the Church had cut a similar deal with Benito Mussolini, who had preceded the Führer, and enjoyed a substantial working relationship with Generalissimo Franco in fascist Spain.
History also recalls that the Catholic Church was part and parcel of the most sadistic killing regime in the Holocaust, in Croatia, where it joined with the Ustaše, which heinously murdered tens of thousands of innocent Jews and Serb Orthodox. The Ustaše collected baskets of eyeballs and other body parts for souvenirs. The unspeakable atrocities committed by the Ustaše are too bloodcurdling to detail here. But it operated a concentration camp called Jasenovac, which was a magnitude more hellish than Auschwitz. It is thought that 80,000 Jews, Serbs, and others were murdered by the Ustaše in rituals too ghastly to describe. Franciscan monks carried out mass executions in three villages near Banja Luka, where about 2,000 Serbs were slaughtered using gruesome physical methods. The Jasenovac camp, by the way, was overseen by Franciscan monk Miroslav Filipović, who personally and brutally oversaw the murder of some 30,000 individuals, often by horrid methods — and about 100 by his own hand. He wore his priestly garments while murdering. In 1946, Filipović was tried for war crimes and hanged. Although Filipović had been suspended and then expelled from his order, he nonetheless wore his Franciscan habit at the gallows.
A Truth Commission after the war concluded that some hundreds of Catholic priests and monks were involved in the genocide. During this entire genocide, Pope Pius XII granted provisional recognition to the Ustaše and monitored its every activity via church contacts. Chief Ustaše Ante Pavelić mainly worked through Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, appointed by the Church as its main contact. After the War, chief Ustaše Pavelić was given shelter in the Vatican and protected at various papal residences. He was smuggled into Italy and then out to Argentina via the extensive Church ratline network, which relocated Nazi war criminals to other countries where they could hide.
In 2018, the Ustaše monsters were honored in a special Catholic mass in Zagreb and another in Bleiberg. The World Jewish Congress wrote to Rome and the Church and begged them to cancel it. Their pleas were ignored.
I didn’t have time to get to the Inquisition.
So, I offer this advice from a fellow Chicagoan, Pope Leo. You might think twice about declaring on behalf of God that my father’s prayers and the prayers of the IDF won’t be heard. Perhaps you should look closer to home.
******
Edwin Black is the NYT bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust and recipient of numerous awards including the Moral Courage Award from San Diego State University and the Moral Compass Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Naples Holocaust Museum. This article is based on a video at The Edwin Black Show, which includes visual documentation of all facts. The video can be seen here.
Photo Credit: Edgar Beltrán, The Pillar , Creative Commons.
Attention Pope Leo: If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all.
Yawn…. Catholic Church bad, all things jewish and Protestant good..
Back to bashing..
As a Catholic, everything he wrote was historically correct. We should not cower from corruption in our church. Our Leadership is NOT Christ. They are Men. They disgrace and defame our faith. I don’t feel it is bashing.
The whole expose on the pope is off base and offensive. Edwin Black’s has a history of inflated and pompous rhetoric. Critics have argued Black’s “un-scholarly voice” diminishes the weight of his investigations. Black’s overly defensive stance and abusive characterizations of anyone who opposes him caused attendees to walk out of his presentations on several occasions in the past.
This is what Black does. He uses sketchy evidence and makes overly grandiose claims that are constantly condemned.
“The speakers on stage reminded us as well that every day the brave men and women of the IDF also pray to God as they fight to preserve life and the nation.”
The IDF has many in their ranks that are openly racist and bigoted. Example:
“Two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers were sentenced to 30 days in military detention and removed from combat duty after being caught on camera destroying a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced on April 21, 2026.” -NY Post.
