"With the publication of John Cornwell's' best-seller Hitler's Pope, James Carroll's Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews,and Gary Wills' Papal Sins, there is a campaign to vilify Pope Pius XII based on his alleged failure to speak out against the Nazis during World War II," says Rabbi David Dalin.
"There are even charges that he was a Nazi sympathizer," notes the author, lecturer and adjunct professor of history at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. "It is my opinion, based on historical fact, that these are false allegations."
As a counterpoint to James Carroll's recent lecture at John Carroll University, Dalin was subsequently invited by JCU's Institute of Catholic Studies to address students and community leaders. Dalin spoke on the topic, "A Righteous Gentile: Pope Pius XII and the Jews."
An animated and convincing lecturer, Dalin cited numerous documented instances where Pope Pius XII worked behind the scenes to save hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives during WWII.
The pope's "alleged silence was a clear strategy to protect Italian Jewish and Catholic lives," says Dalin. "Had the pope publicly and repeatedly spoken out he would have further inflamed Hitler. Scores of Jews who were being harbored in the Vatican, monasteries, convents and Catholic homes throughout Italy would have been tracked down and slaughtered, along with their Catholic protectors."
The figures speak for themselves, says Dalin. Some "860,000 Italian Jews survived the war. Only 20% of Italy's Jews were sent to Nazi death camps." Compare that, he says, to the percentage of Danish Jews who were slaughtered in 1942 by Nazis angered by the Danish bishops who engaged in anti-Nazi protests and distributed a much publicized pastoral letter strongly denouncing the unjust treatment of the Jews.
"This stance backfired and provoked the Nazis, who imposed savage reprisals," says Dalin. "Seventy-nine percent, or 110,000, of Denmark's Jews were deported and killed."
Yet, adds the rabbi, there were numerous documented instances where the pope did make public statements concerning the Nazi's brutal treatment of the Jews.
"In the pope's 1940 Easter homily, he condemned the Nazi killing of women and children along with Hitler's invasion of Poland, Holland and Luxembourg. He spoke about 'a world wounded by excesses of violence.'"
Citing other examples of the pope's public declarations against Hitler, Dalin says in his 1941 Christmas address, Pius XII called for a new order where "there was liberty, justice and love," and noted that "Nazi aims were irreconcilable with Christian peace."
"On Dec. 24, 1942, Pope Pius XII expressed concern for the hundreds of thousands marked down for mass destruction," says Dalin. "The New York Times applauded these comments 'as a lonely voice of public protest against Hitler.'"
In 1943, Nazi publications contained scathing articles against the pope stating the Vatican had lost its neutrality. "They wrote that Pope Pius XII's condemnation of Nazism was 'one long attack on everything the Third Reich stands for, and the pope makes himself the mouthpiece of Jewish war criminals,'" noted Dalin.
As for the argument that Pope Pius XII should have excommunicated Nazi leaders Hitler and Himmler, Dalin suggests that the two were not "frum" (observant) Catholics and that the symbolic gesture would only have antagonized Hitler. "As it was, there is evidence that in 1943 Hitler was making plans to invade the Vatican."
Critics have also blamed Pope Pius XII for his role in preparing the Concordat of 1933. This document was a treaty between the papacy and the Third Reich concerning ecclesiastical affairs. It was written and finalized during the papacy of Pope Pius XI and was negotiated between then Papal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli and high German officials. (Pacelli was to become Pope Pius XII in 1939.)
The Concordat stated the Germans were to stay away from the Catholic population and, in return, the papacy would not mix in German affairs. The Concordat was regarded as a great diplomatic victory for Hitler because it gave the Nazis free reign and denied protection to the Jewish population.
"Although Pope Pius XII played a role in the drafting of the Concordat, he soon regretted the document and publicly said so," says Dalin.
Upon his death in 1958, the pope was regarded as a friend of the Jews during World War II. "No other pope in recent history has ever been so universally praised by the Jews," says Dalin. "In my opinion he should be as highly regarded and recognized as Raoul Wallenberg or Oscar Schindler."
Pius XII's actions during the war were publicly applauded by Golda Meir, continues Dalin.
In 1955, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, comprised of a number of Holocaust survivors, made a special trip to the Vatican to perform for the pope. The orchestra did so, says Dalin, to express Israel's enduring gratitude to Pius XII for saving the lives of thousands of Jews.
In 1963, when Rolf Hochhuth's play "Der Stellvertreter" ("The Deputy") appeared on Broadway, an international anti-Pope Pius XII movement began, says Dalin.
"The playwright, who was not a historian, wrote a fictional drama that was an unprecedented indictment of Pope Pius XII and his alleged indifference to the plight of European Jews," he says. "This work was not based on historical evidence, yet it inspired a generation of journalists and scholars intent on discrediting Pope Pius XII. That movement continues to this day."
Reflecting on Dalin's speech, audience member Rabbi Bernard Frankel of Shaker Heights noted, "If Pope Pius XII was such a friend to the Jews, how come he is not included in the Righteous Gentile walkway at Yad Vashem? I feel a number of Jews were spared in Italy because the Italian people were soft on Mussolini and also because the Italians took it upon themselves to harbor Jews, not because the pope told them to do so."
There were also many other instances where the pope could have intervened to save thousands more lives, Frankel says. "The pope received repeated reports through diplomatic and other channels about the mass slaughter of Jews in occupied Poland and the deportation to death camps from Germany, France, the Netherlands and other countries. Yet we still do not have any evidence of him overtly expressing moral outrage. By not doing so he committed the sin of omission."
Fingerpointing and hindsight is easy, notes Sally Goodman of University Heights. "So many world leaders knew early on what was happening, yet did nothing to stop the Nazi horrors," she says. "Even many Jewish leaders in America stayed silent and did not speak up. The crime of silence does not fall exclusively at the Vatican door."
Dr. Alan Levenson of the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies, will discuss "James Carroll's Constantine's Sword: A New Era in Christian Relations," on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. at Park Synagogue East. The free event is the congregation's 11th annual Robert M. Leitson Memorial Lecture. For reservations, call 216-371-2244, ext. 141.
Source: https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/archives/rabbi-defends-pope-pius-xiis-actions/article_169769e6-7264-56e8-8c59-97f69222189f.html