Pope Francis: Vicar of Christ or Caiaphas? Asking for a Uyghur, by Jason Jones & John Zmirak

“But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” (John 11: 50-51)

Perhaps the central vocation of Christians in public life is to stand alongside the scapegoats. Then to rush to the aid of those whom others abandoned. Our Lord spoke for the poor whom no one cared for under Rome’s unjust occupation. He aided the Samaritan woman, and even the woman caught in adultery. The early Church joined the Jews at the walls of Rome, rescuing infants exposed to die in the cold. The Church preached to slaves and masters their moral equality. Saint Ambrose stood down a Christian emperor, Theodosius, for his acts of tyrannical cruelty. When Spain and Portugal signed on and started to profit from North African slave-trading, pope after pope denounced it — to no avail.

Saving Jews from Hitler

In our time, Pope Pius XII firmly condemned the evils both of Communist collectivism and Nazi racism. Leaning on old Soviet propaganda talking points, some damn him now for relying more on stealth, secret diplomacy, and deception than bold denunciations of the Holocaust. But Rabbi David Dalin documents that Pius saved hundreds of thousands of Jews across Europe. He threw open monasteries and convents to hide entire Jewish families, and told papal nuncios to distribute false baptismal certificates.  …