Inside the Vatican, by Dimitri Cavalli (Urbi et Orio Communications October 2000 pp. 72–77)
Inside the Vatican has given considerable space in its pages to coverage of the fi erce debate over
the wartime role of Pope Pius XII and his alleged “silence” in the face of the Nazi persecution
of the Jews (see particularly our June 1997 and our October 1999 issues). We will continue
to do so as long as the debate rages. Th e article we print here brings together a considerable
amount of previously scattered evidence for how Jews during Pius’s lifetime viewed Pius’s
conduct. Reading Cavalli’s piece, it is striking to see how diff erent the general Jewish opinion
of Pius XII was in the years during and immediately following the war from what it is today.
Th is prompts a fundamental question: Were the Jews who praised and thanked Pius after the
war all mistaken or insincere, or are the attacks on Pius today unfair? –Th e Editor
During World War II, many Jews around the world had the chance to observe Pope Pius XII’s conduct.
Th ey listened to his every word and scrutinized his every action. Instead of seeing “Hitler’s Pope,” most Jews
concluded that Pius XII’s public statements were directed against the Nazis and that he and his subordinates in
many Nazi-occupied and Axis countries were trying to save Jewish lives. Th e many extraordinary and eloquent
tributes that the Pope once received from Jews show that the allegations that he was a Nazi collaborator and
indiff erent toward the extermination of Jews would have seem completely unjustifi ed and unjust to those
who closely following his career.
Allegations that Pope Pius XII was pro-Nazi are often supported by his time in Germany from 1917 to 1929
as the papal Nuncio and his direct role, as secretary of state, in negotiating the Vatican’s concordat with Germany in 1933. Th ese facts were universally known when Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli was elected Pope on
March 2, 1939. How did Jews around the world react to his election? Were they concerned by his former
ties to Germany?
In a March 6, 1939, editorial, “Leadership for Peace,” the Palestine Post in Jerusalem said: “Pius XII has clearly
shown that he intends to carry on the late Pope’s (Pius XI) work for freedom and peace . . . we remember that
he must have had a large part to play in the recent Papal opposition to pernicious race theories and certain
aspects of totalitarianism . . .”
In praising Cardinal Pacelli’s election, the Jewish Chronicle in London on March 10, quoted an anti-Nazi
speech he delivered in Lourdes in April 1935 and the hostile statements expressed about him in the Nazi press.
“It is interesting to recall . . . on January 22 [1939], the Voelkischer Beobachter published pictures of Cardinal
Pacelli and other Church dignitaries beneath a collective heading of ‘Agitators in the Vatican against Fascism
and National Socialism,’” the Jewish Chronicle noted.
Also on March 10, the Canadian Jewish Chronicle commended the College of Cardinals for resisting Nazi
attempts to infl uence the election and prevent Cardinal Pacelli from becoming Pope. “Th e plot to pilfer the
Ring of Fisherman has gone up in white smoke,” the editorial quipped.
Many Jewish organizations also expressed their enthusiasm for the new Pope. According to the Jewish
Chronicle in London (March 10), the Vatican received congratulatory messages from “the Anglo-Jewish
Community, the Synagogue Council of America, the Canadian Jewish Congress, and the Polish Rabbinical
Council.”
Pius XII’s decision to appoint Luigi Cardinal Maglione as the Vatican’s new secretary of state also brought
favorable reactions. Th e March 16, 1939, Zionist Review in London said that the Cardinal’s appointment
“confi rms the view that the new Pope means to conduct an anti-Nazi and anti-Fascist policy.”
Certainly, such statements made by Jewish newspapers and organizations show they considered the newly
elected Pope Pius XII a friend of democracy and peace, and an enemy of racism and totalitarianism. Cardinal
Pacelli’s role in negotiating the concordat with the Nazis did not cause any concern. Instead, many Jews cited
his anti-Nazi speeches, and his role as Vatican secretary of state, which helped produce the 1937 anti-Nazi
encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge, and numerous protests against the persecution of the Catholic Church in
Germany.
Less than two months after World War II broke out, on October 27, Pius XII issued his fi rst encyclical, Summi
Pontifi catus. On the same day, the New York-based Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the equivalent of the Associated
Press, reported that “the unqualifi ed condemnation which Pope Pius XII heaped on totalitarian, racist and
materialistic theories of government in his encyclical Summi Pontifi catus caused a profound stir . . . Although
it had been expected that the Pope would attack ideologies hostile to the Catholic Church, few observers had
expected so outspoken a document . . .”
