c. 2006 Religion News Service

Secret Files of Prewar Pope to Be Released

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The secret files of Pope Pius XI, who reigned until the start of World War II, will be released from the Vatican archives in mid-September, the Holy See announced Friday (June 30).

The files, which cover Pius XI’s tenure as pope, from Feb. 6, 1922, to Feb. 10, 1939, are sure to attract the attention of scholars studying the legacy of his successor, Pius XII.

Pius XII, who has been criticized for his perceived failure to defend European Jewry from the Nazis, served as Pius XI’s chief negotiator with Nazi Germany prior to his election as pope.

In 1933, Pius XII, then known as Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, brokered a special treaty between Nazi Germany and the Holy See known as the “Reichskonkordat,” which included guarantees of liberty for the church, independence for Catholic organizations and religious teaching in schools.

Pius XI later condemned Hitler’s regime in a 1937 encyclical that cited Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism as a violation of the Reichskonkordat. It was also during Pius XI’s reign that the Vatican negotiated the 1929 Lateran Pact with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. That agreement established Vatican City as a sovereign state.

Scholars will be able to access the files beginning Sept. 18.

_ Stacy Meichtry

NCC, Rights Group Hail Supreme Court Ruling on Guantanamo Detainees

(RNS) The National Council of Churches says Thursday’s (June 29) Supreme Court ruling barring the use of military commissions to try detainees held at Guantanamo Bay is “a reasoned affirmation of what people of faith have been trying to communicate to the White House for years.”

“Any effort to deny the rule of law to accused individuals, no matter how grievous the charges, is a denial of the most fundamental expression of American democratic ideals,” the ecumenical agency said in a statement issued after the court’s ruling.

The court, on a 5-3 vote, repudiated the Bush administration’s plan to put 10 of the approximately 450 detainees being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility on trial before military commission.

Justices said such commissions _ which would have sharply reduced rights available to the defendants, including the right to be present at his trial and to know all the evidence against him _ were unauthorized by federal statute and also violated international law.

In addition to the NCC, the Council on American-Islamic Relations also hailed the ruling.

Corey Saylor, government affairs director for the Washington-based group, called the ruling “a victory for the rule of law that will help to improve our nation’s deteriorating image worldwide.”

In its statement, the NCC _ which has been in the forefront of those arguing for closing the much-criticized facility and treating those captured within the bounds of international law _ noted that other presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt had ignored democratic ideals in order to do what they believed would protect the country.

“Neither action has been upheld by the verdict of history or by the U.S. Constitution, and neither will the Bush administration’s unconstitutional decisions in Guantanamo,” the NCC statement said.

“Now that the highest court in the land has ruled, we call on the Bush administration to take prompt action to restore the rule of law to Guantanamo and everywhere else it has been undermined in the often dubious justification of fighting terrorism.”

The ruling, which barred the Bush administration from using military commissions to try Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a driver for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, was called a major setback for the administration’s expansive view that the president has virtually unlimited powers in fighting the war on terrorism.

“For too long too much deference has been given to this executive in the `war on terror,’ and the administration has sought to apply the narrowest interpretation to judicial rulings that have gone against it,” said Rob Freer, a spokesman for Amnesty International.

President Bush, however, said he will work with Congress in an effort to devise legislation that would allow the revamped commission to try the suspects and still withstand constitutional muster.

_ David E. Anderson

Unitarian Universalists Keep Eye on Green Thumbs

(RNS) The Unitarian Universalist Association voted at its annual meeting this week (June 21-25), to keep the fight against global warming high on its list of priorities in both personal and congregational practices.

A “Statement of Consciousness,” approved by assembly delegates urges America’s nearly 215,000 Unitarian Universalists to “pledge to ground our missions and ministries in reverence for this earth and responsibility to it.”

“We declare by this Statement of Conscience that we will not acquiesce to the ongoing degradation of life that human actions are leaving to our children and grandchildren,” the statement reads.

Unitarians Universalists are encouraged to take simple steps such as planting trees and recycling. Congregations building new facilities are encouraged to seek U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

On a larger scale, the denomination will push the U.S. government to ratify and comply with the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that aims to reduce the emission of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

“When we discuss environmental issues with politicians, we want to ask them frankly what their position (on the Kyoto Protocol) is,” said Janet Hayes, a UUA spokeswoman. “This is a question of public accountability in advocacy work.”

The General Assembly brought out nearly 4,300 Unitarian Universalists from about 1,020 congregations nationwide.

_ J. Edward Mendez

Quote of the Day: Civil Rights Activist Al Sharpton

(RNS) “There are no gay people coming to our churches to get married, but there are plenty of people coming with problems voting or their sons in jail.”

_ The Rev. Al Sharpton, who joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Joseph Lowery and other black leaders in a clergy conference on Monday (June 26) in Dallas to organize in response to conservative Christians who they believe have used abortion and gay marriage to distract from moral issues such as poverty, war and voting rights. He was quoted by the Associated Press.

DSB/JL END RNS