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controversy

T H E G O O D S A M A R I T A N :J E W I S H P R A I S E F ORP O P E P I U S X I IBYDIMITRIC A V A L L I

Inside the Vatican has given considerable space in its pagesto coverage of the fierce debate over the war-time role of PopePius XII and his alleged "silence " in the ace of the Nazi per-secution of the Jews (see particularly ou r June 1997 and ourOctober 1999 issues). W e will continue to do so as long as thedebate rages. Th e article we print here brings together a con-siderable am ount of previously sca ttered evidence for howJews during P ius s lifetime viewed Pius s conduct. ReadingCavalli 's piece, it is striking to see how different the generalJewish opinion of Pius XII was in the years during an d imme-diately following the war from what it is today. This prompts afundamental question: Were the Jews who praised and thankedPius after the war all mistaken or insincere, or are the attackson Pius today unfair? The EditorD uring W orld W ar I I , many Jews around the world hadthe chance to observe Pope P ius XII's conduct. Theylistened to his every word, an d scrutinized hi s everyaction. Instead of seeing "Hitler's Pope," most Jewsconcluded that Pius XII's public statements were directedagainst the N azis, and that he and his subordinates in manyN azi-occupied and A xis countries were trying to save Jew ishlives. T he many extraordinary and eloquent tributes that thePope once received from Jews show that the allegations thathe was a N azi collaborator and indifferent toward the exter-mination of Jews would have seem completely unjustif ied an dunjust to those who closely following his career.A llegations that Pope P ius XII was pro-N azi are often sup-ported by his time in Germany from 1917 to 1929 as the papalnuncio and his direct role, as S ecretary of S tate, in negotiatingthe Vatican's concordat with Germany in 1933. These factswere universally known when Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli waselected Pope on M a rc h 2, 1939. Ho w did Jews around th eworld react to his election? W ere they concerned by his for-m er ties to Germany?In a M a rc h 6, 1939 editorial, "Leadership fo r Peace," th ePalestine Post in Jerusalem said: "Pius XII has clearly shownthat he intends to carry on the late Pope's [Pius XI] work forfreedom and peace.. . we remember that he must have had alarge part to play in the recent P apal opposition to perniciousrace theories an d certain aspects of totalitarianism..."I n praising Cardinal Pacelli 's election, the Jewish Chron-icle in London on M arch 10 , quoted an anti-N azi speech hedelivered in Lourdes in A pril 1935 and the hostile statementsexpressed about him in the N azi press . "It is interesting to

recall... on January 22 [1939], the Voelkischer Beobachpublished pictures of Cardinal Pacelli and other Church dnitaries beneath a collective heading of 'A gitators in the Vca n against Fascism an d N a t ion a l Socialism,'" th e JewChronicle noted.Also on M arch 10, the Canadian Jewish Chronicle comend ed the C ollege of Cardinals for resisting N azi attemptinfluence th e election an d prevent Cardinal Pacelli frbecoming P ope. "The plot to pilfer the Ring of F isherman gone up in white smoke," th e editorial quipped.M any Jew ish organizations also expressed their enthuasm for the new P ope. A ccording to the Jewish ChronicleLondon (M arch 10), the Vatican received congratulatory msages from "the A nglo-Je wish Commu nity, the SynagogCouncil of A merica, the Canadian Jew ish Congress, and P olish R abbinical Council ."P ius XII's decision to appoint Luigi Cardinal M aglionethe Vatican's new Secretary of State also brought favorareactions. The M arch 16, 1939 Zionist Review in London sthat the Cardinal's appointment "confirms the view thatnew P ope m eans to conduct an anti-N azi and anti-Fascis t picy."Certainly, such statements made by Jewish newspapand organizations show they considered the newly-elecP ope P ius XI I a friend of demo cracy and peace, and an eneof racism and totalitarianism. Cardinal P acelli 's role in netiating the concordat with the N a z is did not cause any ccern. Instead, many Jew s cited his anti-N azi speeches, and role as Vatican Secretary of State, which helped produce 1937 anti-N azi encyclical, M il brennender Sorge, and numous protests against the persecution of the C atholic ChurchGermany.Less than two months after W orld W ar I I broke out, October 27, P ius XII issued his first encyclical, Summi Ptificatus. On the same day, the N ew York-based Jewish Tgraphic Agency, th e equivalent of the Associated Press,ported that "the unqualified condemnation which Pope PXI I heaped on totalitarian, racist and materialistic theoriesgovernment in his encyclical Summi Pontificatus causedprofound stir... A lthough it had been expected that the P owould attack ideologies hostile to the Catholic Church, fobservers ha d expected so outspoken a document..."In a Novem ber 9, 1939 editorial, "E ndowed with R easoth e American Israelite in Cincinnati also discussed the cyclical. "In decrying totalitarianism , P ope P ius XII called

