Anti-semitism claims delay beatification
The Vatican has put the planned beatification of a French priest, Leon Dehon, on hold after complaints about anti-Semitism in his writings emerged, a Vatican official revealed today.
Dehon, who founded the priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus religious order, had been approved for beatification in a ceremony in St Peter’s Square on April 24. That ceremony was postponed because of the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, who was formally installed as pope on April 24.
But rather than rescheduling the beatification, the Vatican formed a commission to study the Dehon case, effectively putting it on hold, a Vatican official said.
The move came after complaints in France that some of Dehon’s writings were anti-Semitic, according to reports in the French media.
The French Catholic newspaper La Croix reported that a French historian, Jean-Dominique Durand, had alerted the French bishops conference in February that some of Dhon’s writings were anti-Semitic. The newspaper quoted his writings as saying Jews were “united in their hatred of Jesus” and were enemies of Christians.
The newspaper said Dehon had written that the Jewish holy book, the Talmud, was the “manual of the bandit, of the corrupter, of the social destroyer.” It quoted him as writing that anti-Semitism was a “sign of hope.”
Dehon lived from 1843-1925. According to his biography, which remains on the Vatican website, he was ordained a priest in 1868 and founded the priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1877 after visiting the Italian shrine of Loreto.
The newspaper quoted the superior of Dehon’s order in Paris as saying Dehon’s writings must be taken in context with the times in which he lived.
