From Hitler, the War, and the Pope by Prof. Ronald Rychlak
Ambassador Weizsäcker was constantly worried that public statements or open activity by the church
would cause Hitler to order an invasion of the Vatican. “From the time he arrived in Rome, Weizsäcker was
determined that his policy would be to avoid any rupture between his government and the Holy See.” As
such, he played a “subtle double game” and sometimes censored messages from the Vatican or sent “tactical
lies” to persuade the Nazis that Pius was not a threat. Rather than just forwarding messages to Berlin, he
would even occasionally reword them. In fact, Weizsäcker sometimes sent one set of comments to Berlin,
while recording a diff erent version in his private notes.
On October 25–26, 1943, the Vatican newspaper printed a major article under the headline: “Th e Charitable
Work of the Pope.” It said: “Th e charity of the Pope is universal and fatherly. It knows no frontiers of
nationality, of religion, of race. Th e Pope’s continual activity has been increased in these last days because of
the suff erings which have fallen upon so many unfortunates.” Concerned that Berlin would be upset by this
clear statement of support for the Jews, Weizsäcker sent a notorious telegram to his superiors on October 28.
It said:
Although the Pope is said to be importuned from various quarters, he has not allowed himself
to be carried away making any demonstrative statements against deportation of the Jews.
Although he must expect our enemies to resent this attitude on his part, he has nevertheless
done all he could in this delicate question as other matters, not to prejudice relationships
with the German government. Since further action on the Jewish problem is probably
not to be expected here in Rome, it may be assumed that this question, so troublesome
to German-Vatican relations, has been disposed of. On October 25 L’Osservatore Romano,
moreover, published a semi-offi cial communiqué on the Pope’s charitable activities in which
the statement was made, in the style typical of this Vatican newspaper “that is to say, involved
and vague” that the Pope extends his paternal solicitude to all men without distinction of
nationality and race. Th ere is no need to raise objections to its publication, since hardly anyone
will understand the text as referring specifi cally to the Jewish question.
Despite what the telegram said, Weizsäcker understood the Pope’s message. He knew that thousands of
Roman Jews were being sheltered in church buildings that had been opened at the instruction of Pius
XII, and he knew that the church had provided many Jews with falsifi ed documents showing them
to have been baptized as Catholics. His telegram helped dissuade the Nazi leadership from invading
the Vatican, and the Nazis did not again attempt a large-scale roundup, but the telegram also misled
historians studying this era.
Source: Pope Pius XII and World War II: The Documented Truth