In a November 9, 1939, editorial, “Endowed with Reason,” the American Israelite in Cincinnati also discussed
the encyclical. “In decrying totalitarianism, Pope Pius XII called the individual the end and the state the
means of bringing out the fundamental equality of men because men are endowed with reason,” the editorial
said. “Th is concept of democracy is reiterated in the Pope’s Encyclical, stressing again the inviolability of the
human person as a sacred being . . .”
In January 1940, Th e United Jewish Appeal for Refugees and Overseas Needs donated $125,000 to the
Vatican in order to assist its eff orts on behalf of all victims of racial persecution. On January 19, the Jewish
Ledger in Hartford, Connecticut, described the United Jewish Appeal’s gift as an “eloquent gesture,” which “should prove an important step in the direction of cementing the bonds of sympathy and understanding”
between Catholics and Jews. An account of how the money was spent is in the Vatican’s offi cial wartime
documents, Actes et documents du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconde Guerre Mondiale (Vol. VI, pp. 282–283).
On January 26, 1940, the Jewish Advocate in Boston reported, “Th e Vatican radio this week broadcast
an outspoken denunciation of German atrocities in Nazi (occupied) Poland, declaring they aff ronted the
moral conscience of mankind.” Exiled Polish Cardinal August Hlond of Gnezo and Poznan had given the
Vatican detailed reports about the Nazi persecution of the church in Poland. On the Pope’s orders, Vatican
Radio broadcast the cardinal’s reports. Th e front-page story quoted one Vatican radio broadcast as saying,
“Jews and Poles are being herded into separate ghettos, hermetically sealed and pitifully inadequate for the
economic subsistence of the millions designed to live there.” Th is broadcast was also important because it
gave independent confi rmation of media reports about Nazi atrocities, which were previously dismissed as
Allied propaganda.
Also, on January 26, the Canadian Jewish Chronicle published a brief item about Jacob Freedman, a Boston
tailor. Mr. Freedman was concerned about the fate of his sister and nephews in German-occupied Poland.
He wrote the State Department and the Red Cross, but they were unable to provide any information. Mr.
Freedman then sought Pope Pius XII’s assistance.
Several months later, Cardinal Maglione informed Mr. Freedman that his family were alive and well in
Warsaw. “I don’t know the words to express what I feel, that they should take an interest in us with all the
other things in the world to worry them,” said Mr. Freedman. “I think it’s the fi nest, most wonderful thing.”
According to Pinchas Lapide’s 1967 book, Th ree Popes and the Jews, the Vatican Information Offi ce helped
tens of thousands of Jews locate missing relatives in Europe.
On March 14, 1940, the Jewish Chronicle in London commented on Pope Pius XII’s conditions for a “just
and honorable peace,” which he articulated in his 1939 Christmas message. Th e Chronicle said that the
Pope’s conditions, especially the protection of racial minorities, were a “welcome feature,” and praised him
for standing up for “rights of the common man.”
Also, in March, Italy’s anti-Semitic laws went into eff ect; and many Jews were dismissed from the government,
universities, and other professions. In response, Pius XII appointed several displaced Jewish scholars, including
geographer Prof. Roberto Almagia, to posts in the Vatican Library. Th e March 29 Kansas City Jewish Chronicle
said that the Pope’s actions showed “his disapproval of the dastardly anti-Semitic decrees.”
On April 29, 1941, a group of Jewish refugees interned at an Italian concentration camp thanked Pius XII
after being visited by Bishop Francesco Borgognini-Duca, the papal Nuncio in Italy. Th e prisoners wrote
that the Nuncio’s visit gave them “new courage to go on living,” and they described the Pope as a “revered
personality who has stood up for the rights of all affl icted and powerless people” (Actes, VIII, pp. 178–179).
On January 2, 1942, the front page of the California Jewish Voice published a report on the Pope’s 1941
Christmas address. “Religious persecution and oppression of minorities must have no place in the world of
the future, declared Pope Pius XII in his annual Christmas Eve message,” the article said.
