Priest Gives Proof of Pius XII's Aid to Jews

[NeelyAnn]

**Priest Gives Proof of Pius XII’s Aid to Jews **

**Gives Testimony of Pope’s Anti-Nazi Actions **

By Jesús Colina

ROME, JAN. 14, 2010 (Zenit.org).- An Italian priest who helped Jews escape Nazi persecution during World War II is attesting that Pope Pius XII was a big player in this effort.

Father Giancarlo Centioni, 97, who served as a military chaplain for the National Security Volunteer Militia in Rome from 1940 to 1945, affirmed this in an interview with H2oNews today.

The militia, also called the Blackshirts, was organized by Benito Mussolini as a fascist paramilitary group in support of his movement.

Father Centioni affirmed, “Given that I was a chaplain for the fascists, it was easier for me to help the Jews.”

While in Rome, he lived in the house of a group of German priests known as Pallottines.

These priests had instituted a group to aid the Jews called St. Raphael’s Society.

The society, Father Centioni said, helped Jews to escape from Germany into Italy, and then later to Switzerland and Portugal.

In Germany the society was led by Pallottine Father Josef Kentenich, who is known for founding the Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt. He was later sent to the Dachau concentration camp for his opposition to Adolf Hitler’s regime.

**Allies **

Father Centioni said that in Rome, the society’s activity was based on 57 Pettinari Street under the direction of another priest, Father Anton Weber. Father Weber coordinated the action with Pope Pius XII and his secretary.

Money and passports were given to Jewish families for their escape, explained Father Centioni. These resources were provided by Father Weber who “received them directly from His Holiness’ Secretary of State, in the name of and paid by Pius XII,” Farther Centioni said.

He continued, “I often brought money to Jewish homes. At least 12 German priests in Rome were allowed to help me.”

Father Centioni stated that this network “began prior to the War” and “kept going” until after 1945, “because Father Weber had an intense relationship with the Vatican, with the Jews, and with a lot of people it was very strong.”

He noted that two Jews who they helped hide later aided the society in return: Melchiorre Gioia, an author, and Erwin Frimm Kozab, a composer from Vienna who wrote songs and operas.

The priest recalled: “One we hid on Giuseppe Street, near Bari, and the other on 57 Pettinari Street. Later they assisted us quite a lot, giving us very explicit information.”

Father Centioni affirmed that he helped hundreds of people, and they all knew who was behind the operation. “Pius XII helped them,” he said, “through us and other priests, by means of St. Raphael’s Society as well as the German Verbiti Society in Rome.”

He described one incident in which he helped a man named Ivan Basilius, who turned out to be a Russian spy. “No one knew he was Russian or a spy,” the priest said, only “that he was a Jew.”

**Trouble **

Father Centioni recalled: "Unfortunately, the SS arrested him and he had my name written in his notebook.

"Therefore – oh my – the Holy See called me; His Excellency Bishop Hudal said to me, 'Tell me, why are the SS here to arrest you?

"‘What did I do?’

"‘You assisted a Russian spy.’

“‘Me? How should I know? Who is he?’ Then I fled.’”

The priest said that he had known Herbert Kappler, police chief of the Gestapo in Rome, who instigated the Fosse Ardeatine massacre, in which 335 Italians were murdered, including many civilians and Jews.

He said, "After the massacre was carried out in March [1944], I said to Kappler, whom I saw frequently, ‘Why were the military chaplains not called to be present at the Fosse Ardeatine?’

“He replied, ‘Because they would have been killed – and they would have killed you as well.’”

Building evidence

Father Centioni and his testimony was discovered and analyzed, along with other testimonies, by the Pave the Way Foundation, which was founded by Gary Krupp, himself a Jew from New York.

An Italian lawyer, Daniele Costi, president of the foundation in her country, attested to the veracity of the interview.

The priest’s narrative is further confirmed by the documentation accompanying an award given to him by the Polish government. As further corroboration of his testimony, Father Centioni cited expressions of gratitude he received from several Jews he aided, including some who were able to reach the United States with passports from the Vatican.

---

On the Net:

Video Interview (in Italian): www.h2onews.org

Pave the Way Foundation: ptwf.org

 

[KC91]

Interesting, fortunately this will definetly help aid Pius XII’s beautification process

 

[aicirt]

On Jan. 8, 2010, Gary Krupp, a Jew of Pave the Way Foundation, was interviewed on THE WORLD OVER, EWTN, re. his work in establishing the work of Pius XII for the Jews during WWII.