Where is your voice on incidents such as this that occur on the daily? How about the “36-year-old Israeli man, identified as a Jewish extremist, was arrested for a racially motivated attack on a 48-year-old French Catholic nun near Jerusalem’s Old City. The attacker shoved and kicked the nun, a researcher at the French Biblical and Archaeological School, who suffered injuries to her face.”-Associated Press
The pope doesn’t like unjust wars. According to Catholic theology there are 5 conditions/rules that must be met for a war to be considered just. If even one of those conditions are not met it cannot be a just war.
Now, Black wouldn’t know any of this because he’s more interested in throwing around his man made Talmud. “We are reminded of the Talmudic injunctions for self-defense and warfare to save lives.”
The Talmud contains:
1.Commentary, debates, and traditions that often contradict the written Law
2.Blasphemous passages regarding Christ and Christians
3.Legal loopholes, reinterpretations, and philosophical ideas far removed from biblical worship
Man made “Rabbinic” aka “Talmud” Judaism is not what anyone should look to, particularly the pope.
Oh gee, yet another Jew hater has graced our pages.
Scumsrent on steroids. Whoda thunk it
Your criticisms of the Talmud are equally applicable to Catholic doxology. NOWHERE in Scripture is the authority claimed by the Catholic Church granted. Catholicism elevates church tradition over God-inspired Scripture, which includes the entirety of the Tanakh (real Christianity is foundationally Hebraic). There is not room or time enough to begin to describe all of the ways Catholic practices contravene Scripture. As Dave Hunt and Chuck Missler pointed out long ago, the Catholic Church persecuted and murdered far more actual believers in Yeshua Ha’Maschiach than the Roman Empire. And its vile persecution of Jews is well chronicled. I grew up in a Catholic dominated area and have kin and friends that are Catholic. I have a great love for each of them, but I diverge from their religion. Most Catholics, as most “Christians,” are Biblically illiterate. They spend no time actually studying the Word and simply absorb what their preferred “man of God” utters.
Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church upon the Apostles, appointing St. Peter as the first pope to lead a visible, organized society. Scripture, particularly Matthew 16:18, is cited as the foundation where Jesus says, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,” creating a continuity of faith, authority, and sacraments.
The Catholic Church was here for 1,500 yrs before Martin Luther broke away and started his own church. So, God led his people astray for 1,500 yrs? And Martin Luther corrected God’s mistake? Every Protestant denomination was man made.
Martin Luther -Lutheran Church
John Symth- Baptist Church
John Wesley- Methodist Church
Jesus Christ – Catholic Church
I could go on but for the sake of brevity I’ll stop.
I could write countless novels on why Protestantism is wrong, and I wouldn’t be close to being finished..
The point though, is the pope doesn’t need advice from someone who follows rabbinic Judaism. This author is known for his shoddy “investigative” reporting and pompous rhetoric as he has clearly demonstrated here.
I don’t remember it being the “Catholic” church, but the church. Of course there were those who found the ugliness of the men leading the church less than desirable and broke away from it.
Jesus found the synagogues filled with rabbis and other church leaders hiding behind and using the synagogue to steal and betray. Well, it didn’t change that much with some of the leaders of the “Catholic” or the protestant churches. After all they are lead by men. there are always those who are weak or those who know a good opportunity when they see it. Fake their love for God and screw the congregation.
Anyone who claims that fighting evil isn’t the right thing to do hasn’t studied or read the word of God. The Pope is so wrong if he can’t see the difference between fighting against evil to protect the good and fighting for evil to gain power and money.
Martin Luther did not start his own church, he sought to reform the abuses in the Church – that’s why it is called the Lutheran Reformation.
This author is known for his *shoddy “investigative” reporting* and pompous rhetoric as he has clearly demonstrated here.
be careful ^
This author is known for his shoddy “investigative” reporting and pompous rhetoric as he has clearly demonstrated here.
https://edwinblack.com/edwin-black-retractions
think carefully, Duval Gohari
Wow !! What an awesome article… it would take weeks to study all of this… and it sounds horrible…
Let’s remember… the satanic catholic fake church is… satanic.