By early 1942, the Nazis began to implement their plans to exterminate the Jews. Th e Vatican had no
practical way of bringing these plans to a halt but sought to assist endangered Jews and other victims on a
case-by-case basis. Th is assistance ranged from actively opposing the deportations to meeting the material
and spiritual needs of refugees. For example, on April 14, 1942, Rabbi Naftali Adler and Dr. Max Pereles, the
representatives of thousands of Jewish refugees interned at the Ferramonti concentration camp in southern
Italy, sent a letter of thanks to the Pope, who sent “an abundant supply of clothing and linen” to the children
at the camp, and took care of the prisoners’ other needs. “Th is noble and generous gift proves anew what the whole world knows and admires that Your Holiness is . . . also the paternal guardian and promoter of the
ideal of humanity for all mankind,” they wrote (Actes, VIII, pp. 505–507).
In 1942, Croatia’s Jews were being brutally persecuted by the Nazi-installed dictatorship. On August 4, Chief
Rabbi Miroslav Freiberger of Zagreb, Croatia’s capital, sought more assistance from Pius XII. Already, the
Vatican’s unoffi cial diplomatic representative in Croatia, Msgr. Joseph Marcone, who was acting on Cardinal
Maglione’s instructions, and Archbishop Alois Stepinac opposed the anti-Jewish persecutions.
In his letter, Chief Rabbi Freiberger appreciated “the limitless goodness that the representatives of the Holy
See and the leaders of the Church showed to our poor brothers” (Actes, VIII, p. 611). Th roughout the war,
the Chief Rabbi continued to express his gratitude to the Vatican for helping Croatian Jews.
Laval in August. Th e Nuncio’s intervention became publicly known by the end of the month. On August 28,
the California Jewish Voice said, “Pope Pius XII has asked the Papal Nuncio at Vichy to protest to the Laval
Government against ‘the inhuman arrests and deportations’ of Jews in France . . . Previously, reports from
Geneva had indicated that the Pope had tried, though vainly, to use his good offi ces in Slovakia to prevent
deportations and other cruelties.”
Th e Voice’s account is confi rmed by the Actes. On October 31, 1941, Cardinal Maglione had given Monsignor
Valeri and Pierre Cardinal Gerlier of Lyon a blank check to “tone down” the practical application of the antiSemitic laws, which would include any deportations. In April 1942, the Vatican protested the deportations
of Slovak Jews with a note to the Slovak government.
Although Monsignor Valeri actually made the protest, the Jewish press understood that he was acting on
behalf of Pius XII. In a September 11 editorial, the Jewish Chronicle in London said, “Th e Pope’s action is
also a striking affi rmation of the dictum of one of the Pope’s predecessors that no true Christian can be an
anti-Semite . . .”
In his 1942 Christmas message, the Pope condemned the treatment of “hundreds of thousands who, without
any fault on their own, sometimes only by reason of their nationality or race, are marked down for death
or a progressive extinction.” Th e Pope’s defenders argue that this was a clear reference to the Holocaust.
Th e Pope’s detractors insist that he didn’t go far enough and should have condemned the Nazis by name.
But the Nazis understood the Pope very clearly. “In a manner never known before the Pope has repudiated
the National Socialist New European Order,” complained a January 22, 1943, report by the Reich Central
Security Offi ce. “Here he is virtually accusing the German people of injustice towards the Jews, and makes
himself the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals” (Anthony Rhodes, Th e Vatican in the Age of Dictators
[1973], pp. 272–273).
I was unable to fi nd any references to the Pope’s address in the many Jewish newspapers that I examined.
However, in a January 20, 1943, letter to Msgr. Arthur Hughes, the apostolic delegate in Egypt, Chaim
Barlas, the Jewish agency’s Turkish representative, wrote, “Th e highly humanitarian attitude of His Saintety
(meaning, Holiness) expressing His indignation against racial persecutions, was a source of comfort for our
brethren” (Actes, IX, p. 90). If Pius XII was “silent” in the literal sense of the word, then the Reich Central
Security Offi ce and Chaim Barlas could not have made these conclusions.
In late 1942, Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog of Jerusalem sought the Pope’s intervention to rescue Jews from the Nazis.
On February 12, 1943, the Vatican’s reply to Chief Rabbi Herzog was noted on the front page of the California
Jewish Voice. “Th e Vatican this week cabled Chief Rabbi Herzog, assuring him that it is doing everything possible
for all the victims of Nazi persecution, including the Jews,” the article said. Th e Jewish Chronicle in London and
the Australian Jewish News also reported the Vatican’s assurance to the Chief Rabbi.