You can hear this interview or download it by googling the show.

Krupp was against Pius XII until he began his research. Amazing. Krupp is now totally in favor of his canonization.

I wish all Jews would view this interview. Krupp credist Pius XII with saving between 800 -900,000 Jews.

 

[NeelyAnn]

Friend to the Jews

**By GARY L. KRUPP
NY Post
Last Updated: 3:33 AM, December 28, 2009
Posted: 1:03 AM, December 28, 2009 **

A recent papal decree moved Pope Pius XII, among others, closer to sainthood – returning to the forefront the controversy over his role in World War II and the Holocaust.

Growing up Jewish in Queens, I never dreamt I would be defending the man I once believed to be a Nazi sympathizer and an anti-Semite. But my work since 2002 with my wife, Meredith, and the Pave the Way Foundation has led me to this point.

We founded Pave the Way to identify and eliminate nontheological obstacles between religions. Thus, despite our early prejudices, we decided to investigate the papacy of Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli), one of today’s greatest sources of hurt between Jews and Catholics.

After years of research in documentary evidence and eyewitness testimony, what we found shocked us. We found nothing but praise and positive news articles concerning Pius’ actions from every Jewish, Israeli and political leader of the era who lived through the war.

A few articles in the postwar era suggested that he should have done more to confront the Nazis – but it wasn’t until 1963, in the wake of the fictitious play “The Deputy” (written five years after Pius died), that accusations began flowing that he had failed to act, that he was a cold-hearted Nazi sympathizer who couldn’t care less about the Jewish people.

The evidence strongly suggests this was part of a KGB-directed and -financed bid to smear Pius, a Soviet disinformation campaign meant to discredit the Catholic Church, which at that time was profoundly anti-Communist.

In any case, the facts simply don’t match what so many have come to believe about Pius.

It is unquestionable that Pius XII intervened to save countless Jews at a time most nations – even FDR’s America – refused to accept these refugees. He issued false baptismal papers and obtained visas for them to emigrate as “Non Aryan Catholic-Jews.” He smuggled Jews into the Americas and Asia. He ordered the lifting of cloister for men and women to enter monasteries, convents and churches to hide 7,000 Jews of Rome in a single day.

Among the 5,000 pages of documents that Pave the Way has located, there is abundant evidence that Pacelli was a lifelong friend of the Jews. Some highlights:

• In 1917, at the request of World Zionist Organization Director Nachum Sokolow, Nuncio Pacelli intervened with the Germans to protect the Jews of Palestine from extermination by the Ottoman Turks.
• In 1925, Pacelli arranged for Sokolow to meet with Pope Benedict XV to discuss a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
• In 1930, Pacelli supported the German bishops’ orders excommunicating anyone who joined “the Hitler Party.”
• In 1938, Pacelli intervened to defeat a Polish anti-koshering law.
• In 1939, A.W. Klieforth, the US consul general based in Cologne, Germany, wrote a confidential letter to Washington reporting on the “extremeness” of Pacelli’s hatred of National Socialism and of Hitler.
• In 1947, at the United Nations, he encouraged the 17 Catholic countries out of the 33 in favor to vote for the partitioning of Palestine to create the State of Israel.
• A 1948 deposition by Gen. Karl Wolff, the SS commandant for Italy, revealed the Nazis’ wartime plan to kidnap the pope, kill countless cardinals and seize the Vatican.

But the personal tales may be more compelling. Pacelli’s childhood best friend was Guido Mendes, an Orthodox Jewish boy. He tells how Pacel- li shared Shabbat meals with him. Mendes taught him Hebrew, and Pacelli helped him to emigrate to Palestine in 1938.

Pius XII’s detractors prefer to criticize rather than simply look at the evidence. Two years ago, Pope Benedict XVI ordered the opening of the Vatican’s archives up to 1939, containing much evidence of Eugenio Pacelli’s activities leading up to his papacy. According to the sign-in sheets, few of Pius’ critics have bothered to come to the archives to view the material.

Pinchas Lapide, a Jewish historian, theologian and Israeli ambassador, stated that the actions and policies of Pius XII saved as many as 860,000 Jews.

Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, the chief rabbi of Palestine, the chief rabbi of Rome and the heads of every Jewish organization showered praise upon him during his lifetime.

