Under normal circumstances, papers covering Pius’ papacy would have been under lock and key until 2028, or 70 years after the end of his tenure. [163] (Cornwell's views have developed (as noted below), now stating he is unable to judge the Pope's motivation). In that case what was the point of issuing them?" "[120] Garry Wills comments that "this is a deliberate falsehood. [49] On 28 January 1939, eleven days before the death of Pope Pius XI, a disappointed Gundlach informed the author La Farge: "It cannot continue like this. The start of the pontificate of Pius XII occurred at the time of the Second World War and the Nazi Holocaust, which over the course of the war would see the murder of millions of Jews and others by Adolf Hitler's Germany. Though acolytes argue that Pius’ inaction and silence allowed these secret actions to continue, critics cite the treatment of Jews living in Rome during World War II. [28] During the drafting of the letter, the Second World War commenced with the Nazi/Soviet invasion of Catholic Poland. "[170][171][p], A spokesperson for the nineteen Catholic scholars who wrote a letter to Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 asking that the process of sainthood for Pius XII be slowed down, and which asserted that "Pope Pius XII did not issue a clearly worded statement, unconditionally condemning the wholesale slaughter and murder of European Jews", affirmed that "We're all practicing Catholics. [14] Written partly in response to the Nuremberg Laws, the document did not refer to Hitler or the Nazis by name, but condemned racial theories and the mistreatment of people based on race. (. [39] Owen Chadwick notes that Germans, even allowing it to be read from many pulpits, stopped its printing and distribution and the Gestapo ordered inquiries into people who read or tried to distribute it. [142], E. W. Bockenforde's article published in the Catholic periodical "Hochland" in 1961 resulted in vehement attacks by many Catholics. In early 1942 Pius told the American diplomat Tittman that he could not speak out because "German people, in the bitterness of their defeat, will reproach him later on for having contributed, if only indirectly, to this defeat." )[18][c], The influential Vatican journal La Civiltà Cattolica continued to print attacks against Hungarian Jews during this period asserting that Hungary could be saved from Jewish influence which was "disastrous for the religious, moral, and social life of the Hungarian people" only if the government forbids them entry to the country. Angelo Dell’Acqua, a Vatican Secretariat of State official who later became the cardinal for Rome, played a key role in the smuggling of the Finaly twins from France to Spain.
[58], After Germany invaded the Low Countries during 1940, Pius XII sent expressions of sympathy to the Queen of the Netherlands, the King of Belgium, and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. It is one thing to explain this silence historically and make it understandable. However, over the next eighteen months Brazil's Conselho de Imigração e Colonização (CIC) continued to tighten the restrictions on their issuance—including requiring a baptismal certificate dated before 1933, a substantial monetary transfer to the Banco do Brasil, and approval by the Brazilian Propaganda Office in Berlin—culminating in the cancellation of the program fourteen months later, after fewer than 1,000 visas had been issued, amid suspicions of "improper conduct" (i.e. [10], With Europe on the brink of war, Pius XI died on 10 February 1939 and Pacelli was elected to succeed him as Pope Pius XII. Here lies one of the reasons, why We impose self-restraint on Ourselves in our speeches; the experience, that we made in 1942 with papal addresses, which We authorized to be forwarded to the Believers, justifies our opinion, as far as We see. They cried out, 'Away with him, away with him, crucify him! On 11 March 1942, several days before the first transport was due to leave, the chargé d'affaires in Bratislava reported to the Vatican: "I have been assured that this atrocious plan is the handwork of ... Prime Minister (Tuka), who confirmed the plan ... he dared to tell me – he who makes such a show of his Catholicism – that he saw nothing inhuman or un-Christian in it ... the deportation of 80,000 persons to Poland, is equivalent to condemning a great number of them to certain death." The synod appealed to Croatian leader Ante Pavelić to treat Jews "as humanely as possible, considering that there were German troops in the country". The Holy See has done whatever was in its power, with charitable, financial and moral assistance. [137] After the war he converted to Catholicism and took the name "Eugenio" in honour of Pope Pius XII. [81] Many others were also killed on 24 March 1944, at the Fosse Ardeatine. "[12], Five years after the publication of Hitler's Pope, Cornwell stated: "I would now argue, in the light of the debates and evidence following Hitler's Pope, that Pius XII had so little scope of action that it is impossible to judge the motives for his silence during the war, while Rome was under the heel of Mussolini and later occupied by Germany. Telephone: *2421 * Extension 4 Jerusalem Post or 03-7619056 Fax: 03-5613699E-mail: subs@jpost.com PIUS XII. Where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free. Of more than 1,000 persons, only 16 survived.”. Chadwick concludes that Summi Pontificatus "in its way it was as strong an attack on Nazi Policies as Mit brennender Sorge of Pius XI".[40]. But, precisely at that time, without paying any attention to the Church's position, the Italian Fascist Government passed a law ordering the deportation of all Italian Jews to concentration camps.
[192] The display also added text from Pius' Christmas 1942 radio speech in which he speaks of "hundreds of thousands of persons who, without any fault on their part", were killed, but it also points out that he did not specifically name the Jews. [82][e], Part of the historical debate surrounding Pius XII has concerned the role of nuncio Angelo Roncalli, the future John XXIII, in rescuing Jews during the War. Pius XII personally praised the synod for "courage and decisiveness". [56] The negotiations ultimately proved fruitless. Pius XII has long been accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, which happened early on in his stint of nearly 20 years as pope, until his death in 1958. On the contrary, according to Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini commented on the pope's message with sarcasm: "This is a speech of platitudes which might better be made by the parish priest of Predappio. John Cornwell notes the "powerful words" on the theme of the "unity of the human race" and the use of a quotation from Saint Paul that in Christ there is "neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision".
Reinhard Heydrich's Reich Central Security Office analyzed Pius' Christmas message and concluded: In a manner never known before, the Pope has repudiated the National Socialist New European Order. The objections given and the excessive delay in the steps necessary to complete the implementation of the operation resulted in a great part of Italian Jews being able to hide and escape capture. Mankind owes that vow to the numberless exiles whom the hurricane of war has torn from their native land and scattered in the land of the stranger; who can make their own the lament of the Prophet: "Our inheritance is turned to aliens; our house to strangers." For this he considers Pacelli as effectively being in collusion with the Nazi cause, if not by intent. [175][r], Garry Wills acknowledges that Pius's response to the Holocaust may have been founded on a sincere, if mistaken, belief that he was doing the correct thing. [42] Martin Rhonheimer interpreted the text as lacking an "explicit" reference to racism, but containing "implicit" reference to it in the section on "The unity of the human race" which he thinks is possibly an echo of the never-issued encyclical against racism which would have dealt with anti-Semitism and the "Jewish question", topics not dealt with in Summi Pontificatus.
Michael Phayer asserts that the timing of the statement, during a period when Hungary was in the process of formulating new anti-Semitic laws, ran counter to Pope Pius XI's September statement urging Catholics to honour their spiritual father Abraham. [152] Falconi was the first to research and publicise the atrocities committed by Croatian Ustashe against Jews and Serbs.