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Gustavo Juan Franceschi and the Jews: The Overcoming of Prejudice by an Argentine Prelate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Allan Metz
Allan Metz
Affiliation:
Assistant professor and reference librarian in Drury College, Springfield, Missouri.
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Extract

This article seeks to demonstrate how Monsignor Gustavo Juan Franceschi (1871–1957) became a friend of the newly created state of Israel when only twenty years earlier he had maintained that Jews constituted Argentina's major political problem. This intellectual transformation will be traced through a consideration of Franceschi's writings about the Jews. As a prominent member of the Catholic church and a strong advocate of Argentine nationalism, his views also reflected the generally ambivalent and suspicious attitude which that powerful institution held regarding Jews. However, following the devastation of European Jewry during World War II and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, Franceschi's opinion of Jews moderated, resulting in greater understanding. Before presenting Franceschi's views, a consideration of Argentine Catholic nationalism will be provided in order to place these opinions within a proper context.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , June 1993 , pp. 207 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1993

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