ROME, APR 23 (ZENIT.org).- A very distressing letter from Edith Stein (St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross) about the dangers of Hitler's ideology might have been the origin of Pope Pius XI's encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge." The pontifical document was published on March 14, 1937. It denounced the incompatibility between Nazism's racist, pagan propositions and Catholicism.

    Philosopher Edith Stein, of Jewish origin, a convert to Catholicism and a Carmelite nun, wrote a letter to the Pontiff as soon as the racial persecutions began, in which she foresaw all the consequences of Hitler's fury. This information was disclosed by professor Angela Ales Bello, dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Pontifical Lateran University, during an interview on television channel Sat 2000. The letter is preserved in the Vatican Archives. ZE00042302