CIA Archives Show Pius XII Saved Jews, Actively Opposed Nazis

EWTN ^ | 5-Sep-2001 | EWTN News briefs

[patent]

5-Sep-2001 -- EWTN News Brief

CIA ARCHIVES SHOW PIUS XII SAVED JEWS, ACTIVELY OPPOSED NAZIS

VATICAN, (CWNews.com) - Secret archives of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) confirm that Pope Pius XII was actively involved in opposition to the Nazi regime and efforts to save Jewish lives, an Italian newspaper has revealed.

Citing documents from the World War II archives of the OSS, which would later become the CIA, Corriere della Sera has reported that Pope Pius XII summoned the German foreign minister and demanded a halt to the deportation of Jews as soon as he became aware of the Nazi policy. From that point forward, the Italian daily said, the Vatican steadily and openly opposed Hitler's efforts.

The CIA archives, which were opened to historians' scrutiny earlier this year, remark that in his Christmas message of 1942, Pope Pius XII asked for help for "those hundreds of thousands of people who-- for no fault of their own, but because of their race or nationality-- are condemned to death or gradual extinction." Even earlier, in January 1940, Polish Catholic radio had reported that "Jews and Poles are shut up in ghettoes where they are isolated and inadequate for their survival." The American documents show that in July 1942, the papal nuncio in France met with leaders of the Vichy government, expressing the disapproval of the Holy See over the French government's decision to conclude an alliance with the Nazi regime.

The archives also show systematic German efforts to silence the Jesuit order in the south of Germany. A Jesuit provincial, in a document written just after the liberation of Germany from the Nazi regime, reported that the German government had demanded a list of all Jesuit priests, so that they could be rounded up and sent to concentration camps. The provincial, who was imprisoned himself when he refused to obey that order, added that the Jesuits behind bars helped to provide the Vatican with an accurate understanding of conditions in the concentration camps.

[patent]

An inspiring saint. Thanks.

[eastsider]

Kinda sorta like asking the fire department to poor gas on the fire.

LOL. Helps explain the election of our junior senator.

Dear God. How much better evidence do we need that homosexuality is a disease of the mind?

ACT-UP is the same blasphemous group that created a disturbance at St. Patrick's a few years back by going up for communion and throwing the hosts -- and condoms (some say "used") -- into the congregation. And the same group that, during the 25th anniversary of Stonewall on Fifth Avenue, stopped to masturbate in front of the Cathedral while the band played on. Giuliani's non-confrontational approach to the latter blasphemy boggles the mind.

[ELS]

Sr. Margherita Marchione has written two good books - Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace and Yours is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy. She is, among many other things, a retired college professor and has done extensive research for these books. Early in Sister Margherita's religious life, the niece of the future Pope Pius XII stayed at the convent in Morristown, NJ, under Sister's care. Later, Sister had an opportunity, through his niece, to meet Pius XII. She said it was an experience she will never forget. You also might want to check out The Pope Pius XII Society.

Note: Sr. Margherita is a former colleague of my father and a good friend of my family.

[EODGUY]

Your reply #3 was going through my mind constantly while I was reading the original article. Your comment is a most poignant axiom....truth will never effect bigotry.

Terribly sad and pathetic, but also very accurate.

[electron1]

This is so obvious now, you would have to be an absolute anti-Catholic to think otherwise.

What really seals it up for me, over everything else, is the fact that the Chief Rabbi of Rome, at the time, Chief Rabbi Zolli, converted to the Catholic Church after the war. Zolli became a Catholic and, to honor the Pope for what he had done for the Jews and the role he had played in Zolli’s conversion, took the name "Eugenio"—the Pope’s given name—as his own baptismal name. Zolli stressed that his conversion was for theological reasons, which was certainly true, but the fact that the Pope had worked so hard on behalf of the Jews no doubt played a role in inspiring him to look at the truths of Christianity.

Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Pinchas Lapide writes: "When Zolli accepted baptism in 1945 and adopted Pius’s Christian name of Eugene, most Roman Jews were convinced that his conversion was an act of gratitude for wartime succor to Jewish refugees and, repeated denials not withstanding, many are still of this opinion. Thus, Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz wrote in the summer issue, 1964, of Conservative Judaism: ‘Many Jews were persuaded to convert after the war, as a sign of gratitude, to that institution which had saved their lives.’ " (Pinchas E. Lapide, Three Popes and the Jews (New York: Hawthorn, 1967), 133).

[electron1]

I would start by reading,

"Hitler, the War and the Pope" by Ronald J. Rychlak, John O'Connor

This is an excellent book that shows the truth about the Pope during WWII. Rychlak also had a public debate on C-Span with an anti-Catholic, and really showed how one sided and biased she was.

[Dqban22]

You may be right. It seems that Anti-Catholic zealotry many times go hand in hand with anti-Jewish bigotry. Otherwise you cannot conceive that they do not stop in smearing the memory of the founders of Israel for having expressed gratitude towards the Church.

[aruanan]

Worse, she refuses to listen to any evidence that contradicts her opinion, no matter what the source might be.

Well, I guess a woman convinced against her will is also of the same opinion still. Even apparently irrational behavior is the result of a person's choices based on beliefs. I suppose you've asked her what her belief is providing her that she finds so valuable that she would rather continue to hold onto it than embrace the truth.

[aruanan]

The anti-Catholic Jewish bigots will have to find another bogeyman to spit at too.

I find it interesting that most Jews today would consider themselves to be an outgrowth of ancient Judaism in such a way that if Christianity had never developed their beliefs of the present day and age would not have been any different. In reality, since the first century, Judaism has been defining itself precisely in its reaction to Christianity. Early on it became seen as a necessary task to send out anti-missionaries throughout the Mediterranean world to counter the message of the early Christians. As a result, in the present day, then, it has almost become an article of faith that to be truly Jewish one must disbelieve that Yeshua was the Messiah.

[Nora]

Thx

[ELS]

Adding articles to the Catholic list