Worshiping the same fake god allah of satanic islam… not a wonder they were linked up with Hitler and surely Himmler too…
Hitler loved satanic islam… <<< True, I'm sure it was his fascination with death…
They are coming to take you away, Ho Ho Hee Hee Ha ha
Poop Leo will make declarations as he sees fit…
Why?
The satanic catholic fake church literally believes all authority from heaven was passed down through Peter…
Essentially believing God has retired and put them in charge of everything…
A false belief… distorted and warped… and satanic…
catholicism is satanic to the core !!
You have to go to the Vatican to see faithful & priests praying to IDOLS !!!
Satanic or what ??!!
They are coming to take you away, Ho Ho Hee Hee Ha ha
I dunno, I think sumsy has a point about the pope. There’ll be a lot of them in Hell…
Popes are just one of insane bugaboos. He hates Catholics too. All one billion of them.
Intrepid…
If you believe the satanic catholic fake church is infallible…
And… you’re already confessing the Nicene Creed that the satanic catholic fake church “is the one holy church”…
Then… you should denounce your satanic ELCA fake church, leave them and join satanic catholicism…
I’m converting to catholicism just to piss you off.
Pope Leo XIV is talking nonsense as regards the prayers of warriors not being heard. During His time on earth Jesus was sought out by Roman soldiers for guidance and healing and never did He condemn them for being warriors. There is the example of the warrior Saint Joan of Arc favored by God as well.
Jewish sources have stated that 860,000 Jewish lives were saved by Pope Pius XII during the period of the Holocaust. We can all agree that Albert Einstein was not a stupid man. Late in 1940 he said “Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty.” On October 12, 1945, the World Jewish Congress made a gift of twenty thousand dollars to a Vatican charity “in recognition of the Holy See’s efforts in securing the rescue of Jews from Fascist and Nazi persecution.”
He pretends to be “against war”, but where is this pope’s outrage or even a COMMENT regarding the slaughter of christians in Africa—nothing ! and nobody is talking about it. Here is a direct and consolidated report :
” Reports show between 50,000 to over 100,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria alone since 2009. The high death rate is linked to extremist insurgencies by groups like Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda…. in Nigeria, Sudan, and Mali… “
Vague accusations against the author’s scholarship don’t stand. (Western and Eastern history is so much about papacies fighting and killing, up to and including its dark plays in Chicago )
The current Pope’s personal history in Latin American — worshipping pagan idols and already initiating some of that at the Vatican — is deplorable as someone who claims to be a follower of the King of Peace.
This Pope is not just weak and wrong but, at best, is an unknowing political troll who should go back under the bridge from which he emerged.
More from Pope Dhimmi II
I see the Catholic bashing is alive and well at FPM
The Roman Catholic church collaborates with the Communist Chinese Party concerning the ordination of priests and bishops in China and the existence of churches there. Search for any record of Leo condemning the Communist Chinese government and its organ transplant on demand, sweatshop, intellectual property theft, life-imperiling production of rare earths, or other abuse of the Chinese people. You won’t find one word.
Yet Leo opines on those who wage war to protect civilization against the onslaught of Islam.
It’s pretty clear who he worships.
“Pope” aught to stick to his own Business, of which he cant.
Business as to Corruption and satanism in the Vatican _ala luciferian).
Pope should look into what God they serve
Let’s try to manage our expectations here, Edwin. Your whole problem seems to be that you inexplicably expect the Pope to be Jewish, Likud Party, maybe moonlighting in the IDF, defiant against the Catechism, and basically not Catholic in any form whatsoever. Yes—if you feel that Leo XIV has a spiritual obligation to follow the Talmud and your own warped, misrepresented idea of Pikuach Nefesh, you should prepare yourself to be as disappointed as an Evangelical would be if he showed up to a Hindu temple on Sunday for a Christian rock band and a faith healing.
Most of this article was a list of various bad things that the Catholic Church has done over its two thousand year history. I’m not sure exactly what purpose that list served, but it seems like the Pope doesn’t want to add to it.