Were all these witnesses who lived through the war misguided?

Gary L. Krupp is president of the Pave the Way Foundation, which has many of the documents noted here online at ptwf.org and which will soon publish a book with the main evidence in English, Hebrew, Spanish and French.

 

[Seamus_L]

When the opposition runs out of ideas they’ll fall back on a few comments Pope Pius made when he was Papal Nuncio in Bavaria.

 

[agrange]

I find this Jewish opposition to Pius XII pathetically amusing. I know I will sound like an anti-Jewish person, but they complain about everything. Read the Bible, they even complained to Moses about God, so much so that they risked the Lord destroying them. Ex 33:3-5 Num 11: 1-2 The Church would be better off telling them to go pound sand. What business of it is theirs how the Catholic Church is run?

 

[Lujack]

I find this Jewish opposition to Pius XII pathetically amusing. I know I will sound like an anti-Jewish person, but they complain about everything. Read the Bible, they even complained to Moses about God, so much so that they risked the Lord destroying them. Ex 33:3-5 Num 11: 1-2 The Church would be better off telling them to go pound sand. What business of it is theirs how the Catholic Church is run?

Here’s why this comment is anti-Semitic:

1. “They”. Nothing that starts with “they do this” or “they do that” when it refers to an ethnic group or religion in general ever ends well.
2. Who that was present in Numbers is alive today?

 

[Malkin71]

**Priest Gives Proof of Pius XII’s Aid to Jews **

**Gives Testimony of Pope’s Anti-Nazi Actions **

By Jesús Colina

ROME, JAN. 14, 2010 (Zenit.org).- An Italian priest who helped Jews escape Nazi persecution during World War II is attesting that Pope Pius XII was a big player in this effort.

Father Giancarlo Centioni, 97, who served as a military chaplain for the National Security Volunteer Militia in Rome from 1940 to 1945, affirmed this in an interview with H2oNews today.

The militia, also called the Blackshirts, was organized by Benito Mussolini as a fascist paramilitary group in support of his movement.

Father Centioni affirmed, “Given that I was a chaplain for the fascists, it was easier for me to help the Jews.”

While in Rome, he lived in the house of a group of German priests known as Pallottines.

These priests had instituted a group to aid the Jews called St. Raphael’s Society.

The society, Father Centioni said, helped Jews to escape from Germany into Italy, and then later to Switzerland and Portugal.

In Germany the society was led by Pallottine Father Josef Kentenich, who is known for founding the Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt. He was later sent to the Dachau concentration camp for his opposition to Adolf Hitler’s regime.

**Allies **

Father Centioni said that in Rome, the society’s activity was based on 57 Pettinari Street under the direction of another priest, Father Anton Weber. Father Weber coordinated the action with Pope Pius XII and his secretary.

Money and passports were given to Jewish families for their escape, explained Father Centioni. These resources were provided by Father Weber who “received them directly from His Holiness’ Secretary of State, in the name of and paid by Pius XII,” Farther Centioni said.

He continued, “I often brought money to Jewish homes. At least 12 German priests in Rome were allowed to help me.”

Father Centioni stated that this network “began prior to the War” and “kept going” until after 1945, “because Father Weber had an intense relationship with the Vatican, with the Jews, and with a lot of people it was very strong.”

He noted that two Jews who they helped hide later aided the society in return: Melchiorre Gioia, an author, and Erwin Frimm Kozab, a composer from Vienna who wrote songs and operas.

The priest recalled: “One we hid on Giuseppe Street, near Bari, and the other on 57 Pettinari Street. Later they assisted us quite a lot, giving us very explicit information.”

Father Centioni affirmed that he helped hundreds of people, and they all knew who was behind the operation. “Pius XII helped them,” he said, “through us and other priests, by means of St. Raphael’s Society as well as the German Verbiti Society in Rome.”

He described one incident in which he helped a man named Ivan Basilius, who turned out to be a Russian spy. “No one knew he was Russian or a spy,” the priest said, only “that he was a Jew.”

**Trouble **

Father Centioni recalled: "Unfortunately, the SS arrested him and he had my name written in his notebook.

"Therefore – oh my – the Holy See called me; His Excellency Bishop Hudal said to me, 'Tell me, why are the SS here to arrest you?

"‘What did I do?’

"‘You assisted a Russian spy.’

“‘Me? How should I know? Who is he?’ Then I fled.’”