On April 16, 1943, the Australian Jewish News published a brief article about Cardinal Gerlier, who had
strongly opposed the deportations of French Jews, and was sheltering Jewish children. Th e article quoted the
cardinal as saying that he was obeying Pius XII’s instructions by continuing to oppose France’s anti-Semitic
measures.
In his June 2 address to the College of Cardinals, Pope Pius XII spoke up again. He referred to persons
“tormented as they are, because of their nationality or their race . . . delivered, without any fault on their part,
to measures of extermination.” Th e July 16, 1943, Jewish Chronicle in London published a slightly diff erent
version of these words on its front page under the title, “Th e Pope’s Solicitude.”
On September 24, Alex Easterman, the British representative of the World Jewish Congress, contacted Msgr.
William Godfrey, the apostolic delegate in London. Easterman informed him that about four thousand
Jewish refugees from Croatia were safely evacuated to an island in the Adriatic Sea. “I feel sure that eff orts
of your Grace and of the Holy See have brought about this fortunate result,” Easterman wrote (Actes, IX,
pp. 488–489).
After Benito Mussolini’s fall from power, the new Italian government surrendered to the Allies in September
1943. German troops occupied Italy, including Rome, in order to stop the Allied off ensive. During the
occupation of Rome, the Nazis threatened to arrest Roman Jews unless their leaders paid them fi fty kilograms
of gold. When the Roman Jews were able to raise only forty-two kilograms of gold, they turned to the Pope,
who agreed to provide the balance. Meanwhile, the Jews raised the balance from ordinary Catholics and
informed the Vatican that the Pope’s contribution was not needed. On October 28, 1943, however, the
Palestine Post in Jerusalem noted Pius XII’s off er on the front page under the headline, “Th e Pope’s Gift to
the Jews.”
On October 16, the Nazis also seized about one thousand Jews and deported them to Auschwitz. On October
29, Jewish Chronicle in London reported the Vatican’s response to the arrests: “Th e Vatican has made strong
representations to the German Government and the German High Command in Italy against the persecution
of Jews in Nazi-occupied Italy . . .”
Th is account of the Vatican’s actions was exactly correct. On Pius XII’s orders, Cardinal Maglione made an
immediate protest with Germany’s ambassador. Bishop Alois Hudal, the rector of the German Catholic Church in
Rome, protested the arrests of Jews with the German military governor of Rome. Along with the Vatican’s protests,
4,700 Jews disappeared into Rome’s convents, monasteries and the Vatican itself. Th e remaining 2,300 Jews were
able to fi nd shelter elsewhere because Vatican protests brought the roundups to an end.
By 1943, the Vatican’s many rescue eff orts on behalf of Jews were being universally acknowledged. In the fall
of 1943, the Jewish communities of Chile, Uruguay, and Bolivia sent letters to Pope Pius XII and thanked
him for assisting Jews (Actes, IX, pp. 498, 501–502, and 567).
Th e 1943–1944 American Jewish Yearbook said that Pius XII “took an unequivocal stand against the oppression of
Jews throughout Europe.” In his February 18, 1944, letter to Msgr. Amleto Cicognani, the apostolic delegate in
Washington, DC, Rabbi Maurice Perlzweig, the political director of the World Jewish Congress, wrote that “the
repeated interventions of the Holy Father on behalf of Jewish Communities in Europe has evoked the profoundest
sentiments of appreciation and gratitude from Jews throughout the world” (Actes, X, p. 140).
Two important Jewish leaders who worked with the Vatican to save Jews also expressed similar sentiments.
“Th e people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal
principles of religion which form the very foundations of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate
brothers and sisters in this most tragic hour of history, which is living proof of divine Providence in this world,”
Chief Rabbi Herzog declared on February 28 (Actes, X, p. 292). In his April 7 letter to the papal Nuncio in
Romania, Chief Rabbi Alexander Shafran of Bucharest wrote, “It is not easy for us to fi nd the right words
to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the Supreme Pontiff , who
off ered a large sum to relive the suff erings of deported Jews . . . Th e Jews of Romania will never forget these
facts of historic importance . . .” (Actes, X, pp. 291–292).
In June 1944, two separate events helped establish the Pope’s reputation as a rescuer of Jews, at least
temporarily. When the Allies liberated Rome, thousands of Jews came out of their hiding places and told the
world of their salvation by the Vatican. On June 25, the Pope openly protested the deportations of Hungarian
Jews.
