In recent years it has become fashionable to condemn Pope Pius XII (and, by implication, the Catholic Church) for his silence regarding Nazi persecution of the Jews. In fact, Pius confronted and condemned the Nazis on numerous occasions, and the Vatican saved more Jewish lives than any other organization apart from the Allied armies. The charge of remaining silent in the face of great evil could, however, much more plausibly be leveled against today’s Catholics—and not only Catholics, but Christians in general—for their failure to speak out against the evils perpetrated in the name of Islam. The reason that we don’t hear such criticism is that just about everyone has elected to remain silent on this topic, including those who usually delight in going after Christians. In fact, the critics of Pope Pius XII became upset with Pope Benedict XVI for not remaining silent about Islamic violence on the occasion of his speech at Regensburg. John Cornwell, the author of Hitler’s Pope, and a rabid critic of Pius, condemned Benedict’s speech as “incendiary” and “abrasive.” Apparently, when confronted with the greatest evil of your own time, silence is golden.

So, there is plenty of silence to go around, but Christian silence is particularly disturbing because Christians are supposed to answer to a higher authority than prevailing opinion. In addition, Christians can’t very well claim ignorance since much of recent Muslim animosity has been directed toward Christians. Here are some recent headlines:

*Iran: Protestant clergyman tortured for converting Muslims.
*500 butchered in Nigeria killing fields.

*Pakistan: Christian couple gets 25 years in prison for allegedly touching Qur’an with dirty hands.

*Four churches firebombed in Malaysia for using “Allah” for God.
*Egypt: At least six Christians killed in shooting outside church.
*Christians in Iraq fear extinction. Continued here...