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individual the end and the state the means of bringing out thefundamental equality of men because men are endowed withreason," the editorial said. "This concept of democracy is reit-erated in the Pope's Encyclical, stressing again the inviolabil-ity of the human person as a sacred being..."I n January 1940, th e U nited Jewish Appeal fo r Refugeesan d Overseas Needs donated $125,000 to the Vatican in orderto assist it s efforts on behalf of all victims of racial persecu-tion. O n January 19, th e Jewish Ledger in H artford, Connec-ticut described the U nited Jewish Appeal's gift as an "elo-quent gesture," which "should prove an important step in thedirection of cementing the bonds of sympathy and under-standing" between Catholics an d Jews. A n account of how themoney was spent is in the Vatican's official wartime docu-ments, Actes et documents du Saint Siege relatifs a la SecondeGuerre Mondiale, (Vol. VI, pp. 282-283.)On January 26, 1940, the Jewish Advocate in Boston re-ported, "The Vatican radio this week b roadcast an outspoke ndenunciation of German atrocities in Na z i [occupied] Poland,declaring they affronted th e moral con-science of mankind." Exiled Polish Car-dinal Augus t Hlo nd of Gnezo and Poznanhad given th e Vatican detailed reports aboutthe N azi persecution of the Church inPoland. On the Pope's orders , VaticanR adio broadcast the cardinal's reports. Thefront page story quoted one Vatican R adiobroadcast as saying, "Jews and Poles arebeing herded into separate ghettos, hermet-ically sealed an d pitifully inadequate fo rthe economic subsistence of the millionsdesigned to live there." T his broadcast wasalso important because it gave independentconfirmation of media reports about N aziatrocities, which were prev iously dismissedas A llied propaganda.

A lso, on January 26, the CanadianJewish Chronicle published a brief itemabout Jacob F reedman, a Boston tailor. M r.Freedman was concerned about the fate ofhis sister an d n ephews in German-occupiedPoland. He wrote the State Department andth e R ed Cross, bu t they were unable to pro-vide any information. M r. F reedman thensought P ope P ius XII's assistance.S everal months later, Cardinal M ag-lione informed Mr. Freedman that his fam-ily were alive and well in W arsaw. "I don'tknow the words to express what I feel, thatthey should take an interest in us with all the other things inthe world to worry them, "said Mr. Freedman. "I think it's thefinest, most wonderful thing." A ccording to P inchas Lapide 's1967 book, Three Popes and the Jews, th e Vatican Informa-tion Office helped tens of thousands of Jews locate missingrelatives in E urope.

On M arch 14, 1940, the Jewish Chronicle in London com-mented on Pope P ius XII 's condit ions for a "just an d honor-able peace," whic h he articulated in his 1939 Christmas mes-sage. T he Chronicle said that th e Pope's conditions, especial-ly th e protection of racial minorities, were a "welcome fea-

ture," and praised him for standing up for "rights of the com-m on man."Also, in M arch, Italy's anti-Semitic laws went into effect.and many Jews were dismissed from the government, univer-

sities, and other professions. In response, Pius XII appointedseveral displaced Jew ish scholars, including geographer P rof.R oberto A lmagia, to posts in the Vatican Library. T he M arch29 Kansas City Jewish Chronicle said that the Pope's actionsshowed "his disapproval of the dastardly an ti-S emitic de-crees."On A pril 29, 1941, a group of Jewish refugees interned atan Italian concentration camp thanked Pius XII after beingvisited by Bishop Francesco Borgognini-Duca, the papal nun-ci o in Italy. The prisoners wrote that the nuncio's visit gavethem "new courage to go on living," an d they described th ePope as a "revered personality who has stood up for the rightsof all afflicted and powerless people." (Actes, VIII, pp. 178-179).On January 2,1942, the front page of the California Jewish