Th e many tributes to Pius XII began in July. “It is gradually being revealed that Jews have been sheltered
within the walls of the Vatican during the German occupation of Rome,” reported the July 7 Jewish News
in Detroit. A July 14 editorial in the Congress Weekly, the offi cial journal of the American Jewish Congress,
added that the Vatican also provided Jewish refugees with kosher food.
Also on July 14, American Hebrew in New York published an interview with Chief Rabbi Israel Zolli of Rome.
“Th e Vatican has always helped the Jews and the Jews are very grateful for the charitable work of the Vatican,
all done without distinction of race,” Rabbi Zolli said. After the war, Rabbi Zolli converted to Catholicism,
which brought him much severe criticism from some Jews. Dr. Zolli’s conversion was widely attributed to his
gratitude for what the Pope did for Jews. In his 1954 memoirs, Before the Dawn, however, Dr. Zolli strongly
denied this assertion. Instead, he claimed to have witnessed a vision of Christ, who called him to the faith.
A week later on July 21, the Vatican received telegrams from the National Jewish Welfare Board and the World
Jewish Congress. Th e National Jewish Welfare Board expressed its gratitude to the Pope for “the aid and protection
given to so many Italian Jews by the Vatican . . .” (Actes, X, pp. 358–359). Th e World Jewish Congress also
acknowledged the Vatican’s “noble humanitarian work” on behalf of Hungarian Jews (Actes, X, pp. 359).
Th e deportations of Hungarian Jews horrifi ed the Allied and neutral nations. Th e American Jewish Committee
and other Jewish groups organized a rally in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park on July 31 to mobilize public
opinion against the deportations. In his address, Judge Joseph Proskauer, the committee’s president, declared,
“We have heard . . . what a great part the Holy Father has played in the salvation of the refugees in Italy, and we
know from sources that must be credited that this great Pope has reached forth his mighty and sheltering hand
to help the oppressed of Hungary” (Speech obtained from American Committee Library in Manhattan).
During the following months, Rabbi Stephen Wise, the president of the American Jewish Congress, Chief
Rabbi Joseph Hertz of the British Empire, composer Irving Berlin, Congressman Emmanuel Cellar of
Brooklyn, the Emergency Committee to Save the Jews of Europe, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the
United States and Canada, and the World Agudath Israel Organization also lauded Pius XII for helping
endangered Jews. At the time, Rabbi Wise also condemned Christian indiff erence toward the extermination
of Jews.
With Rome liberated, the Pope frequently greeted Allied soldiers. During one meeting, he blessed a Jewish
soldier from Palestine in Hebrew. In the Congress Weekly (October 20, 1944), Elias Gilner found great
signifi cance in this event. Gilner wrote that the Pope’s blessing “becomes a memorable act, a far-fl ung message
of good-will, an expression of the Christian spirit at its highest.” Gilner added that Pius XII by this blessing
also began a “new course” in Catholic-Jewish relations.
Th e tributes to Pope Pius XII from Jews continued after the war in Europe ended. On April 22, 1945, Moshe
Sharrett, the future foreign minister and prime minister of Israel sent a report of his meeting with the Pope to the executive of the Jewish agency. Sharrett wrote that “my fi rst duty was to thank him, and through him,
the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public, for all they had done in the various countries to rescue
Jews, to save children, and Jews in general” (Lapide, pp. 225–226).
On October 11, the World Jewish Congress donated $20,000 to Vatican charities. According to the New
York Times (October 12, 1945), the gift was “made in recognition of the work of the Holy See in rescuing
Jews from Fascist and Nazi persecution.” Although the current leaders of the World Jewish Congress have a
much diff erent view of the Vatican’s wartime actions, they never retracted that recognition.
During a St. Louis conference on the plight of displaced Jewish refugees on March 17, 1946, William
Rosenwald, the chairman of the United Jewish Appeal for Refugees, Overseas Needs, and Palestine, said, “I
wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Pope Pius for his appeal in behalf of the victims of war and
oppression. He provided aid for Jews in Italy and intervened in behalf of refugees to lighten their burden”
(New York Times, March 18, 1946). Th e previous week, the Pope granted Mr. Rosenwald an audience.
According to Mr. Rosenwald, the Pope said that Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees should be allowed
to resettle in the United States.
