Castel Gandolfo, the Papal summer home, is worth particular note. Th is facility was used to shelter thousands
of Jews and other refugees during the war. Th e Papal bedroom itself was used as a birthing room for pregnant
women nearing the days of childbirth, and some forty children were born there. Photos from Castle Gandolfo
show people not only sleeping in the halls, but even up and down the staircases. Some accounts place the
number of people sheltered there as high as twelve thousand. A US intelligence document reported that the
bombardment of Castel Gandolfo resulted in the injury of about one thousand people and the death of about
three hundred more. Th e area was crammed with refugees. No one but Pope Pius XII had authority to open
these buildings to outsiders. As at least one witness testifi ed under oath, the orders came from the Pope.
Susan Zuccotti noted the rescue work at Castle Gandolfo,
but she speculated that perhaps none of the people sheltered
there were Jewish. Actually, at the liberation of Rome, the
Palestine Post wrote: “Several thousand refugees, largely
Jews, during the week end left the Papal Palace at Castle
Gandolfo—the Pope’s summer residence near Marino—
after enjoying safety there during the recent terror.
Besides Jews, persons of all political creeds who had been
endangered were given sanctuary in the Palace.” Moreover,
the Director of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo during
the Second World War, Emilio Bonomelli, wrote a book
in 1953 in which he discussed caring for Jews and other
refugees during the war. According to another account,
about three thousand Jews were sheltered there at one time.
Today, in Castel Gandolfo, there is on display a beautifully
decorated, enormous wooden cross, which was given to
Pius XII at the end of the war by the Jews who lived there
during those terrifying days.
Source: Pope Pius XII and World War II: The Documented Truth