How Pius XII helped Jews before the Nazi regime occupied Rome

Rome Reports ^ | May 10, 2014

[NYer]

October 16, 1943, is engrained in Italy's history as a day of clear and direct anti-semitism. It's the day when Nazi soldiers evacuated Jews from the Roman Ghetto.

Now, new details show Pius XII helped Jews in Rome, before the events of the so-called "Black Saturday.” Even before the arrival of the Nazis to the Eternal City.

DOMINIEK OVERSTEYNS 

L'Opera della Chiesa

"By July 9th, a monastery was already taking in Jews, and on July 20, a letter from the Diocese arrived. It read: 'This is Papal territory, please do not enter.' And this happened seven weeks before the German occupation of Rome.”

In all, 43 monasteries opened their doors to Rome's Jewish population, before the occupation.

These details were discussed during a conference on Pius XII at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University.

Help continued even after the German Army occupied Rome.

DOMINIEK OVERSTEYNS 

L'Opera della Chiesa

"After Italy's occupation, Rome's Jewish population increased. On June 4, 1944, there were about 9,930, out of which 6,300 received help. That's almost two thirds.”

In a three part investigation, Belgian researcher Dominiek Oversteyns looked into all the details of that dark chapter. From the name of each Jewish person, to where they hid, and for how long.

This specific information was introduced publicly for the first time, and it could change the perception of the role Pope Pius XII played during World War II. 

[SkyPilot]

I disagree. I believe you are doing the equivalent of shouting and screaming at others. Now you are mocking other posters (the line up comment). You called me a bigot and a liar, and accused me of sin for posting a picture from a source that said what it was that I identified it as. What I believe you are attempting to engage is the act of slander. Accusing others here of bigotry, hatred, and lying is wanton slander.

I have no "hatred" of Catholics. I was one until my mid 30s. A very serious one. Most of my beloved family still is. I had no personal relationship with Christ, and no clue about how one becomes saved. I asked many Priests over the years about how I could be sure I would go to heaven. They themselves didn't know. "That's a Great Mystery" was the standard response. Thanks to Christ and the Scriptures, my eyes and heart were opened. Accepting Christ was the most profound thing I have ever encountered.

As to the thread topic, I maintain that the Catholic Church, through the leadership of Pius XII, did a horrible job of confronting the Nazis and an even worse job of protecting the Jews of Europe. Moreover, the Replacement Theology practiced by the church, then and now, is wrong and un-Biblical.

[AnAmericanMother]

OK, you're unhappy with the Church. That doesn't justify your initial slander of a good and holy man, and you can't excuse it by accusing others of slander on extremely thin, not to say nonexistent, grounds.

Capitalizing ONE word is now the equivalent of shouting and screaming? YOU (yes, that is for emphasis) began this by repeating at great length and without the most cursory fact-check a horrific slander of the leader of a Church of which you used to be a member. And you take it from an obviously biased website (which relies heavily on Cornwell's book and other biased sources). I would think that common respect not to mention respect for your family members would cause you to exercise a little more prudence.

The more serious problem is not that you garnished this lengthy diatribe with the picture (although that's a problem), but your repeating something that has been discussed and debunked over and over again right here on FR. Even Cornwell has backtracked significantly from his original position. Surely before you repeat something as serious as accusing a religious leader of truly heinous conduct, you should check around a little?

But you cannot seriously have looked at that picture and thought that it was the same man. Finding it on the internet is no excuse - you can find a picture of Elvis meeting a space alien. It supported your own prejudice, so you ran with it. You got caught. You're blaming others.

Not very impressive.

[D-fendr]

"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Rabbi David Dalin: The book’s dishonesty does indeed begin on the front cover of Cornwell’s Hitler’s Pope. The book’s title, Hitler’s Pope, is of course historically false and malicious itself. Eugenio Pacelli, who served as papal nuncio in Berlin until 1929, never met or spoke with Adolf Hitler. During Hitler’s much-publicized state visit to Rome in 1938, for example, Pacelli (together with Pope Pius XI) very publicly snubbed the Nazi leader by refusing to meet with him and by leaving Rome for the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo.

