This telling article begins, “In the heart of offi cially anti-
Semitic Italy, there is an island of tolerance where no racial
laws hold sway. Th at ‘island’ is the Vatican, in whose libraries
and academies fi ve famous Jewish scholars work, engaged by
the present Pope Pius XII and his predecessor. All of them had
been ousted from Italian universities.”
Th is engaging of Jewish scholars serves as a concrete symbol
of the Vatican’s rejection of Premier Benito Mussolini’s racial
laws, which the late Pope Pius XI denounced with vigor.”
Above is the title page of a book of subsidies and payments made to Jews who were freed from internment
camps by the Commune of Lonigo (Vincenza) in February 1943. Aside from distributing its own money,
the Vatican accepted donations specifi cally for the care of persecuted Jews and kept impeccable records on
how this money was distributed.
Source: Pope Pius XII and World War II: The Documented Truth