In an article for Commentary (November 1950), French scholar and Holocaust survivor Leon Poliakov
discussed the Vatican’s conduct during the war. Poliakov suggested that the Vatican during the Holocaust
retreated to its “medieval tradition” of protecting Jews from state persecution. “Th ere is no doubt that secret
instructions went out from the Vatican urging the national churches to intervene in favor of the Jews by
every possible means,” Poliakov wrote. In fact, according to volumes VI, VIII, IX, and X of the Actes, these
instructions were sent to the Vatican’s many diplomatic representatives.
Still, Poliakov was troubled because he believed that Pius XII’s public statements were too vague. But Poliakov
conceded the argument that “public protests would have brought no help to the victims, and might have
produced contrary eff ects.” He cited the tragic case of Holland where the protests against the deportations of
Jews by the Dutch Catholic bishops in 1942 led to the arrest of Catholic Jews, who were previously spared
for deportation by the Nazis In 1955, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, which was composed of Jewish refugees from many nations,
toured Italy. Th e orchestra performed a concert at the Vatican on May 26, 1955. According to the Jerusalem
Post (May 29, 1955), “Conductor Paul Klecki had requested that the Orchestra on its fi rst visit to Italy play
for the Pope as a gesture of gratitude for the help his Church had given to all those persecuted by Nazi
Fascism.”
In 1957, the Pope received a delegation from the American Jewish Committee. Th e New York Times, on June
29, 1957, reported that the committee’s representatives described the Pope as a “great friend” in the battle
against racism and anti-Semitism in the United States. Th e Pope also praised the committee’s work and issued
a strong statement condemning anti-Semitism.
Pope Pius XII died on October 8, 1958. Many Jewish organizations and newspapers around the world
mourned his passing and recalled his wartime eff orts to rescue Jews. At the United Nations, Golda Meir,
Israel’s foreign minister, said, “When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the
voice of the Pope was raised for the victims. Th e life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on
the great moral truths above the tumult of daily confl ict.” Th e Zionist Record (October 17) in South Africa
published Meir’s moving eulogy along with tributes from Jewish organizations to the late Pope. “Adherents
of all creeds and parties will recall how Pius XII faced the responsibilities of his exalted offi ce with courage
and devotion,” declared the Jewish Chronicle in London on October 10. “Before, during, and after the Second World War, he constantly preached the message of peace. Confronted by the monstrous cruelties of Nazism,
Fascism, and Communism, he repeatedly proclaimed the virtues of humanity and compassion.”
In the Canadian Jewish Chronicle (October 17), Rabbi J. Stern recalled that Pius XII “made it possible for
thousands of Jewish victims of Nazism and Fascism to be hidden away . . .” In the November 6 edition of the
Jewish Post in Winnipeg, William Zukerman, the former American Hebrew columnist, wrote that no other
leader “did more to help the Jews in their hour of greatest tragedy, during the Nazi occupation of Europe,
than the late Pope.”
Representatives of the World Jewish Congress, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, Synagogue
Council of America, New York Board of Rabbis, the Anti-Defamation League, Massachusetts Board of Rabbis,
Rabbinical Council of America, National Council of Jewish Women, and the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations also gracefully eulogized Pope Pius XII. Th e Chief Rabbis of London, Rome, Jerusalem, France,
Egypt, Argentina, and many other Jewish newspapers also paid tribute to the late Pope.
How do Pius XII’s detractors explain these many statements of praise from Jews? Th ey prefer to ignore
them. Any acknowledgment of these tributes immediately undermines the case against him. Instead, critics
always focus on the Pope’s “silence” without discussing what he actually said during the war and how his
addresses were received by all sides; insist that the Pope did little or nothing to help Jews escape from the
Nazis; exclusively cite authors who attack him while ignoring those who defend him; and assign him sinister
motives by using suspicion and a selective interpretation of evidence.
Recently, in Commentary (July/August 1999), Prof. Robert Wistrich argued that it is unfair to cite these
tributes from Jews because damaging evidence against the Pope was discovered after his death. But that
argument ignores the fact that many postwar revelations have been very favorable toward the Pope. In 1946,
the Vatican newspaper confi rmed that Pius XII in 1940 had acted as an intermediary between a group of
German generals who wanted to overthrow Adolf Hitler and the British government. Th e release of documents
from the British foreign offi ce years later also confi rmed his role in “Th e Generals’ Plot.” Th e 1953 publication
of Th e Undeclared War by William Langer and S. Everett Gleason disclosed the Pope’s surprising 1941
concession to Pres. Franklin Roosevelt that American Catholics could support the extension of the LendLease program to the Soviet Union
Th e conclusions of the fi rst generation of authors critical of the Pope, like Rolf Hochhuth, Guenther Lewy, Saul
Friedlander, and Carlo Falconi, were invalidated by the complete publication of the eleven volumes of the Actes.
