What is the case against Pius XII? In brief, that as head of one of the most powerful moral forces on earth he committed an unspeakable sin of omission by not issuing a formal statement condemning the Nazis' genocidal slaughter of the Jews, and that his silence was motivated by reasons considered in modern times as base: political exigency, economic interests, and personal ambition.
What is the case for him?
That in relation to the insane behavior of the Nazis, from overlords to self-styled cogs like Eichmann, he did everything humanly possible to save lives and alleviate suffering among the Jews; that a formal statement would have provoked the Nazis to brutal retaliation, and would substantially have thwarted further Catholic action on behalf of Jews. To the Sacred College of Cardinals Pius XII wrote on June 2, 1943: "Every word that We addressed to the responsible authorities and every one of Our public declarations had to be seriously weighed and considered in the interest of the persecuted themselves in order not to make their situation unwittingly even more difficult and unbearable."1 . . . .
There is considerable documentation in support of Pope Pius' fear that a formal statement would worsen, not improve, conditions for the persecuted.
Ernst von Weizsacker, the German ambassador to the Vatican during World War II, wrote in his memoirs:
Not even institutions of worldwide importance, such as the International Red Cross or the Roman Catholic Church saw fit to appeal to
Hitler in a general way on behalf of the Jews or to call openly on the sympathies of the world.
It was precisely because they wanted to help the Jews that these organizations refrained from making any general and public appeals; for they were afraid that they would injure rather than help the Jews thereby.2
The possibility of a public statement from the Vatican moved German Foreign Secretary Joachim von Ribbentrop to wire von Weizsacker on January 24, 1943:
Should the Vatican either politically or propagandistically oppose Germany, it should be made unmistakably clear that worsening of relations between Germany and the Vatican would not at all have an adverse effect on Germany alone. On the contrary, the German government would have sufficient effective propaganda material as well as retaliatory measures at its disposal to counteract each attempted move by the Vatican.3 . . . .
Pius learned precisely how firm this German threat was from
the protest of the Dutch bishops against seizures of the Jews, for immediately following that protest and, as later confirmed by an
SS officer,
in direct answer to it,
the Nazis stepped up their anti-Jewish activities in the Netherlands;
Pius and his bishops and nuncios in Nazi-occupied or -dominated countries knew that, like a sane man faced with a gun-carrier threatening to shoot, Hitler and his cohorts could not be considered civilized human beings.
The Pope's decision to refrain from a formal condemnation of the
Nazi's treatment of Jews was approved by many Jews. One
Berlin couple, Mr. and Mrs. Wolfsson, came to
Rome after having been in prison and concentration camps. They took shelter in a convent of German nuns while Pius himself, whom they had seen during an audience, arranged for them to escape to
Spain. Recalling those terrible days, the Wolfssons recently declared:
None of us wanted the Pope to take an open stand. We were all fugitives, and fugitives do not wish to be pointed at. The
Gestapo would have become more excited and would have intensified its inquisitions. If the Pope had protested, Rome would have become the center of attention.
It was better that the Pope said nothing. We all shared this opinion at the time, and this is still our conviction today.6
In a letter in the London Times of May 15, 1963, Sir Alec Randall, a former British representative at the Vatican, comments:
Others besides Pius XII had to face a similar agonizing dilemma. The Polish cardinal, Prince Sapieha, begged Pius XII not to make public protests, as they only increased the persecution of his people. The International Red Cross refrained from protest because they feared that their work in German-controlled countries would be stopped. The British and American Governments were accused of callous indifference to the fate of the Jews because they failed to take them out of Nazi clutches before it was too late. To have done what was asked of them would have prolonged the war.
THE MYTH OF HITLER'S POPE:
Rabbi David Dalin has given us a book that makes at least three important contributions.
First, it provides information
that refutes the popular notion of the past several years that Pope Pius XII was an anti-Semite and complicit with the Nazi Regime.
He demonstrates it to be not only false, but a deliberate misrepresentation of the truth. A simple example is the famous photograph on the jacket of both the English and American editions of the Pope leaving what looks like a Nazi meeting. In fact, it was a diplomatic meeting with Hindenburg in 1927! Both before the Nazis were in power and before Pacelli had been elected Pope.
This book provides evidence upon evidence of how Pope Pius XII walked a swaying tightrope to save thousands of Jews while avoiding provoking the Nazis into attacks upon Catholics. He wrote encyclicals,
gave Jews asylum even to the point of decloistering a nunnery so it could shelter Jewish boys. The author also points out the use by these authors of bad translations of texts and then carefully trimming these to twist the meaning to their purposes.
Rabbi Dalin also demonstrates the good relations that Pope Pius and the Church had with Jewish leaders and how those leaders even asked the Pope to not be more provocative in his public statements and actions.
Second, the author demonstrates how
these authors have as part of their agenda an attack on the Catholic Church and are using political means to try and
foist their liberal agenda on the Church in all sorts of ways: changes in doctrine, changes in Church governance, changes in policy and all to the purpose of bending others to their views. We see their double standards in purporting anti-Semitism onto Pope Pius XII while ignoring the very real and very great anti-Semitism in the Muslim world from WWII to the present. Some of these authors have even supported the political motives of Yassir Arafat and denied his self-proclaimed anti-Semitism and acts of violence against Jews.
The
third benefit flows from the first two. We get a better sense of where some of the battle lines are drawn in our present culture wars, the tactics being used, and in the service of what strategy. It is fascinating to see the inversion of values in our modern culture where what was called good is now called false and deviant and what never was good or an ideal is now held up as a virtue worth fighting for. Rabbi Dalin does us all a service by telling the truth in this concise and informative book.
The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...53665?v=glance
Hatred for the Catholic Church is not a very sure foundation from which to argue.
Originally Posted by CRodgers
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