'Nazi' Pope helped Jews flee Holocaust

[DemBones DemBones]

Since I remember the worldwide mourning when Pope Pius XII died, I always knew that the allegation that Pius XII didn't help the Jews was a case of a smoke machine being employed. ("Where there's smoke, there's fire -- or someone with a smoke machine.") Why would prominent Jews like Golda Meir, Albert Einstein, Leonard Bernstein and others have gone out of their way to pay tribute to the late pope as a friend of the Jews unless he was a friend of the Jews?


Now, there's new proof of how Pius worked to save Jews:


"Several letters and memos unearthed at a depot used by the Stasi, the East-German secret police, show that Nazi spies within the Vatican were concerned at Pius's efforts to help displaced Poles and Jews. In one, the head of Berlin's police force tells Joachim von Ribbentropp, the Third Reich's foreign minister, that the Catholic Church was providing assistance to Jews "both in terms of people and financially".

"A report from a spy at work in the Vatican states: "Our source was told to his face by Father Robert Leibner that the greatest hope of the Church is that the Nazi system would be obliterated by the war."

<snip>

"Over the years more documents have come to light as the Vatican has opened its secret archives to scholars in an attempt to clear what it sees as a communist-funded smear on Pius's name."

"Giovanni Sale, the author of 'Hitler, The Holy See and the Jews,' said Moscow had deliberately funded operations to discredit the Vatican after the war. "I have said for 10 years that the Church fought the Nazis on all fronts," he added."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/30/wisrael130.xml

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Looking for more details on this story, I found

a lot of information at The Jerusalem Post site. Here's a sampling:

On January 26, 1940, the Jewish Advocate in Boston reported, "The Vatican radio this week broadcast an outspoken denunciation of German atrocities and persecution in Nazi Poland, declaring they affronted the moral conscience of mankind." This broadcast graphically described atrocities against Jews and Catholics and gave independent confirmation to reports about Nazi atrocities, which the Reich previously dismissed as Allied propaganda.

On March 14, 1940, London's Jewish Chronicle commented on Pius's five conditions for a "just and honorable peace," which he articulated in his 1939 Christmas message. The Jewish Chronicle described the pope's conditions, especially the protection of all racial minorities, as a "welcome feature," and praised him for fighting "for the rights of the common man." In the same month, Italy's anti-Semitic laws went into effect, and many Jews were dismissed from the government, universities, and other professions. Pius XII responded by appointing several displaced Jewish scholars to posts in the Vatican library. In an editorial, the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle (March 29, 1940), concluded that the pope's actions showed "his disapproval of the dastardly anti-Semitic decrees."

ON AUGUST 28, 1942, the California Jewish Voice hailed Pius XII as a "spiritual ally" of Jews after noting that the Vatican, through its diplomatic representatives, protested the deportations of Jews from France and Slovakia. On April 16, 1943, the Australian Jewish News published a brief article about Pierre Cardinal Gerlier of Lyon, France who protested the deportations of French Jews. The newspaper quoted the cardinal as saying that he was obeying Pius XII's orders by opposing the Vichy regime's anti-Semitic measures.

On October 17, 1943, the Nazis began to arrest Jews in Rome. On October 29, 1943, the Jewish Chronicle wrote, "The Vatican has made strong representations to the German Government and the German High Command in Italy against the persecutions of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Italy..." Along with the Vatican's protests, thousands of Jews found refuge in Rome's convents, monasteries, and the Vatican itself.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482112058&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Kicking this up to be with hedgehog's new post.

:kick:

[DemBones DemBones]

3. More about Pius XII, as reported by Jewish newspapers in 1939 and 1940,

the first year and a half of his papacy.


In March 1939, many Jewish newspapers in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Jerusalem welcomed Pope Pius's election and described him as a friend of democracy. In an editorial (March 6, 1939), The Palestine Post, the predecessor of The Jerusalem Post, observed, "Pius XII has clearly shown that he intends to carry on work for freedom and peace...we remember that he must have had a large part to play in the recent opposition to pernicious race theories and certain aspects of totalitarianism..."