Voice published a report on the Pope's1941 Christmas address. "R eligious per-secution and oppression of minoritiesmust have no place in the world of thefuture, declared Pope Pius XII in hisannual Christmas E ve message," the arti-cle said.By early 1942, the Nazis began toimplement their plans to exterminate theJews. The Vatican had no practical wayof bringing these plans to a halt, butsought to assist endangered Jews andother victims on a case by case basis.This assistance ranged from activelyopposing the deportations to meeting thematerial and spiritual needs of refugees.F or example, on A pril 14, 1942, R abbiN af tal i A d l e r and Dr. M ax Pereles, therepresentatives of thousands of Jewishrefugees interned at the Ferramonti con-centration camp in southern Italy, sent aletter of thanks to the Pope, who sent "anabundant supply of clothing and linen" toth e children at the camp, an d took care ofthe prisoners' other needs. "This noblean d generous gift proves anew what th ewhole world knows and admires thatYour Holiness is... also the paternal guar-dian and promoter of the ideal of hum a n -ity for all mankind," they wrote. (Actes,VIII , pp. 505-507).

In 1942, Croatia's J ews were being brutally persecuted bythe N azi-installed dictatorship. On A ugust 4, Chief R abbiM iroslav Freiberger of Zagreb, Croatia's capital, sought moreassistance from P ius XII. Already, th e Vatican's unofficialdiplomatic representative in Croatia, M sgr. Joseph M arcone,who was acting on Cardinal Maglione's instructions, andA rchbishop A lois Stepinac opposed the anti-Jewish persecu-tions. In his letter, Chief R abbi Freiberger app reciated "thelimitless goodness that th e representatives of the H o l y See andth e leaders of the Chu rch showed to our poor brothers."

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ontroversy(Actes, VIII, p. 611). Throughout the war, the Chief Rabbicontinued to express his gratitude to the Vatican for helpingCroatian Jews.The deportations of French Jews also began in late July1942. Msgr. Valerio Valeri, the papal nuncio in France, pro-tested the deportations with M arshall H enri Philippe P etainan d P rime M inister P ierre Laval in A ugust . T he nuncio's in-tervention became publicly known by the end of the month.O n Augus t 28, the California Jewish Voice said, "Pope P iusXII has asked the P apal N uncio at Vichy to protest to theLaval Government against 'the inhuman arrests an d deporta-tions' of Jews in France.. . Previously, reports from G en evahad indicated that the Pope had tried, though vainly, to use hisgood offices in Slovakia to prevent deportations an d other cru-elties."T he Voice s account is confirmed by the Actes. O n October31 , 1941, Cardinal M aglione had given M sgr. Valeri an dPierre Cardinal Gerlier of Lyon a blank check to "tone down"th e practical application of the anti-Semitic laws, whichwould include any deportations. In A pril 1942, the Vaticanprotested the deportations of Slovak Jews with a note to theSlovak Government.A lthough M sgr. Valeri actually made the protest, theJewish press understood that he was acting on behalf of P i u sXII . In a September 11 editorial, the Jewish Chronicle inLond on said, "The P ope's action is also a striking affirmationof the dictum of one of the Pope's predecessors that no trueChristian can be an anti-Semite..."In his 1942 Christmas message, th e Pope condemned th etreatment of "hundreds of thousands who, without any faulton their own, sometimes only by reason of their nationality orrace, are marked down for death or a progressive extinction."T he Pope's defenders argue that this was a clear reference tothe H olocaust. The Pope's detractors insist that he didn't gofa r enough, and should have condemned the N azis by name.Bu t th e N azis understood th e Pope very clearly. "In a mannernever known before the Pope has repudiated the N ationalS ocialist N ew E uropean Order," complained a January 22,1943 report by the R eich Central S ecurity Office. "H ere he isvirtually accusing the German people of injustice towards theJews, an d makes himself th e mouthpiece of the Jewish w arcriminals." (A nthony Rhodes, Th e Vatican in the Age ofDictators (1973), pp. 272-273). I was unable to find any ref-erences to the Pope's address in the many Jewish newspapersthat I examine d. H owever, in a Jan uary 20, 1943 letter toM sgr. A rthur H ughes, the apostolic delegate in E gypt, ChaimBarlas, the Jewish Agency's T urkish R epresentative, wrote,"The highly humanitarian attitude o f His Saintety [meaning,H oliness] expressing H is indignation against racial persecu-tions, was a source of comfort for our brethren." (Actes, IX, p.90) . I f P ius XII was "silent" in the literal sense of the word,then the R eich Central Security Office an d Chaim Barlascould not have made these conclusions.In late 1942, Chief R abbi Isaac H erzog of Jerusalemsought the Pope's intervention to rescue Jews from the Nazis .On February 12 , 1943, th e Vatican's reply to Chief RabbiH erzog was noted on the front page of the California JewishVoice. "The Vatican this week cabled Chief R abbi H erzog, as-suring him that it is doing everything possible for all the vic-tims of N azi persecution, including the Jews," the article said.

