Vatican bans TV program about its co-operation with fascists

12.12.2017, Belgium.

A TV program featuring renowned historian Annie Lacroix-Riz about the Vatican’s co-operation with the fascists during the World War II was banned by the management of the Belgian public channel RTBF, a correspondent of the Rossa Primavera Information Agency reported in December 10.

The talk show featuring Professor of the Paris Diderot University Annie Lacroix-Riz on the subject of pro-fascist actions by the Vatican during the World War II were to be held on December 6. Before the talk show, a documentary 1939-1945: The hidden side of the Vatican was to be presented, a film in which the historian participated as an expert. Commenting the cancellation of the TV program, the channel explained that they failed to find a representative of the Catholic Church who would agree to participate in an open debate with Annie Lacroix-Riz.

However, the French Internet resource Initiative Communiste, citing correspondence between a TV official and Annie Lacroix-Riz, said that the real reason for the censorship was pressure on the channel from the Belgian Catholic Church. Furthermore, it became known that this is only another episode of a continuous censorship campaign against the historian waged by the clerics since her book Le Vatican, l’Europe et le Reich. De la Première Guerre mondiale à la guerre froide (1914-1955) (The Vatican, Europe and the Third Reich. From WWI to the Cold War (1914-1955)) was published in 1996. The previous episode was a sudden cancellation of an interview which was to be included in the documentary mentioned above.

Annie Lacroix-Riz is an acknowledged world authority on the history of international relations in the 20th century. Her works are cited by many experts, including from Belgian universities. In 2010 she participated in the symposium Catholicism and Fascism in Europe 1918 – 1945 organized by the Ghent University, the Brussels University, and the Belgian Academy in Rome; the materials of the symposium were published in Rome (G. Olms, Hildesheim, 2015).

Studying sensitive points of history, Annie Lacroix-Riz has repeatedly been persecuted in her homeland. On November 6, 2017, she gave a welcome address to the Essence of Time movement’s conference, October Revolution: Myths and Reality, which focused on the unmasking of myths. Lacroix-Riz also gave a number of interviews to the Rossa Primavera Information Agency on topics pertaining to the falsifying of history.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

Leave a Reply