Andrea Cassulo

Andrea Cassulo (30 November 1869 – 9 January 1952) was an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a representative of the Holy See in Egypt, Canada, Romania and Turkey from 1921 to 1952.

Contents

Biography

Early life and ordination

He was born in Castelletto d'Orba in 1869 and ordained a priest in 1893 in Florence. In 1914, he was appointed bishop of Fabriano e Matelica. In 1921, he became the titular archbishop of Leontopolis in Augustamnica.[1]

Delegate to Egypt

He was the apostolic delegate to Egypt from 1921 to 1927.[1]

Delegate to Canada

He was the apostolic delegate to Canada from 1927 to 1936.[1]

Nuncio to Romania

Efforts of behalf of Jews

As nuncio to Bucharest, his "early efforts on behalf of Jews concerned almost exclusively those who had been baptized Catholic".[2] He passed on to the Vatican in 1939, but did not pursue, a project to emigrate the 150,000 converted Jews of Romania to Spain.[2] From 1940 to 1941, his primary diplomatic responsibility was to protest various pieces of legislation insofar as they infringed on the rights of baptized Jews, particularly with respect to intermarriage and attendance of baptized Jews to Catholic schools, which were protected by the Romanian concordat.[2]

Overall, Cassulo was "reluctant to intervene, except for the baptized Jews".[3] Morley argues that "his Jewish contemporaries might have exaggerated, in those years of crisis, his influence and efforts on their behalf" based on the difference between Jewish sources and the ADSS. Cassulo is nevertheless recognized as Righteous among the Nations.[4]

Diplomatic protests

Cassulo made three protests to Ion Antonescu: on November 20, 1940, December 2, 1940, and February 14, 1941.[5] Five days after the last protest, Antonescu informed the nuncio of his signing a decree allowing students of any ethnic origin to attend their own religious schools.[5]

However, "much more worrisome to the Vatican" was a March 18, 1941 decree forbidding the conversion of Jews to Christianity, with severe penalties for Jews attempting to convert and cooperating priests.[6] Again, Cassulo protested that this violated the concordat, but the Romanian government replied that the decree did not because it would only affect the "civil status" of baptized Jews.[6]

Motivations of converts

Main article: Conversion of Jews to Catholicism during the Holocaust

It became obvious to Cassulo that the motivations of converts were not solely religious, and he wrote to Rome: "it is clear that human motives cannot be denied, but it is likewise true that Providence also uses human means to arrive at salvation".[7] Nationwide statistics on Jewish baptisms are unclear, but they certainly rose to the level that the Romanian government became concerned.[7]

According to Morley, although Cassulo was "possibly the most active of the Vatican diplomats in matters concerning the Jews", his protests were limited to violations of the concordat, and thus to the rights of converted Jews.[8] Morley judges him sincere in his belief that it was "God's plan" that the Holocaust increase the number of converts.[3]

Delegate to Turkey

Cassulo died in 1952 after having served as apostolic delegate to Turkey for five years.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Catholic-hierarchy.org
  2. ^ a b c John Morley (1980) Vatican diplomacy and the Jews during the Holocaust, 1939-1943. New York. p. 25.
  3. ^ a b Morley, 1980, p. 46.
  4. ^ Morely, 1980, p. 47.
  5. ^ a b Morley, 1980, p. 26.
  6. ^ a b Morley, 1980, p. 27.
  7. ^ a b Morley, 1980, p. 30.
  8. ^ Morley, 1980, pp. 45-46.