T he Jewish Chronicle in London and the Australian JewishNews also reported the Vatican's assurance to the Chief Rabbi.On Apri l 16, 1943, the Australian Jewish News publisheda brief article about Cardinal Gerlier, who had strongly op-posed the deportations of French Jews, and was shelteringJewish children. The article quoted the cardinal as saying thathe was obeying Pius XII's instructions by continuing to op-pose France's anti-Semitic measures.In his June 2 address to the College of Cardinals, P ope P iusXII spoke up again. H e referred to persons "tormented as theyare, because of their nationality or their race... delivered , with-ou t an y fault on their part, to measures of extermination." T heJuly 16, 1943 Jewish Chronicle in London published a slight-ly different version of these words on its front page under th etitle, "The Pope's Solicitude."On S eptember 24, A lex E asterman, the British representa-tive of the W orld Jewish Congress, contacted M sgr. W illiamGodfrey, the apostolic delegate in London. Eastermaninformed him that about 4,000 Jewish refugees from Croatiawere safely evacuated to an island in the A driatic Sea. "I feelsure that efforts of your Grace and of the Holy See havebrought about this fo rtunate result," E asterman wrote. (Actes,IX, pp. 488-489).

A f t e r Benito M ussolini 's fall from power, the new Italiangovernment surrendered to the A llies in S eptember 1943.German troops occupied Italy, including R ome, in order tostop th e A llied offensive. During th e occupation of R o m e , th eN azis threatened to arrest R oman J ews unless their leaderspaid them 50 ki lograms of gold. W hen the R oman J ews wereable to raise only 42 kilograms of gold, they turned to thePope, who agreed to provide the balance. M eanwhile, theJews raised th e balance from ordinary Catholics and informedthe Vatican that the Pope's contribution was not needed. O nOctober 28, 1943, however, the Palestime Post in Jerusalemnoted P ius XII 's offer on the front page under th e headline,"The Pope's Gift to the Jews."

On October 16, the Nazis also seized about 1,000 Jews anddeported them to Au schwitz. On October 29 Jewish Chroniclein London reported the Vatican's response to the arrests: "TheVatican has made strong representations to the German Gov-ernment and the German H igh Comm and in Italy against thepersecution of J ews in N azi-occupied Italy..."This account of the Vatican's actions was exactly correct.O n P ius XII's orders, Cardinal M aglione made an immediateprotest with Germany's A mbassador. Bishop A lois H udal, theR ector of the G erman Catho lic Church in Rom e, protested thearrests of Jews with the German M ilitary G overnor of Rom e.A long with the Vatican's protests, 4,700 J ews disappeared intoR ome's convents, monasteries and the Vatican itself. Theremaining 2,300 Jews were able to find shelter elsewherebecause Vatican protests brought th e round-ups to an end.By 1943, the Vatican's many rescue efforts on behalf ofJews were being universally acknowledged. In the fall of1943, the Jewish commu nities of Chile, U ruguay, and Boliviasent letters to Pope P ius XII , and thanked him for assistingJews (Actes, IX, pp. 498, 501-502, and 567).T he 1943-1944 American Jewish Yearbook said that PiusXI I "took an unequivocal stand against the oppression of J ewsthroughout Europe." In his February 18, 1944 letter to M sgr.A mleto Cicognani, the apostolic delegate in W ashington,

