Defending Pius XII

[KC91]

“All Jews” do not do anything. Many or most might dislike Pius XII but not all.

Actually many I know have not even heard of him so that statement is probably a little generalised.

 

[AJV]

That’s a good site. Yad Vashem tends to handle the issue somewhat warily though they issued a statement criticizing the Vatican’s recent decision to proceed with the beatification of Pius XII until scholars had a chance to examine all the materials in Vatican archives. That hardly makes sense as the scholars would not be making a decision on the merits of Pope Pius’ case. It does need to be pointed out however that Cardinal Palazzini is memorialized at Yad Vashem for his work to rescue Jews during WW2. Palazzini always said that he acted under the orders of Pius XII.

Yad Vashem ought to be a more more fair in its own assessment of the Pope’s role first. One always reads in the media about how the Vatican envoys boycott Yad Vashem on occasion over the exhibit. Reading it, one often gets the impression that the Vatican is being petty, and insisting that it say that the former Pope was a near saint. I, for a long time, thought it was unnecessary. I had (still do) some reservations about the role of Pius XII and the Church during WWII. Coming from a region where Christian minorities get to feel the repercussions of what the Pope and/or “Christian” West do, I can sympathize to a great extent with the argument that he did not speak because it would have caused more suffering. However, I was/am still slightly uneasy about things that were not done. And so, it always seemed a bit strange to me to try and present Pius XII as a *complete *hero, and I used to think the Church was overdoing it.

But if the Church is overdoing it by leaning at one end of the spectrum, Yad Vashem is at the COMPLETE other. The exhibit makes NO reference, or acknowledgment, to the fact that the Pope saved anyone. It literally portrays him as a figure impassively watching the whole thing and leaving his bishops and priests to do what they liked. And the guides - Hebrew, more so than English - are even worse with their outrageous one-sided propaganda. They consistently portray things in a biased fashion. Not only do they mock legitimate ideas on the political situation, but some also make claims like “if the Pope had said something, then all Catholics would have obeyed. Hitler would have never come to power in Germany because all Catholics have to listen to the Pope. German Catholics would have stopped supporting Hitler” and simplistic statements like “since all Catholics listen to the Pope, if the Pope had stopped supporting Hitler, all Catholics in Europe would have thrown Hitler out” (!). And of course, claims thrown in about how the Catholics “get up and leave” where this is discussed because they can’t refute it. (“I leave it to you - decide who is right”). Of course, I hardly imagine that such statement are used at higher discussion levels, but the thousands who visit the Museum every year certainly don’t get a reasonable picture, by any standard.