Many thanks to Jack Fowler for his thoughtful comment. This is one of those ultimate questions we are not going to answer in this life, and I know and appreciate the context from which his good words come. We can ask Jesus’ (and Job’s) questions over and over, without ever getting a satisfactory answer, nor should we expect one. What we should expect, and what we must do, is fight the evil as best we can, which is why I felt obliged to comment on Pope Benedict’s moving words, and redirect the moral burden toward ourselves and our leaders.

I spent a decade and a half in the Fascist and Nazi archives, trying to understand how such an evil could have destroyed so much. In the end, I concluded that it could not be understood in one swallow, but only by looking at each little step, each miserable decision, and each act of appeasement. So it is today, and I repeat: Let’s hope the next generation doesn’t have to ask these questions about our own failure to destroy the great evil we face.