Francis Changes Mind On Opening Secret Archives
Pope Francis nixed a plan to open secret Vatican archive files relevant to the Holocaust following pressure from Germany and France, an informed Western diplomat based in Tel Aviv told this column.
Major Jewish organizations had petitioned Fancis to open the Holocaust-era Vatican archives.
The issue of the Vatican and its relationship with Nazi Germany has long been a point of contention in Jewish-Catholic relations.
The topic is particularly timely since Francis will soon decide whether World War II-era pope, Pius XII, should be canonized. Pius XII played a private role in discreetly aiding Jews and other Nazi victims, but he did not speak publicly against the German atrocities.
When he came to power, Adolf Hitler signed a compact with the Vatican in which the Catholic Church agreed to accept the Nazi government in exchange for Hitler pledging not to interfere with Vatican affairs.
Historians say Pius XII knew about the concentration camps and mass murders at the beginning of the Holocaust in part from reports from priests in Germany and various occupied countries.
Mass Murderer Echoes Warcraft Character
From his eerie laugh to specific quotes in his chilling YouTube diatribe, Santa Barbara mass murderer Elliott Rodger seems to be channeling, perhaps even mimicking, a specific character from the violent Warcraft video game, this reporter has found.
It has been widely reported that Rodger was an avid Warcraft player. His online manifesto states he would retreat deep into the game for hours per day and would dream of Warcraft when he went on family vacations and could not play.
What has been missed is that quotes from his final YouTube video announcing his murderous intentions seem to come from the Warcraft character known as Garrosh Hellscream, whose pursuit of dominance and power lead him to hate the Warcraft races, including his own.
In his last YouTube video, Rodger states in what seems like prepared remarks, “If I had it in my power, I would stop at nothing to reduce every single one of you to mountains of skulls and rivers of blood, and rightfully so.”
The Hellscream character similarly went on a diatribe citing mountains of skulls and rivers of blood.
Official sound files from World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria have Hellscream, voiced by Patrick Seitz, stating, “I have seen mountains of skulls and rivers of blood, and I will have my world.”
Hellscream then goes into a relaxed, manic laugh that Rodger seems to mirror.
The Hellscream character’s pursuit of superiority may have fed Rodger’s YouTube statement, “I am in truth the superior one, the true alpha male.”
Like Hellscream’s hatred for his own race, Rodger stated, “I hate all of you. Humanity is a disgusting, wretched, depraved species.”
Hellscream and Rodger even evince the same speaking pattern. They both begin threats with the word “yes” expressed using similar, threatening intonation.
U.S. Secretly Meets With Hamas
The U.S. last week held a clandestine meeting in Egypt with Ghazi Hamad, the deputy foreign minister of Hamas, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.
The officials would not say whether the meeting was with a current member of the U.S. government or a former diplomat acting as a proxy for the Obama administration.
Messages were exchanged about Hamas’s intentions as part of a newly formed Palestinian unity government with the rival Fatah party, led by Mahmoud Abbas, the officials said.
Last week, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper quoted an unnamed White House official stating the Obama administration is leaning toward cooperating with the Hamas-Fatah Palestinian unity government, even if Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and despite objections from the Israeli government.