|
Escriva once
remarked to [Vladimir] Felzmann that Hitler had been 'badly treated' by world
opinion because 'he could never have killed 6 million Jews. It could
only have been 4 million at the most'....He also alleged that business
deals involving what the Founder called
pilleria (dirty tricks) were justified on
the grounds that 'our life is a warfare of love,
and for Opus Dei all is fair in love and
war'....
[Dr. John] Roche said Escriva frequently commented to those
close to him that he 'no longer believed in Popes or Bishops, only in
the Lord Jesus Christ,' and that 'the Devil was very high up in the
Church'.
***
After the
fall of Acre in 1291, the Templars moved to
Cyprus. There they devoted themselves to
finance, becoming the West's chief
money-lenders. As
bankers, the Templars were scrupulously honest.
They understood the value of capital gains and
were shrewd evaluators of risk. As with Opus Dei
seven centuries later, they became a major
financial corporation within a remarkably short
time, amassing more wealth and influence than
many states and any other Christian enterprise
of its day. However, Philip IV of France plotted
to bring the Templars under his control and to
confiscate their assets. He waited until the
Grand Master Jacques de Molay came to France on
an official visit. During the night of 13
October 1307 he had de Molay and sixty of his
knights arrested on trumped-up charges of
treason, sexual perversion and devil worship.
Pope Clement V acceded to French pressure and
dissolved the Order. Philip had the Grand Master
burnt at the stake, the traditional punishment
for heretics. As the flames rose around him, de
Molay damned King and Pope for betraying God's
trust and he called upon them to meet him within
the year before God to answer for their crime.
Clement V died within the month. Philip followed
seven months later. His disbanding of the
Knights Templar proved another serious blow to
Christendom's defences. In little more than a
decade the Turks made their first appearance in
Europe, while Jerusalem became totally closed to
pilgrim traffic. |
