Goebbels, the Church and Pedophilia

Likening Dawkins and others to the Nazis is a bit of a cheap shot but there is a precedent in history.

According to Massimo Introvigne of Corriere della Sera, the Nazis did in fact try to discredit the Catholic Church by involving it in a scandal of pedophile priests. In 1937, he writes, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels organized such a campaign after Pope Pius XI severely criticised the Nazi regime.

The parallels are disturbing. Just as cases of pedophilia are suddenly coming to light after decades since they occurred, so Goebbels instructed the Gestapo "to “reopen” the cases from 1936 and also older cases, constantly recalling them to public opinion," according to Introvigne.

Goebbels also ordered the Gestapo to find witnesses willing to accuse a certain number of priests, threatening them with immediate arrest if they didn’t collaborate, even if they were children.

It's an interesting article worth reading, and you won't of course see it reported in many other places.