Dershowitz Condemns Possible Papal Successor as Anti-Semitic

Dershowitz Condemns Possible Papal Successor as Anti-Semitic

Alan Dershowitz has openly condemned one possible successor to Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, who he claims is virulently and openly anti-Semitic. 

Rodriguez Maradiaga has been one of the candidates mentioned as a possible pope, but his open record of anti-Semitism caused Dershowitz to start a campaign to eliminate him from consideration.

Rodriguez Maradiaga is an out and out Jew-hater. He has said that “the Jews” are to blame for the scandal surrounding the sexual misconduct of priests toward young parishioners… He begins by asserting that the Vatican is anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian (as he says it should be). It follows, therefore, that “the Jews” had to get even with the Catholic Church, while at the same time deflecting attention away from Israeli injustices against the Palestinians. The Jews managed to do this by arranging for the media–which he says they control–to give disproportionate attention on the Vatican sex scandal.

Rodriguez Maradiaga himself said:

It certainly makes me think that in a moment in which all the attention of the mass media was focused on the Middle East, all the many injustices done against the Palestinian people, the print media and the TV in the United States became obsessed with sexual scandals that happened 40 years ago, 30 years ago. Why? I think it’s also for these motives: What is the church that has received Arafat the most times and has most often confirmed the necessity of the creation of a Palestinian state? What is the church that does not accept that Jerusalem should be the indivisible capital of the State of Israel, but that it should be the capital of the three great monotheistic religions?

Dershowitz claims that Rodriguez Maradiaga compared the “Jewish controlled media” with “Hitler,” because they are “protagonists of what I do not hesitate to define as a persecution against The Church.”

Rodriguez Maradiaga has insinuated that the Boston Globe, which exposed the sex scandal and ensuing cover-up, is part of his Jewish conspiracy. The Boston Globe is owned by the New York Times Company, which is chaired by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. Sulzberger’s father was Jewish, but his mother, who raised him after his parents divorced, was Episcopalian.

James Carrol, a columnist for the Boston Globe, slammed Rodriguez Maradiaga’s reasoning and called him a “crackpot,” writing, “When the church has a problem–here is the oldest move of all–blame the Jews.” 

Rodriguez Maradiaga won’t apologize for his conspiracy theorizing; he said, “I don’t repent… sometimes it is necessary to shake things up.”

Dershowitz warns that the cardinal could erase gains made by the church with the Jewish community:

If Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga were to be elected pope, much of the good work done by recent popes in building bridges between the Catholic Church and the Jews would be endangered. This should not be allowed to happen. The campaign against this bigot must begin now before his candidacy develops more traction.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.