The priest said that he had known Herbert Kappler, police chief of the Gestapo in Rome, who instigated the Fosse Ardeatine massacre, in which 335 Italians were murdered, including many civilians and Jews.

He said, "After the massacre was carried out in March [1944], I said to Kappler, whom I saw frequently, ‘Why were the military chaplains not called to be present at the Fosse Ardeatine?’

“He replied, ‘Because they would have been killed – and they would have killed you as well.’”

Building evidence

Father Centioni and his testimony was discovered and analyzed, along with other testimonies, by the Pave the Way Foundation, which was founded by Gary Krupp, himself a Jew from New York.

An Italian lawyer, Daniele Costi, president of the foundation in her country, attested to the veracity of the interview.

The priest’s narrative is further confirmed by the documentation accompanying an award given to him by the Polish government. As further corroboration of his testimony, Father Centioni cited expressions of gratitude he received from several Jews he aided, including some who were able to reach the United States with passports from the Vatican.

---

On the Net:

Video Interview (in Italian): www.h2onews.org

Pave the Way Foundation: ptwf.org

There is a good movie called the “Scarlet and the Black” that talks about how a Monsignor
saved 6,500 Jews American and British Solders. Here is the website
hughoflaherty.com/index.cfm/page/biography

The movie is excellent. What is ironic is how the German gestapo was sent to life in prison and converted and became a Catholic. He was only allowed 1 vistor and that was Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty. Read below.

hughoflaherty.com/index.cfm/page/kappler

 

[agrange]

Here’s why this comment is anti-Semitic:

1. “They”. Nothing that starts with “they do this” or “they do that” when it refers to an ethnic group or religion in general ever ends well.
2. Who that was present in Numbers is alive today?

Whatever

I did not think it would take long for me to be to be accused. If you can’t refute something, pull out the big guns and accuse the speaker of being Racist, sexist, anti semite etc.
Like I said “Whatever”

My point still stands. What business is it of any branch of Judaism who the RCC makes a Saint? None. Do the Jewish people acknowledge Roman Catholic Saints? No. These unhappy “leaders” and malcontents don’t even like the RCC to begin with, so should their opinion even be part of the discussion? “They” could barely tolerate JPII and don’t like Benedict. I am not an appeaser, so I see no need for the RCC to try and justify to Jewish “leaders” and malcontents who should be considered for sainthood and who should not. Besides, since when did questioning a groups motives or justification for interference in Roman Catholic procedures automatically make one a Bigot. If the Lord God Almighty called them a “Stiff necked people”,I take that to mean “They” can be difficult to deal with as evidenced in scripture. I doubt that whatever Benedict eventually decides will make “them” happy so I say, who cares what “they” think.

 

[malphono]

I did not think it would take long for me to be to be accused. If you can’t refute something, pull out the big guns and accuse the speaker of being Racist, sexist, anti semite etc.
Like I said “Whatever”

My point still stands. What business is it of any branch of Judaism who the RCC makes a Saint? None. Do the Jewish people acknowledge Roman Catholic Saints? No. These unhappy “leaders” and malcontents don’t even like the RCC to begin with, so should their opinion even be part of the discussion? “They” could barely tolerate JPII and don’t like Benedict. I am not an appeaser, so I see no need for the RCC to try and justify to Jewish “leaders” and malcontents who should be considered for sainthood and who should not. Besides, since when did questioning a groups motives or justification for interference in Roman Catholic procedures automatically make one a Bigot. If the Lord God Almighty called them a “Stiff necked people”,I take that to mean “They” can be difficult to deal with as evidenced in scripture. I doubt that whatever Benedict eventually decides will make “them” happy so I say, who cares what “they” think.

I agree (albeit that I am not a great fan of Pius XII – for reason other than those mentioned in this thread – and as such am less than thrilled by the prosepct of canoization) that it’s not the business of any non-believer who the Church canonizes. At the same time, though, one cannot not disregard the fact that not all Jews subscribe to the stated position.

IMHO, and for what little it’s worth, Lujack is right: lumping all members of a particular ethnic or religious group together is a recipe for disaster. It works both ways: not many Catholics would be happy to be called supporters of systematic torture just because it done during the Spanish Inquisition.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

NeelyAnn, thanks for posting those two articles! I especially liked the second one, but I think I’ll copy both of them for my evidence-archives .

