I was questioned on if Pope Pius XII ever lied and falsified papers (including forging Baptism certificates) and other things that in normal circumstances would be an Offense of against the Truth. Why this story doesn’t talk about it directly, does anyone think that the Pope’s silent orders to protect and give refuge also included the directive:
“Don’t lie. If the Nazi’s ask if there are any Jews here be silent. I know they will figure out their are Jews in your midst and they’ll kill you and all the Jews. But I can’t condone your sin. You’ll be a martyr. As for the fact that I’ve been denying for years there are Jews in the Vatican posing as Priests, nuns, maids, Swiss Guards, etc., well, I’m not as pure as you.”
The Pope understood that they were under duress and that the Nazi’s had no right to the truth.
See the following excerpt from a book by a Sister:
Opening the cloister
Since this encounter, I’ve been striving to write from my heart a “manifesto” for justice. Pope Pius XII, through ecclesiastical channels, instructed priests and nuns to shelter any Jew who knocked on their doors. When I learned about this, and about the Vatican’s network to provide false identification papers for Jews and other refugees, I decided to publish these facts.
For several years Pope Pius XII did not leave the Vatican, where he was concealing many Jews. Every corner of his estate at Castelgandolfo, his summer home, also was occupied by them. According to Father Robert A. Graham, S.J., the editor of World War II Vatican documents, word spread from the Vatican for Religious to open the doors of convents and monasteries to protect Jews. Directives were only given orally because, under the German occupation, all archives were subject to Gestapo raids.
This was an extraordinary Vatican command because until this time convents and monasteries were considered cloistered. Very strict regulations existed that prohibited the laity from entering these cloistered areas. In those days one’s own parents were nor allowed to enter the private quarters of a convent or monastery. Neither was anyone else. However, when Jews and other refugees needed sanctuary, the regulations were suspended.
For fifty years, books have been published, films have been produced, lectures have been given, but few people have defended Pope Pius XII. In his time, people from different parts of the world insisted that the pope publicly condemn the Nazis. But to the very end, Pius XII was convinced that, should he denounce Hitler, there would be serious and devastating retaliation.
Evidence shows that he was right. Bishop Jean Bernard of Luxembourg, an inmate of Dachau from February 1941 to August 1942, declared that “whenever protests were made, treatment of prisoners worsened immediately.” Because of the pope’s prudence and courage, many more lives were saved. If Pope Pius XII had protested, not only would he have been unsuccessful in halting the destruction, but he might have caused a great deal of additional damage to the thousands of Jews hidden in the Vatican, in convents and monasteries, as well as to the Church in German-occupied Europe. Nazi policy sought the extermination not only of Jews but of certain non-Jewish peoples as well. The thousands of Jews hidden in convents and monasteries would have been sent to concentration camps along with those who were trying to save them. (
catholiceducation.org/articles/history/world/wh0004.html)
silence and discreet language.Exactly!!!