As you note, Tom, the malicious title Hitler’s Pope is reinforced by the book’s misleading jacket, which has a picture of Pacelli, then the papal nuncio in Berlin, leaving a reception given for the constitutionally elected president of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg, in 1927. This photograph, a favorite of those who wish to portray Pius XII in an unfavorable light…

The Myth of Hitler's Pope

[jjotto]

Very interesting indeed. Thanks for the find.

[AnAmericanMother]

Good catch. Rabbi Dalin's book is an interesting read. He also has a theory as to why the slander of Pius XII caught fire around the time of Cornwell's book:

The liberal bestselling attacks on the pope and the Catholic Church are really an intra-Catholic argument about the direction of the Church today. The Holocaust is simply the biggest club available for liberal Catholics to use against traditional Catholics in their attempt to bash the papacy and thereby to smash traditional Catholic teaching — especially on issues relating to sexuality, including abortion, contraception, celibacy, and the role of women in the Church. The anti-papal polemics of ex-seminarians like Garry Wills and John Cornwell (author of Hitler's Pope), of ex-priests like James Carroll, and of other lapsed or angry liberal Catholics exploit the tragedy of the Jewish people during the Holocaust to foster their own political agenda of forcing changes on the Catholic Church today.

That at least offers an explanation for why there has been such a sudden focus on this recently.

[Salvation]

“Few Americans hate the Catholic Church,. but millions hate what they think is the Catholic Church.” —Bishop Fulton Sheen

[jjotto]

Very insightful.

The Jewish problem with Pius, IMO, isn’t with his personal actions or the actions of the Church in general at that specific time, it is more generally with the historic Jew-hate and more recent anti-Israel stance taken by the Church. Pius seems caught in the crossfire, so to speak.

[AnAmericanMother]

Another poster seems to think that I was attacking you by my joking reference to a police lineup.

I apologize - it was not intended as an attack - and since I have done some lineup work I am probably more aware than most of identification by means of specific facial features.

( . . . but . . . that nose! ;-) )

[AnAmericanMother]

We have some friends who are Conservative Jews.

They are very uneasy with Catholics in general, and you may be right that Pius XII is more of a convenient target than an actual offender.

[jjotto]

Point well taken.

I don’t find identifying people from old photos of varying lighting and quality so easy. Certain people can look very different from different angles. Certain actors and actresses come to mind. Other people can be identified easily without seeing their facial features at all.

Bottom line is that Pacelli is misidentified as Pius in a number of photos. To me, it’s the chin that’s a giveaway, but that’s not always clear in old photos.

[AnAmericanMother]

Orsenigo is the mistaken identity.

Pacelli is Pius XII's family name.

But you knew that ! ;-)

Just out of curiosity, I'm going to go and see who it is that identified that individual as then-Cardinal Pacelli, because it is pretty well known that the two men never met face to face.

. . . hmmm . . . searching "Pius XII and Hitler" turns up (1) site that appears to be a Hindu/ Krishna organization of some kind, but written in Polish (I think). (2) Two posts on a photo-posting website in Germany by somebody called "Haakon". (3) Rapture/prophecy site.

OK, I'm completely convinced! :-p

[jjotto]

Entering ‘pius xii hitler’ in Google yields a plethora of results. Many more in ‘Images’.

[AnAmericanMother]

Other people can be identified easily without seeing their facial features at all.

[AnAmericanMother]

When I drop the "and", to the ones I mentioned as the first hits, add a blog by a lady who says she's a retired civil engineer and a children's book writer, and another by somebody calling himself "DojoRat" who drew a comment proposing him for Pope at the time of the last papal election!

Remarkably cogent historical authority, ya think?

[jjotto]

hehe

Here’s a site identifying Pope Pius in 1929. Not ‘future Pope Pius XII’ but just ‘Pope Pius XII’:

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1272467.ece

[AnAmericanMother]

Written by . . . ta-dah! . . . John Cornwell.

Apparently he's perpetrated another book about a Catholic great: Newman’s Unquiet Grave: The reluctant saint. I don't think I'll order it from Amazon.

[D-fendr]

He also has a theory as to why the slander of Pius XII caught fire..

No doubt. But there are two other groups jumping in: anti-Catholic protestants and anti-Christian liberals. And, all too often, the three combine - unwittingly.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, that DID cross my mind . . . any convenient stick . . .

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................