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Hey everyone,
A new subject about Pius has reared its head again and I came across two websites that go over it. The sunject matter concerns the story that Pius did not allow some originally Jewish children to return to their parents after the fall of the nazis. Here are the stories:
Pius XII barred Jewish children returning home
By Peter Popham in Rome
29 December 2004
The bitter, long-running controversy over the attitude of Pope Pius XII to the Holocaust has taken a new turn with the publication of diaries that prove he opposed the return of Jewish children to their parents after the Nazis’ defeat.
The diaries were kept by Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, from 1945 to 1948 when Pius XII was on the Vatican throne and Cardinal Roncalli was papal nuncio to Paris.
The diaries document the efforts by Cardinal Roncalli to reunite Jewish families torn apart by the war and whose children had been taken under the wing of the Catholic Church. The future pope’s role in helping Jews escape from Nazi persecution has long been acknowledged. But the diaries show Pius XII was hostile to such efforts.
In 1946, Rabbi Herzog of Istanbul came to see Roncalli in Paris to ask that Jewish children rescued during the war and taken care of in Catholic convents should be returned to the Jewish community. Cardinal Roncalli was happy to oblige: he wrote authorising him “to use his authority with the relevant institutions, so … these children may be returned to their original environment.”
But Pius XII, who has frequently been accused of anti-semitism, sent a message via the Vatican’s Holy Office ordering that Jewish children who had been baptised as Christians after being separated from their parents should not be returned unless they could be guaranteed a Christian upbringing. Children “who no longer have parents” were not to be handed over. If the parents eventually showed up, only those children who had not been baptised should be restored, the Pope proclaimed.
Alberto Melloni, an authority on Cardinal Roncalli, said in Corriere della Sera newspaper, that the future pope often managed to defy the orders, though his diaries do not give details. Mr Melloni believes that this was one of the things that induced Roncalli, when he became Pope in 1960, to include a repudiation of anti-semitism in the agenda of the Second Vatican Council.
news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=596610
Same story here too:
guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,14058,1380532,00.html
As well here is one comment from a linked website:
Pope Pius XII’s real name was Eugenio Pacelli, and prior to becoming Pope he was the Papal Nuncio to Germany, where he helped bring about the fall of the Weimer Republic and the installation of Hitler, in exchange for Hitler’s promise to make Catholocism the official state religion of Nazi Germany. In his acceptance speech, Hitler described Christianity as, “essential elements for safeguarding the soul of the German people.” Hitler, knowing who helped him to power, then stated, “We hope to improve our friendly relations with the Holy See.” Just four months later, Hitler’s government signed a concordat with the Vatican, a treaty that gave preferential legal status to the Catholic church above other churches. As Pope Pius XII, Pacelli continued the same deal with the Spanish Dictator Franco. When Franco finally established his dictatorship in Spain, Church property and all medieval privileges of the Church were restored. No other religion was allowed. Protestants and non-Catholics were sent to concentration camps for refusing to attend Catholic services. Freethinkers, democrats, Socialists and Communists were deprived of civil rights, imprisoned, or shot. When the Spanish republic was finally defeated by Catholic troops under Franco, would-be dictator of Spain, the pope sent a special message to the victors: “With great joy we address you, dearest sons of Catholic Spain, to express our paternal congratulations for the gift of peace and victory with which God has chosen to crown the Christian heroism of your faith … We give you, our dear sons of Catholic Spain, our apostolic benediction.” Spain supported both Hitler and Mussolini during the World War 2. Under Pius XII, the bishops of Germany stayed loyal to the Nazis until the very end of the war.
I’ve read through some of the articles at Catholic answers, but the Jewish children issue has just come up. As well I’m just womdering about all the details in the above comment. If the above two stories are true, then we’d be in quite a pickle to explain this one against Pius XII.
A new subject about Pius has reared its head again and I came across two websites that go over it. The sunject matter concerns the story that Pius did not allow some originally Jewish children to return to their parents after the fall of the nazis. Here are the stories:
Pius XII barred Jewish children returning home
By Peter Popham in Rome
29 December 2004
The bitter, long-running controversy over the attitude of Pope Pius XII to the Holocaust has taken a new turn with the publication of diaries that prove he opposed the return of Jewish children to their parents after the Nazis’ defeat.
The diaries were kept by Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, from 1945 to 1948 when Pius XII was on the Vatican throne and Cardinal Roncalli was papal nuncio to Paris.
The diaries document the efforts by Cardinal Roncalli to reunite Jewish families torn apart by the war and whose children had been taken under the wing of the Catholic Church. The future pope’s role in helping Jews escape from Nazi persecution has long been acknowledged. But the diaries show Pius XII was hostile to such efforts.
In 1946, Rabbi Herzog of Istanbul came to see Roncalli in Paris to ask that Jewish children rescued during the war and taken care of in Catholic convents should be returned to the Jewish community. Cardinal Roncalli was happy to oblige: he wrote authorising him “to use his authority with the relevant institutions, so … these children may be returned to their original environment.”
But Pius XII, who has frequently been accused of anti-semitism, sent a message via the Vatican’s Holy Office ordering that Jewish children who had been baptised as Christians after being separated from their parents should not be returned unless they could be guaranteed a Christian upbringing. Children “who no longer have parents” were not to be handed over. If the parents eventually showed up, only those children who had not been baptised should be restored, the Pope proclaimed.
Alberto Melloni, an authority on Cardinal Roncalli, said in Corriere della Sera newspaper, that the future pope often managed to defy the orders, though his diaries do not give details. Mr Melloni believes that this was one of the things that induced Roncalli, when he became Pope in 1960, to include a repudiation of anti-semitism in the agenda of the Second Vatican Council.
news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=596610
Same story here too:
guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,14058,1380532,00.html
As well here is one comment from a linked website:
Pope Pius XII’s real name was Eugenio Pacelli, and prior to becoming Pope he was the Papal Nuncio to Germany, where he helped bring about the fall of the Weimer Republic and the installation of Hitler, in exchange for Hitler’s promise to make Catholocism the official state religion of Nazi Germany. In his acceptance speech, Hitler described Christianity as, “essential elements for safeguarding the soul of the German people.” Hitler, knowing who helped him to power, then stated, “We hope to improve our friendly relations with the Holy See.” Just four months later, Hitler’s government signed a concordat with the Vatican, a treaty that gave preferential legal status to the Catholic church above other churches. As Pope Pius XII, Pacelli continued the same deal with the Spanish Dictator Franco. When Franco finally established his dictatorship in Spain, Church property and all medieval privileges of the Church were restored. No other religion was allowed. Protestants and non-Catholics were sent to concentration camps for refusing to attend Catholic services. Freethinkers, democrats, Socialists and Communists were deprived of civil rights, imprisoned, or shot. When the Spanish republic was finally defeated by Catholic troops under Franco, would-be dictator of Spain, the pope sent a special message to the victors: “With great joy we address you, dearest sons of Catholic Spain, to express our paternal congratulations for the gift of peace and victory with which God has chosen to crown the Christian heroism of your faith … We give you, our dear sons of Catholic Spain, our apostolic benediction.” Spain supported both Hitler and Mussolini during the World War 2. Under Pius XII, the bishops of Germany stayed loyal to the Nazis until the very end of the war.
I’ve read through some of the articles at Catholic answers, but the Jewish children issue has just come up. As well I’m just womdering about all the details in the above comment. If the above two stories are true, then we’d be in quite a pickle to explain this one against Pius XII.