 

[NeelyAnn]

There is a good movie called the “Scarlet and the Black” that talks about how a Monsignor
saved 6,500 Jews American and British Solders. Here is the website
hughoflaherty.com/index.cfm/page/biography

The movie is excellent. What is ironic is how the German gestapo was sent to life in prison and converted and became a Catholic. He was only allowed 1 vistor and that was Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty. Read below.

hughoflaherty.com/index.cfm/page/kappler

Excellent movie. We love watching this movie. It is suitable for the entire family, too.

 

[NeelyAnn]

NeelyAnn, thanks for posting those two articles! I especially liked the second one, but I think I’ll copy both of them for my evidence-archives .

Your welcome.

There is now news of a possible miracle being attributed to Pope Pius XII.

From Fr. Z:

Perhaps a miracle for Venerable Pope Pius XII?

This is really going to get the roller-coaster running.

FOLLOWUP HERE]

From CNA:

Vatican investigating miracle attributed to Pius XII

Vatican City, Jan 18, 2010 / 02:40 pm (CNA).- The Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, confirmed over the telephone to CNA today that a “presumed miracle” attributed to Pope Pius XII is under investigation. The case involves a patient cured of cancer in southern Italy. [And the Holy Father’s visit to the Roman Synagogue was… yesterday.]

Cardinal Saraiva was quick to caution, however, that there is a big difference between a “presumed” miracle and a “confirmed” miracle.

The case comes to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes from the town of Castellammare di Stabia near Naples, Italy. “Some months ago,” the local Sorrento & Dintorni online publication reported on Sunday, a person was discovered to be cured of a form of cancer previously declared incurable after praying for the intercession of Pope Pius XII.

The doctors of the person, of whom no details are public, were unable to give a scientific explanation for the occurrence, according to the article.

According to the same news source, the story was confirmed by Fr. Carmine Giudici, Vicar General of the Diocese of Sorrento, who said, “It’s all true.” Fr. Carmine said that the Holy See was in contact with the diocese after having been contacted by a local church-goer who says that he or she received a miracle “by the intercession of Pius XII.”

“The archbishop then decided to institute within days the appropriate diocesan tribunal.”

The existence of the possible miracle was confirmed to CNA by Cardinal Saraiva Martins on Monday afternoon.

The prefect emeritus also said that it is impossible to estimate the amount of time it might take for the process of confirmation to be carried out.

 

[DihydrogenOxide]

The enemy really hated this Pope. He went through all kinds of suffering. I hope he’s beatified soon.

 

[yinekka]

This is from the Pave the Way foundation:

The Jews to His Holiness Pius XII

“The Congress of Delegates of the Italian Israelite communities, held in Rome for the first time after the Liberation, is obliged to pay tribute to Your Holiness, and to express the deepest sense of gratitude from all Jews, for the show of human brotherhood by the Church during the years of persecution and when their lives were put in danger by the Nazi-Fascist atrocities. Many times, sacerdotes endured prison and concentration camps and even sacrificed their lives to aid the Jews. Such proof that the sense of goodness and charity still drives the just has served to lessen the shame of the indignities endured, the torment of the losses millions of human beings suffered. Israel has not finished suffering: the Jews will always remember what the Church, under orders from the Popes, did for them in that dreadful time”.

Motion approved by the Third Congress of the Italian Israelite Communities held in March 1946 TRANSLATION

pavethewayfoundation.org/Downloads/Jewish%20%20Reaction%20to%20PPXII.pdf

Read Ronald Rychlak’s book Hitler the War and the Pope

 

[NeelyAnn]

From Fr. Z:

HAARETZ: Editorial in defense of Ven. Pius XII

I saw this on the site of HAARETZ.

My emphases and comments.

22 Jan 2010

**Much-maligned pontiff **

By Dimitri Cavalli

Some things never go away. The controversy over Pope Pius XII’s actions during World War II was recently reignited when Pope Benedict XVI signed a decree affirming that his predecessor displayed “heroic virtues” during his lifetime. When the pope visited the Great Synagogue of Rome on Sunday, Riccardo Pacifici, president of Rome’s Jewish community, told him: “The silence of Pius XII before the Shoah still hurts because something should have been done.”

