Nazi euthanasia and the Catholic Church information
During the Second World War, the Roman Catholic Church protested against Aktion T4, the Nazi involuntary euthanasia programme under which 300,000 disabled people were murdered. The protests formed one of the most significant public acts of Catholic resistance to Nazism undertaken within Germany. The "euthanasia" programme began in 1939, and ultimately resulted in the murder of more than 70,000 people who were deemed senile, mentally handicapped, mentally ill, epileptics, cripples, children with Down's Syndrome, or people with similar afflictions. The murders involved interference in Church welfare institutions, and awareness of the murderous programme became widespread. Church leaders who opposed it – chiefly the Catholic Bishop Clemens August von Galen of Münster and Protestant Bishop Theophil Wurm – were therefore able to rouse widespread public opposition.
Catholic protests began in the summer of 1940. The Holy See declared on 2 December 1940 that the policy was contrary to natural and positive Divine law, and that: "The direct killing of an innocent person because of mental or physical defects is not allowed." In the summer of 1941, protests were led in Germany by Bishop von Galen, whose intervention, according to Richard J. Evans, led to "the strongest, most explicit and most widespread protest movement against any policy since the beginning of the Third Reich."[2] In 1943, Pope Pius XII issued the Mystici corporis Christi encyclical, in which he condemned the practice of killing the disabled. The Encyclical was followed, on 26 September 1943, by an open condemnation from the German Bishops which denounced the killing of innocent and defenceless people, whether mentally or physically handicapped, incurably infirm, fatally wounded, innocent hostages, disarmed prisoners of war, criminal offenders, or belonging to a different race.
^Gill, Anton (1994). An Honourable Defeat; A History of the German Resistance to Hitler. London: Heinemann. p. 265.
^Evans, Richard J. (2009). The Third Reich at War. New York City: Penguin Press. p. 98.
and 28 Related for: Nazi euthanasia and the Catholic Church information
During the Second World War, the Roman CatholicChurch protested against Aktion T4, theNazi involuntary euthanasia programme under which 300,000 disabled...
involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killings. The name T4 is...
Nazi-era Catholics Popes Pius XI (1922–1939) and Pius XII (1939–1958) led theCatholicChurch during the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. Around a third...
The Roman CatholicChurch suffered persecution in Nazi Germany. TheNazis claimed jurisdiction over all collective and social activity. Clergy were watched...
opposition to theNazieuthanasia programs led them to be quieted on 28 August 1941. Catholics, on occasion, actively and openly protested against Nazi antisemitism...
and suffering. Different countries have different euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords select committee on medical ethics defines euthanasia as...
Several Catholic countries and populations fell under Nazi domination during the period of the Second World War (1939–1945), and ordinary Catholics fought...
Netherlands became the first country since the end of Nazi Germany to decriminalize euthanasia for infants with hopeless prognosis and intractable pain...
Catholic bishops in Nazi Germany differed in their responses to the rise of Nazi Germany, World War II, andthe Holocaust during the years 1933–1945. In...
regime and the Protestant church bodies; andThe tensions between theNazi regime andthe Roman CatholicChurch. When Hitler obtained power in 1933, 95%...
active steps to bring about the death of patients. CatholicChurchandNazieuthanasia Keown, Damien. “End of life: the Buddhist View,” Lancet 366 (2005):...
developed a Catholic critique of aspects of Nazism. Galen led Catholic protest against Nazi "euthanasia". Catholic resistance to mistreatment of Jews in Germany...
The legality of euthanasia varies between countries and territories. Efforts to change government policies on euthanasia of humans in the 20th and 21st...
TheCatholicChurch, also known as the Roman CatholicChurch, is the largest Christian church, with 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2022...
The following is a list of notable medical doctors in Nazi Germany. This list is primarily split up into those who performed Euthanasia through the Aktion...
hospitalization, euthanasia, and forced sterilization of persons considered physically or mentally unfit for society. The vast majority of theNazi regime's victims...
Confessing Church), andtheCatholic Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen (who denounced Nazieuthanasiaand lawlessness), offered some of the most trenchant...
against NaziEuthanasiaand seizures of church properties, although Hitler's sympathies lay with the radicals who wanted von Galen dead andchurch properties...
produced for the internal purposes of theNazi "euthanasia" programme (Aktion T4), and contained monthly statistics of the gassing of mentally and physically...
During the Holocaust, theCatholicChurch played a role in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews from being murdered by theNazis. Members of the Church...
church to the state. To many Nazis, Catholics were suspected of insufficient patriotism, or even of disloyalty to the Fatherland, and of serving the interests...
The tradition of theCatholicChurch claims it began with Jesus Christ and his teachings; theCatholic tradition considers that theChurch is a continuation...
During its long history, theCatholicChurch has been subject to criticism regarding various beliefs and practices. Within thechurch, this often involves...
Jews) who were victims of Nazi political, racial, and religious persecution and 200,000 who were murdered in theNazieuthanasia program. Political courts...
officer and commandant of theNazi extermination camps Sobibor and Treblinka in World War II. Stangl, an employee of the T-4 Euthanasia Program and an SS...