Hi Devin, thanks for sharing. I did not know that about the Solemn Intercession. I think it’s easy for Catholics, and indeed all Christians, to focus on the positive and seek to downplay the darker aspects of our history. So we focus on instances of heroism like Mit Brennender Sorge and sheltering of Jews from the Holocaust while ignoring the pogroms and forced conversions and the like, which often were excused and even encouraged by the clergy. Ignoring sin is of course not a properly Christian way of living. To truly repent for the Church’s past sins, we need a thorough “examination of conscience,” so to speak, and that requires looking at painful periods of our history.