This was not the first time the wartime pope, who is now a step closer to beatification, has been accused of keeping silent during the Holocaust, of doing little or nothing to help the Jews, and even of collaborating with the Nazis. **To what extent, if any, does the evidence back up these allegations, which have been repeated since the early 1960s? **

On April 4, 1933, Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli, the Vatican secretary of state, instructed the papal nuncio in Germany to see **what he could do to oppose the Nazis’ anti-Semitic policies. **

On behalf of Pope Pius XI, **Cardinal Pacelli drafted an encyclical, entitled “Mit brennender Sorge” **(“With Burning Anxiety”), that condemned Nazi doctrines and persecution of the Catholic Church. The encyclical was smuggled into Germany and read from Catholic pulpits on March 21, 1937.

Although many Vatican critics today dismiss the encyclical as a light slap on the wrist, the Germans saw it as a security threat. For example, on March 26, 1937, Hans Dieckhoff, an official in the German foreign ministry, wrote that the “encyclical contains attacks of the severest nature upon the German government, calls upon Catholic citizens to rebel against the authority of the state, and therefore signifies **an attempt to endanger internal peace.” **

Both Great Britain and France [Perhaps more questions should be asked about this rather than the absurd claim that Pius XII didn’t do enough.] should have interpreted the document as a warning that they should not trust Adolf Hitler or try to appease him.

After the death of Pius XI, Cardinal Pacelli was elected pope, on March 2, 1939. The Nazis were displeased with the new pontiff, who took the name Pius XII. On March 4, Joseph Goebbels, the German propaganda minister, wrote in his diary: “Midday with the Fuehrer. He is considering whether we should **abrogate the concordat with Rome in light of Pacelli’s election as pope.” **

During the war, the pope was far from silent: In numerous speeches and encyclicals, he championed human rights for all people and called on the belligerent nations to respect the rights of all civilians and prisoners of war. Unlike many of the pope’s latter-day detractors, the Nazis understood him very well. [Exactly.] After studying Pius XII’s 1942 Christmas message, the Reich Central Security Office concluded: "In a manner never known before the pope has repudiated the National Socialist New European Order … Here he is virtually accusing the German people of injustice toward the Jews and makes himself the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals." (Pick up any book that criticizes Pius XII, and you won’t find any mention of this important report.) [Right!]

In early 1940, the pope acted as an intermediary between a group of German generals who wanted to overthrow Hitler and the British government. Although the conspiracy never went forward, Pius XII kept in close contact with the German resistance and heard about two other plots against Hitler. In the fall of 1941, through diplomatic channels, the pope agreed with Franklin Delano Roosevelt that America’s Catholics could support the president’s plans to extend military aid to the Soviet Union after it was invaded by the Nazis. On behalf of the Vatican, John T. McNicholas, the archbishop of Cincinnati, Ohio, delivered a well-publicized address that explained that the extension of assistance to the Soviets could be morally justified because it helped the Russian people, who were the innocent victims of German aggression.

Throughout the war, the pope’s deputies frequently ordered the Vatican’s diplomatic representatives in many Nazi-occupied and Axis countries to intervene on behalf of endangered Jews. Up until Pius XII’s death in 1958, many Jewish organizations, newspapers and leaders lauded his efforts. To cite one of many examples, in his April 7, 1944, letter to the papal nuncio in Romania, Alexander Shafran, chief rabbi of Bucharest, wrote: “It is not easy for us to find the right words to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the supreme pontiff, **who offered a large sum to relieve the sufferings of deported Jews … The Jews of Romania will never forget these facts of historic importance.” **

The campaign against Pope Pius XII is doomed to failure because his detractors cannot sustain their main charges against him – that he was silent, pro-Nazi, and did little or nothing to help the Jews – with evidence. **Perhaps only in a backward world such as ours would the one man who did more than any other wartime leader to help Jews and other Nazi victims, receive the greatest condemnation. **

Dimitri Cavalli is an editor and writer in New York City. He is working on books on both Pope Pius XII and Joe McCarthy, the late manager of the New York Yankees.

 

[malphono]

From Fr. Z:

HAARETZ: Editorial in defense of Ven. Pius XII

I saw this on the site of HAARETZ.

My emphases and comments.

Very interesting. I reminds me of a vignette that I heard years ago about Eugenio Pacelli when he was Nuncio to Germany before Hitler’s assent to power. As the story went, the two met at some sort of diplomatic function in Munich, and took an instant dislike to one another. As far as I know, that rift was never healed.