Unfortunately, these volumes, which detail the Vatican’s relations with all the belligerent governments and assistance
given to all the victims of the war, have been either ignored or downplayed by historians and journalists.
Many Jewish organizations had no reservations about attacking Fr. Charles Coughlin, the anti-Semitic
radio broadcaster. If these same organizations were actually displeased with Pius XII’s actions, as Fr. John
Pawlikowski suggested in Commonweal (July 17, 1998), then why did they continue to publicly honor the
Pope throughout the war and beyond? How could Jews on six continents have been so tragically mistaken
about one man? Could they all have been either blissfully ignorant or extremely disingenuous? Many Catholics
have been puzzled by the fact that many of the same Jewish organizations that condemn Pius XII today once
never passed up an opportunity to praise him. What could have caused the vast shift in Jewish attitudes
toward the late Pope?
Some Catholic writers point to the infl uence of Rolf Hochhuth’s 1963 play, Th e Deputy, which presented the
Pope as a cold-blooded Nazi collaborator who did nothing as six million Jews went to their death. However,
allegations that the Vatican collaborated with the Nazis did not begin with Hochhuth. While Pius XII was
still alive, anti-Catholic authors like Avro Manhattan (Th e Vatican in World Politics, 1949) and Paul Blanshard (American Freedom and Catholic Power, 1949) condemned his actions during World War II. Although
Manhattan and Blanshard found isolated audiences in some Protestant and fundamentalist Christian circles,
many Jews continued to have a favorable impression of the wartime Pope.
Other cultural shifts in society ensured that Hochhuth’s demonic portrait would become accepted as
conventional wisdom. Shortly after Hochhuth’s play made its appearance, the movement known as the
New Left marched across college campuses. Th e New Left was more than a political movement; it was also
a cultural movement whose members seized infl uential positions in the universities, the media, and the
entertainment industry. Th e Catholic Church strongly opposed the New Left’s social agenda of legal abortion,
contraception, and sexual promiscuity.
Activists needed a weapon to undermine the Catholic Church’s moral authority and infl uence. “Th e silence of
Pius XII” provided such a powerful weapon, and it was used at every possible opportunity. What right would
a church that failed to oppose the mass murder of Jews have to teach morality to anyone? A few years ago, the
US Conference of Catholic Bishops criticized US surgeon general Dr. Jocelyn Elders for her proabortion views.
Dr. Elders responded by noting the Catholic Church’s indiff erence toward both slavery and the Holocaust.
Unfortunately, Jewish organizations have never suffi ciently explained why they changed their minds about the
Pope. A clear answer may never be known unless Jewish organizations fi nally provide honest and convincing
explanations after nearly forty years of evasion.
Could attitudes shift again? It’s possible. In the last several years, many Catholic newspapers and magazines have
been zealously defending Pius XII’s reputation. Th e Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights has also been
successful in bringing the debate over the Vatican’s wartime role into the mainstream media. In his new book,
Never Again: A History of the Holocaust, acclaimed Holocaust historian Sir Martin Gilbert identifi es the Vatican as
one of the European governments that protected Jews. Prof. William Rubinstein’s book, Th e Myth of Rescue (1997),
which received substantial attention and criticism, argues that the Allies and Vatican could not have saved more
Jewish lives. Rubinstein’s sobering conclusion that the “responsibility for the Holocaust lies solely and wholly with
Adolf Hitler, the SS and their accomplices, and with no one else” represents a return to reason.
It may take a generation to restore Pope Pius XII’s good name. However, more and more people today are
recognizing that he acted like a Good Samaritan during World War II. When the Pope failed to prevent the start
of the war, he immediately devoted himself to alleviating the physical and spiritual suff ering of countless numbers
of innocent victims regardless of their race or faith. As the late Fr. Robert Graham, SJ, wrote, the many tributes
the Pope received from Jews around the world are a witness to both his eff orts and his character.
Dimitri Cavalli is a freelance writer based in New York.
From Inside the Vatican © 2000 Urbi et Orbi Communications October 2000, pp. 72–77
Source: Pope Pius XII and World War II: The Documented Truth