This was a very interesting and informative historical post from Father Rutler on the Inside Catholic website. I was particularly struck but the great spiritual privilege Pope Pius XII granted to the suffering Church in Poland. Here is the clip:
There were few “cafeteria Catholics” in Poland. So on May 16, Pope Pius XII granted a plenary indulgence “for all living in Polish territories who, at the point of death and being unable to confess or communicate, invoke even mentally the Holy Name of Jesus with sorrow for their sins, and accept their death with resignation.” On the Vigil of the Assumption, the Salesians announced that 120 members of their Order had been put to death by the Gestapo in Poland, and Rev. Jan Piwowarczyk, rector of the Theological Seminary at Krakow, was reported to have died at Auschwitz. Full column can be read here.
