Sunday March 22nd. 2009
A number of books have been written in recent years antagonistic to the person and life of Pope Pius XII, the most recent being Hitler's Pope by John Cornwell. In all of these anti-Pope writings the common themes of distortion and misrepresentation of the actions of the pope emerge.
When Pope Pius XII died just fifty years ago, he was acclaimed and praised by Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first president; Prime Minister Moshe Sharett; Rabbi Isaac Herzog, chief rabbi of Israel and many others. Golda Meir, Israel's foreign minister, sent a message of condolence to the Vatican, ' we share in the grief of humanity, when fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror the voice of the pope was raised for victims'. Sir Martin Gilbert, one of the most distinguished historians and biographers of our time, states that Pius XII personally through his representatives had a direct role in saving hundreds of thousands of Jews.' This work of the pope is well documented in books written by Jewish authors to counteract the false, misleading and slanderous words of commercial writers.
The true story of Pius XII is told in the following works by people who had access to all the facts and sources of the life and work of the pope:
Rabbi David G Dalin, The Myth of Hitler's Pope: Pope Pius XII and his Secret War against Nazi Germany. (Washington DC, Regnery) 2005. Rabbi Dalin is Professor of history and political science at Florida University.
Pinchas Lapide, The last three Popes and the Jews. (London, Souvenir Press), 1967. Pinchas Lapide was an Israeli consul.
Alexander Ramati, While the Pope kept Silent. (London; Boston, Allen & Unwin), 1978.
Alexander Ramati was a Jewish journalist with the Polish army in Italy from 1953-1945.
Margherita Marchione, Pope Pius XlI: Architect for Peace. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press), 2000. Dr Marchione is Professor Emerita of Farleigh Dickinson University.
Rabbi David G Dalin, The Myth of Hitler's Pope: Pope Pius XII and his Secret War against Nazi Germany. (Washington DC, Regnery) 2005. Rabbi Dalin is Professor of history and political science at Florida University.
Pinchas Lapide, The last three Popes and the Jews. (London, Souvenir Press), 1967. Pinchas Lapide was an Israeli consul.
Alexander Ramati, While the Pope kept Silent. (London; Boston, Allen & Unwin), 1978.
Alexander Ramati was a Jewish journalist with the Polish army in Italy from 1953-1945.
Margherita Marchione, Pope Pius XlI: Architect for Peace. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press), 2000. Dr Marchione is Professor Emerita of Farleigh Dickinson University.
concentration camps. They provided identification papers for ' Baptism certificates' to confound the Nazis.
.In Italy, these reputable Jewish authors affirm that while 60-75% of :he Jews in Europe perished during the war, 85% of Italy's Jews were saved by :the efforts of the Catholic Church, inspired and directed by Pius XII.
Cornwell, and other writers in the anti Pope camp, focus on the 1,300 Jews captured by the Nazis on 16 October 1943 (the pope protested vigorously to the German ambassador, Weizsacker, as soon as he heard of this). The same writers ignore the well-documented accounts of 4,238 Jews who were given refuge in monasteries, convents and even in the Vatican itself and the Papal Summer Residence in Castel Gandolfo.
In 1955 the Israeli authorities wished to confer an award on Archbishop Montini, Secretary of State to the pope (and later himself the future Pope Paul VI), for his work in saving their fellow countrymen. Montini declined saying: 'all I did was my duty. I only acted upon orders from the Holy Father; nobody deserves a medal for that."
As in Italy, so it was in France, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. The Catholic Church carried on this great humanitarian work of saving Jewish people from the concentration camps because Pope Pius XII directed his bishops and priests to rescue these persecuted people. In 1957, the Israeli government expressed profound gratitude to Cardinal Roncalli for his help in saving thousands of Jews in the Balkans. Roncalli, the future Pope John XIII, said: ' In all these painful matters I referred to the Holy See and >>>>
Pope Pius XII and the Jews
Pope Benedict has been invited to visit Israel in May, and his visit will strengthen the friendship between the Jewish people and the Church. However, when it was announced some time ago, that the cause of Pope Pius XII was being considered for canonisation, the Vatican was severely criticised by a number of leading Jews for they believed that Pius XII did little to help the Jewish people during the war, and could have prevented the deaths of many if he had intervened with the Nazis.
I hope the following article which takes up a large part of this week’s Bulletin will allow readers to know the full truth of the incredible work Pope Pius XII did to save the Jews and how he has been slandered and falsely accused by enemies of the Church who were very much in the pay of communists. The article is by an acknowledged historian, Con McGillicuddy, and is entitled The myth that Pope Pius X11 was Hitler’s Pope
I hope the following article which takes up a large part of this week’s Bulletin will allow readers to know the full truth of the incredible work Pope Pius XII did to save the Jews and how he has been slandered and falsely accused by enemies of the Church who were very much in the pay of communists. The article is by an acknowledged historian, Con McGillicuddy, and is entitled The myth that Pope Pius X11 was Hitler’s Pope
In France, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and SIovakia, the pope's representatives (nuncios, priests and religious) at the direction of Pope Pius provided refuge in convents and monasteries for Jews under threat of being deported to Auschwitz and other