Throughout the war, the pope’s deputies frequently ordered the Vatican’s diplomatic representatives in many Nazi-occupied and Axis countries to intervene on behalf of endangered Jews. Up until Pius XII’s death in 1958, many Jewish organizations, newspapers and leaders lauded his efforts. …

This brings to mind the efforts of Manuel Gonçalves Cerejeira, Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon and, among others, those of Angelo Roncalli (Bl PP John XXIII) as Apostolic Delegate to Turkey. As I see it, the scale of those efforts would not have been possible without the backing of the Holy See.

 

[Lujack]

Both Great Britain and France [Perhaps more questions should be asked about this rather than the absurd claim that Pius XII didn’t do enough.] should have interpreted the document as a warning that they should not trust Adolf Hitler or try to appease him.

This is a really inaccurate statement. First of all, many questions have been asked about appeasement, and whole books have been written on the subject. The bibliography of is much longer than the body of work on Pius XII, so its rather silly to pretend that the appeasers get ignored and poor Pope Pius gets shredded.

 

[yinekka]

*First of all, many questions have been asked about appeasement, and whole books have been written on the subject. The bibliography of is much longer than the body of work on Pius XII, so its rather silly to pretend that the appeasers get ignored and poor Pope Pius gets shredded. *

Lujack, could you tell me how many times the authors or the books on the subject of appeasement have been featured in the Media either television, newspapers or magazines?

Lujack could you tell me how many times the authors or the books on the subject of the appeasement have featured in posts on this discussion board? On any Catholic discussion board ?

Lujack if you stopped someone in the street and asked them to tell what they know bout Pius XII and what they know about X (one of the authors you speak about) or the appeasement which two will receive a reply of “I don’t know anything about ,”?

You may be quite correct when you say that “whole books have been written on the subject of the appeasement” and “bibliography of is much longer than the body of work on Pius XII” but outside of scholarly circles who has read the books? By the by I would like you to post the bibliography of both books on the appeasement and books about Pius XII so that I can compare numbers.

Scholars have known the truth about Galileo and the Inquisition and the Crusades, the so-called Dark Ages and Pius XII for decades but who has read their books and articles outside the milieu of historians?

 

[Lujack]

Lujack, could you tell me how many times the authors or the books on the subject of appeasement have been featured in the Media either television, newspapers or magazines?

Lujack could you tell me how many times the authors or the books on the subject of the appeasement have featured in posts on this discussion board? On any Catholic discussion board ?

Lujack if you stopped someone in the street and asked them to tell what they know bout Pius XII and what they know about X (one of the authors you speak about) or the appeasement which two will receive a reply of “I don’t know anything about ,”?

I can confidently say that more people know about the failure of appeasement than they do about Pius XII. How many people have said “We can’t appease Iran/al-Qaida/Iraq/the Soviet Union” over the past two years? Its a much deeper part of the lexicon than you’re giving it credit for. “Appeasement” is used so often that its becoming a synonym for “Weak foreign policy”.

And anybody who reads a book about WWII, including the coffee table and picture books put out by companies like Time-Life (and I’m not denigrating these books at all; they’re how I got into history), will notice that they all have at least a page with the title of Appeasement or Peace in Our Time, and at least one picture of Neville Chamberlain shaking hands with Adolf Hitler at Munich. Every high school history class in the United States that covers WWII at least mentions appeasement. On the other hand, the coffee-table book or picture book of WWII history that covers Pius XII is rare indeed. My family’s house in Jersey has at least five of them; all of them mention Chamberlain, none of them mention Pius XII.

You may be quite correct when you say that “whole books have been written on the subject of the appeasement” and “bibliography of is much longer than the body of work on Pius XII” but outside of scholarly circles who has read the books? By the by I would like you to post the bibliography of both books on the appeasement and books about Pius XII so that I can compare numbers.

I can’t do that, because I don’t have the numbers. But I can say this: Ken Burns talks about Nevile Chamberlain in “The War”, but not about Pius XII. The Time-Life coffee table book of World War II talks about Neville Chamberlain, but not about Pius XII, despite having a section on the Holocaust. Most mass market one-volume histories of WWII are the same way; Chamberlain at Munich is always treated as the last opportunity to stop Hitler (even though that’s not exactly the case), and the beginning of the World War II era. Mentions of Pius XII are basically restricted to books about Pius XII, and he isn’t a part of the coffee table book’s storyline of World War II.