A reader writes:
I have been reading more and more of your blog in the last few weeks and I now have it on my iGoogle home page so I won’t miss a thing! Thank you so much for your work on this blog, as I consider it the foremost go-to source of information for the Shroud. I have learned much more in a few weeks than I did in several years previously. I also like the sense of community among the regular readers of the blog – even with some of the disagreements, the discussion is always lively and enlightening.
I mean I like them but why should you need to read them. I’ll take these, however. Then she continues:
Regarding the review of The Sign, by John Cornwell, I was disturbed to read the last sentence of his review and was wondering if you have seen/heard this sort of speculation before? That’s a barbaric idea and I’m wondering if there’s any sort of widespread belief in it? I do hope it’s a one off. Obviously there are many counter arguments for that idea that come to mind immediately, but one wonders who else could be/is parroting this sort of statement and to what purpose.
Here are the last two sentences. Does anyone know if this is more than a one off? John Cornwell is well published. Has anyone read any of his books? From Amazon:
John Cornwell (born 1940) is an English journalist and author, and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. He is best known for various books on the papacy, most notably Hitler’s Pope; investigative journalism; memoir; and the public understanding of science and philosophy. More recently he has been concerned with the relationship between science, ethics and the humanities. His most recent book, Newman’s Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint, is a biography of Cardinal Newman.
Authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas believe that the Shroud is the image of the stil-living body of the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay. British physician Dr. Michael Straiton believed that the image is that of a Crusader, crucified by the Turks in the last part of the 13th Century.
I searched on “John Cornwell”, and most of the sites on the first page concerned his “Hitler’s Pope” book. He is alleged to be a “prolific Catholic writer”. His HP work made anti-semitic allegations against Pope Pius XII, most of which have been discredited. At the end of WWII, several major Jewish groups heaped praise on his efforts on behalf of German and Italian Jews, the Chief Rabbi of Rome converted to Catholicism taking the baptismal name of Eugenio after Pius’ own name (Eugenio Pacelli). Since Rolf Hochhuth’s play “The Deputy” it became fashionable to “forget” these noble efforts of the pope and to denigrate Pius’ WWII efforts and accuse him of anti-semitism.
It seems that John Cornwell has now had second thoughts on his accusations, and claims to have recanted on this work, but even so his recantation is somewhat ambiguous, by saying that it was incumbent on Pius to explain his actions after the conclusion of the war.
Further to mine above, a very recent objective commentary on Cornwell’s “Hitler’s Pope” can be found at the Duluth Tribune website:
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/228136/group/Opinion/