On October 27, 1939, the pope's first encyclical, "Summi Pontificatus," was made public. The American Israelite in Cincinnati (November 9, 1939) asserted that the encyclical "contains a ringing denunciation of all forces which put the state above the will of the people, a condemnation of dictators and disseminators of racism who have plunged the world into chaos."

On January 26, 1940, the Jewish Advocate in Boston reported, "The Vatican radio this week broadcast an outspoken denunciation of German atrocities and persecution in Nazi Poland, declaring they affronted the moral conscience of mankind." This broadcast graphically described atrocities against Jews and Catholics and gave independent confirmation to reports about Nazi atrocities, which the Reich previously dismissed as Allied propaganda.

On March 14, 1940, London's Jewish Chronicle commented on Pius's five conditions for a "just and honorable peace," which he articulated in his 1939 Christmas message. The Jewish Chronicle described the pope's conditions, especially the protection of all racial minorities, as a "welcome feature," and praised him for fighting "for the rights of the common man." In the same month, Italy's anti-Semitic laws went into effect, and many Jews were dismissed from the government, universities, and other professions. Pius XII responded by appointing several displaced Jewish scholars to posts in the Vatican library. In an editorial, the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle (March 29, 1940), concluded that the pope's actions showed "his disapproval of the dastardly anti-Semitic decrees."

[DemBones DemBones]

4. "Mit Brennender Sorge" ("With Burning Sorrow"), only encyclical ever written in German

"The Church hates Nazism. What did she do about Hitler and Mussolini? Whatever she could, considering the terrible circumstances. Hitler's occupation forces hemmed the Pope in the Vatican during World War II, and Mussolini was his ally, but the Holy Father still did what he could to oppose the Nazis."

"When Hitler visited Rome in the 1930's (before World War II) Mussolini displayed the pagan Nazi symbol of the swastika - a crooked cross! - all over the city of Rome. Pope Pius XI, the pope at the time, publicly lamented this flaunting of "another cross which is not the cross of Christ", as he put it."

"He would later release the encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge ("With Burning Sorrow"), which strongly condemned Nazism. Most papal encyclicals are written in Latin, but this one was written in German - the only one ever written in that language. Pius XI wanted there to be no mistake as to which country his words were directed!"

"BTW, do you know who wrote Mit Brennender Sorge? It was a cardinal named Eugene Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII!"

(Cardinal Pacelli was the papal envoy to Berlin for several years and spoke excellent German, from what I have read about him. -- DB DB)

[theredpen]

5. What I've been citing

I've been trying to combat a steady stream of ignorant posts claiming that "The Catholic Church supported the Nazis." Realizing that whatever counterpoint I offered would be subject to irrational and desperate attacks, I chose a source whose bias — if any — would be anti-Catholic: the Jewish Virtual Library.

Several articles defending Pope Pius XII are listed http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/piusdtoc.html">on the site here, but a fourth article, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html">Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust takes what appears to be the most critical possible position afforded by the available facts. After detailing what has been revealed about the Vatican's WWII activities, the article reaches this conclusion:

The Pope's reaction to the Holocaust was complex and inconsistent. At times, he tried to help the Jews and was successful. But these successes only highlight the amount of influence he might have had, if he not chosen to remain silent on so many other occasions. No one knows for sure the motives behind Pius XII's actions, or lack thereof, since the Vatican archives have only been fully opened to select researchers. Historians offer many reasons why Pope Pius XII was not a stronger public advocate for the Jews: A fear of Nazi reprisals, a feeling that public speech would have no effect and might harm the Jews, the idea that private intervention could accomplish more, the anxiety that acting against the German government could provoke a schism among German Catholics, the church's traditional role of being politically neutral and the fear of the growth of communism were the Nazis to be defeated.(34) Whatever his motivation, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Pope, like so many others in positions of power and influence, could have done more to save the Jews.

This article was written to address newly-available historical documents. Soon afterward, Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the Church had failed to do all it could — and knew it at the time. Was this shortfall due to a lapse in the moral integrity of the Church or was it the result of bad strategic decisions made in the heat of a global crisis? Without further information, the most unforgiving thing that can be said about Pope Pius XII was that he could have done more.

Whatever judgment you prefer, and whatever facts may come to light in the future, however, the claim that the Vatican supported the Nazis or the Holocaust is a complete and utter falsehood.