World Anti-Doping Agency

One of Benedict XVIБЂ™s first acts as pontiff was to go to the tomb of EscrivцЎ, pray, and bless a statue of him. He subsequently granted Opus Dei the status of personal prelature in BenedictБЂ™s reign, retaining Opus DeiБЂ™s status in which, Yallop noted, one becomes answerable only to the Pope and God. Critics of Opus Dei also allege that it has connections with right-wing and pro-Nazi movements in Europe. Nothing in the recent history of the papacy has been more controversial than public and secret deals before and after World War II between Adolf HitlerБЂ™s Nazi Germany and the Vatican. CHAPTER 9 The Papacy and the Nazis On September 21, 2006, The Catholic News Agency (CNA) in Rome reported that БЂњdocuments emerging from the Vatican БЂ™s archives demonstrated that Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, defended anti-Nazi clergy and censured priests who expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler. The CNA said, БЂњGerman church historian Hubert Wolf told the Associated Press that the recorded minutes of Vatican meetings held in the late 1930s show that the ailing Pope Pius XI greatly relied on Cardinal Pacelli, then Secretary of State, to enforce his PontificateБЂ™s stance against Nazism and Fascism.БЂ«According to Wolf, the Pope (Pius XI) would БЂњjust make a blessing and say БЂour secretary of state will find a solution.БЂ™БЂ«БЂњThe archives, which spanned from 1922 to 1939, may offer answers into a controversy surrounding the cardinal who later became Pope, and who had been accused by some historians of failing to do enough to protect Jews during the Holocaust ...»