Sixty-eight years ago, on March 12, 1939, Eugenio Pacelli received the papal tiara to become Pius XII.World War II began six months later.
The Vatican was a neutral State.
As its sovereign, Pius XII could not and did not take a public stand for or against the Nazis, Fascists, or Allies.
However, he condemned the persecution of people based on their race, was in contact with the anti-Nazi Resistance, approved a plot to assassinate Hitler, and defended minorities. He vigorously protested the deportation of Jews and ordered his nuncios to intervene.
He was not anti-Semitic. He authorized Vatican Radio and L'Osservatore Romano to publicly condemn Nazi atrocities.
The Nazis called him "the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals."
The record shows that more than sixty protests condemning Nazism and Fascism were made by Eugenio Pacelli as Secretary of State and as Pope.
He openly and consistently defied the Nazis and encouraged the German bishops to continue to do so.
Pius XII made strong protests against the Nazi seizure of Rome's Jews. He permitted false documents, forged protective passes, and faked baptismal certificates to be issued for their protection.
He was the spiritual leader of Catholics throughout the world. When he learned about the plight of the Jews and other victims in the concentration camps, he had to consider whether it would worsen their condition were he to issue a public condemnation of the Holocaust.
However, he succeeded in mobilizing all the forces of the Church and extended his charity to all war victims, without distinction of nationality, race, or religion. In fact, he refused to leave the Vatican and was prepared himself to face captivity or death at the hands of the Nazis.
He repeatedly stated: "Whatever happens, I will not leave Rome voluntarily. My place is here and I will fight to the end for the Christian commandments of humanity and peace." How can anyone doubt Pius XII's integrity?
The Holocaust was the evil invention of the demonic mind of Adolf Hitler, who planned to dominate the world, destroy Christianity, and foster a new Godless religion.
Dr. Robert W. Kempner, Deputy Chief, U. S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, who compared those who defame Pius XII with revisionists who deny the full reality of the Holocaust, stated: "Every propaganda move of the Catholic Church against Hitler's Reich would have been not only ‘provoking suicide'...but would have hastened the execution of still more Jews and priests."
The historical record shows that Pope Pius XII, through his world-wide network of apostolic delegates, was able to save the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. While some individuals, including Jews, betrayed their Jewish friends, the Pope's so-called "silence" saved lives by protecting the underground efforts of thousands of rescuers.
He did all he could to avoid reprisals against Jews and Catholics, 40 million of them German Catholics, who he could not endanger. Not only did he provide money, ships, and food, but he placed his radio, his diplomacy, his convents, at the disposal of the refugees.
Pius XII was a prudent leader whose silence on the specific issue of the Holocaust saved thousands of Jews from extermination. He recognized that words alone, even from him, would be useless to stop the evil. In fact words from him would have no other effect than to inflame the viciousness of the Nazis who would vent their ire upon the helpless victims in their grasp.
What would the victim have preferred — words or actions? Would the Nazis and the Fascists have tolerated the charitable work of the Catholic Church during World War II? If he had publicly condemned Hitler or Mussolini, would thousands of Jews have survived?
In a recent interview, Sir Martin Gilbert explained: "As a Jewish historian, I have felt the need to fully recognize the help given by Catholics to Jews during the Second World War.... Priests and bishops saved Jews wherever they were threatened, including Poland, France and Italy....
The Nazis recognized the fact that Pope Pius XII directed his representatives to save the persecuted Jews by opening the doors of Catholic institutions. They considered Pope Pius XII an enemy of Germany."
While Pius XII was saving the Jews "in silence," some Jewish leaders, interested in a Jewish state, did nothing to save their brethren. Pius XII felt that if he spoke out about the Jewish killings specifically, the situation would only grow worse.
An American diplomat, Harold Tittmann, stated in his memoirs: "Personally, I cannot help but feel that the Holy Father chose the better path by not speaking out and thereby saved many lives. Who can say what the Nazis would have done in their ruthless furor had they been further inflamed by public denunciations from the Holy See?"
The Catholic Church saved 860,000 Jews from extermination. In his book, Antisemitismo, Rabbi Israel Zolli wrote: "World Jewry owes a great debt of gratitude to Pius XII for his repeated and pressing appeals for justice on behalf of the Jews and, when these did not prevail, for his strong protests against evil laws and procedures.... No hero in all of history was more militant, more fought against, none more heroic than Pius XII in pursuing the work of true charity! And this on behalf of all the suffering children of God."
In his 1954 memoir, Before the Dawn, he praised Pius XII's leadership: "The Holy Father sent by hand a letter to the bishops instructing them to lift the enclosure from convents and monasteries, so that they could hide the Jews."
The extraordinary tributes the Jewish community offered Pius XII for saving Jews and fighting anti-Semitism is part of world history. Documents on the papacy of Pius XII are available. So far, scholars have found nothing that would incriminate Pius XII, whose own papers consist of 6 million documents in 50,000 cases which will be available to scholars only after they are catalogued.
Pope Pius XII was a scholar and a diplomat who inspired all who approached him. An exceptional, saintly individual, he was a symbol of mercy, of hope and of love, during a period in history full of lies, desperation and hatred.
His goodness and spiritual strength, his intelligence and his extraordinary capacity to understand the sufferings and the dangers of people everywhere, endeared him to all.
Especially was he endeared to the thousands of Jewish refugees hidden in 155 Catholic institutions in the city of Rome — saved, thanks to Pope Pius XII.
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