Is this true? Did Pope Pius XII really, in fact, work secretly and silently to try and save the Jews from Hitler? Here is an article from the Catholic News Service. What do you think about it? Pope Benedict says Pope Pius worked bravely, secretly to help Jews By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) รข€“ Pope Pius XII worked courageously, secretly and silently to help save Jews targeted by the Nazis' "criminal plan ... to eliminate them from the face of the earth," said Pope Benedict XVI. "Wherever possible, (Pope Pius) spared no effort in intervening in their favor" and providing organized assistance to the Jews either directly or through others, including Catholic religious institutes, Pope Benedict told participants in an international symposium dedicated to examining the papacy of Pope Pius. The pope held a Sept. 18 private audience at his summer residence south of Rome with some 80 attendees of the Sept. 15-17 symposium organized by the U.S.-based Pave the Way Foundation. Participants included members of the foundation and representatives of the Jewish community, including rabbis and scholars from around the world. The Vatican published a text of the remarks. Thanking the foundation for its efforts in seeking the truth, Pope Benedict said that "not all of the genuine facets" of Pope Pius' pontificate have been examined "in just light" in the 50 years since his death. Critics have said they believe Pope Pius did not speak out clearly enough in defense of the Jews during World War II or was indifferent toward the victims of Nazism. Pope Benedict said many of Pope Pius' efforts to support the Jews were "made secretly and silently" because "in that difficult historical moment, only in this way was it possible to avoid the worst and save the greatest number of Jews." Gary Krupp, Jewish founder and president of the Pave the Way Foundation, told the pope in his speech that "the Catholic Church under the pontificate of Pius XII was instrumental in saving the lives of as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands." Krupp told Catholic News Service after the audience that Pope Benedict "was very appreciative" of the organization's extensive research, which had revealed clearly that the current negative perception of Pope Pius "is completely wrong." He presented the pope with nine video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other eyewitnesses to Vatican humanitarian efforts, as well as the 200-page book of documentation compiled by the foundation and unveiled at the Rome symposium. Dozens of Jewish representatives who believed Pope Pius had done nothing to help the Jews during the Holocaust had been invited to the symposium. Many accepted the invitation, but some publicly critical of Pope Pius and representatives from three major Jewish museums did not attend even though the foundation had offered to pay for a live video feed if they were unable to travel to Rome. Symposium organizers wanted to convince curators of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem that a picture display of Pope Pius at the memorial is historically inaccurate and should be changed. The captions accompanying the pope's picture state he did nothing to condemn the Nazis and their slaughter of the Jews. David Nekrutman, executive director of the Israeli-based Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, told CNS the exhibit at Yad Vashem should be taken down "until it's done correctly." The display makes the pope look like he was a Nazi collaborator "and that image affected me when I went to Yad Vashem in 1993; I automatically wrote off the Catholic Church from that image." He said he came to the symposium not knowing much about Pope Pius "but whatever I knew it was definitely bad." "The conference did enlighten me, that he did help, but what I am now trying to discover is to what extent," said Nekrutman. Perhaps people "place too much importance on the pope's position, figuring that if he had done something it would have saved who knows how many lives, I don't know. It's a learning process," he added. George Blumenthal, an American Jewish philanthropist and entrepreneur, told CNS the documents and testimonies unveiled at the symposium "will be the beginning of revolutionary knowledge" about the late pope. Perhaps, he said, it will take decades of bombarding people with the truth "like water wears away a rock one drip at a time" to erode the ignorance of the war years and prejudice surrounding Pope Pius. Though members of the Congregation for Saints' Causes voted unanimously in May 2007 to recommend Pope Benedict formally declare Pope Pius venerable, Pope Benedict put the cause on hold seven months later. Pope Benedict established a commission to study new archival material about his predecessor's papacy and to examine how his possible beatification would impact Catholic-Jewish and Vatican-Israeli relations. Jesuit Father Peter This, of course, goes against the conventional view that says the Pope during World War II did little or nothing to voice any opposition against Hitler.
Religion & Spirituality - 8 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
So what did Benedict XV do for my people? He let Stalin slaughter everyone behind the iron curtain by declaring "neutrality" of the Vatican. The only reason this is an issue with Pius XII, and I have to say it, but the Jewish people spoke up and made a stink about it. So if no one speaks up against the non-involvement of the Vatican in many issues concerning genocide, then the Vatican is relieved. They certainly knew about Rwanda before hand because the Virgin appeared there and told them that this would happen. Like what's up with the Vatican?
2 :
Being one of Hitler's Youths, Benny boy must have been peeved.
3 :
I'm certainly willing to consider any new evidence that sheds light on this issue. I would have to read more about it, see exactly what this new research entails. Even if it is true, I would've liked to have seen Pope Pius make more public statements, to tell you the truth. I think a Pope should be courageous, even to the point of risking his own life. This new evidence may help a little, but I think most people are like me in wanting their Pope to be outspoken about justice.
4 :
If they have new documents, that prove to be genuine and indicate that Pius XII did more than was previously known, then I will revise my opinion. Going of the current information that I have Pius worked very secretly and very silently indeed. So secretly and silently that it looked like he was having zero effect at all. I still wonder what would have happened if he had come out and directly called the Nazis on this. From my point of view, to know that this is happening, but to ignore it is immoral. We can argue the toss on whether by being able to operate within Germany allowed sympathetic priests to help the Jews, or whether coming out and condemning the Final Solution would have opened up enough German's eyes to see that their Fuhrer was not their savior, but a small-minded, xenophobic lunatic. While many Catholic priests definitely did help smuggle Jews out of Germany and the occupied lands I see no indication that this was anything but a personal/local effort. There were also some that happily handed over names and people to the Germans. We will have to see what is made of these new documents.
5 :
It is a crock of bull. The Pope was more interested in protecting the Catholic Church in Germany than anything else. He even made a deal with Hitler. The Pope did not do a think when the Germans started rounding up the Jews within sight of the Vatican. The Pope was wrong then and the Pope is wrong now.
6 :
I believe the Bible. That church IS the woman that controls the reins of the beast. History shows that church HAD the government persecute and murder people during the Inquisition. God calls that church's cooperation with governments "fornication". This is just their latest attempt at plausible deniability. This many years after the events, I DON'T BELIEVE IT.
7 :
Right how many Catholics fort for Mussolini 10 million 20 million?
8 :
Pius 12 was doing what he could, which was be 2 faced. He had one face for the Germans incase they won the war, he had to find a place for his flock so he wouldn't lose all his power, and one moral face where he worked in secret to help humans in trouble. If the first face found out about the 2nd, he would go with the Germans, since it seemed like they would win the war.