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D.C., R abbi M aurice Per lzweig, the poli t i -ca l director of the W orld Je wish Congress,wrote that "the repeated interventions ofth e H oly Fa ther on behalf of Jewish Com-munities in Europe has evoked th e pro-foundest sentiments of appreciation andgratitude from Jews throughout the world."(Actes, X, p. 140).Two important Jewish leaders w howorked with the Vatican to save Jews alsoexpressed similar sentiments. "The peopleof Israel will never forget what H isHoliness and his illustrious delegates,inspired by the eternal principles of religionwhich form the very foundations of truecivilization, are doing for our unfortunatebrothers and sisters in this most tragic hourof history, which is living proof of divineP rovidence in this world," Chief R abbi H erzogdeclared on February 28 . (Actes, X, p. 292). In hisA pril 7 letter to the papal nuncio in R omania, C hiefR a bbi A lexan d er Shafran of Bucharest wrote, "It isno t easy fo r us to find the right words to express thewarmth an d consolation we experienced because ofthe concern of the Supreme Pont i f f , who offered alarge sum to relive the sufferings of deportedJews. .. The J ews of R omania will never forget thesefacts of historic importance..." (Actes, X, pp. 291-292).In June 1944, tw o separate events helped estab-lish th e Pope's reputation as a rescuer of Jews, atleast temporarily. W hen th e A llies l iberated R ome,thousands of Jews came out of their hiding places,and told the world of their salvation by the Vatican. On Jun e25, the Pope openly protested th e deportations of H ungarianJews.

T he many tributes to P ius XII began in July. "It is gradu-ally being revealed that Jews have been sheltered within th ewalls of the Vatican during th e German occupation of Rome,"reported the July 7 Jewish News in Detroit. A July 14 editori-al in the Congress Weekly, the official journal of the A mericanJew ish Congress, added that the Vatican also provided Je wishrefugees with kosher food.Also on July 14,American Hebrew in New York publishedan interview w ith Chief R abbi Israel Zolli of Rom e. " TheVatican has always helped the Jews and the Jews are verygrateful for the charitable work of the Vatican, all done with-out distinction of race," R abbi Zolli said. A f t e r the war, RabbiZolli converted to Catholicism, which brought him much

severe criticism from some Jews. Dr. Zolli's conversion waswidely attributed to his gratitude for what the Pope did forJews. In his 1954 memoirs, Before the Dawn, however, Dr.Zolli strongly denied this assertion. Instead, he claimed tohave witnessed a vision of Christ, who called him to the faith.A week later on July 21, the Vatican received telegramsfrom the N ational Jewish W elfare Board and the W orld JewishCongress. The N ational Jew ish W elfare Board expressed itsgratitude to the Pope for "the aid and protection given to somany Italian Jews by the Vatican..." (Actes, X, pp. 358-359).T he W orld Je wish Congress also acknowledged the Vatican's

" T h e Jews o fRomania w i llnever forgetthese f a c t s of

historicportance"

"noble humanitar ian work" on behalfH ungarian Jews. (Actes, X, pp. 359).T he deportations of H ungarian Jewhorrified th e A l l ie d an d neutral nationT he A merican Jewish Committee another Jewish groups organized a rallyM anhattan 's M adison Square P ark oJuly 31 to mobilize pub lic opinion againthe deportations. In his address, JudJoseph Proskauer, th e Committee's presdent, declared, "We have heard.. . whatgreat part the H oly F ather has played the salvation of the refugees in Italy, awe know from sources that m ust be creited that this great Pope has reached forhi s mighty and she ltering hand to help toppressed of H ungary." (Speech obtainfrom A merican C ommittee Library M anhattan) .During the following months, R abbi S tephe

Wise, the president of the A m er ica n JewiCongress, Chief Rabbi Joseph H ertz of the BritiEmpire, composer Irving Berlin, CongressmEmmanuel Cellar of Brooklyn, th e EmergencCommittee to Save th e Jews of Europe, th e U n i oof Orthodox Rabbis of the U nited S ta tes anCanada, and the W orld Agudas Organization allauded P ius XII for helping endangered Jews. Ath e time, R abbi W ise also condemned Christiaindifference toward the extermination of Jews.W ith Rome liberated, th e Pope frequentgreeted A llied soldiers. During on e meeting,blessed a Jewish soldier from P alestine in H ebreIn the Congress Weekly (October 20 , 1944), El ias Gilnfound great significance in this event. Gilner wrote that tPope's blessing "becomes a memorable act, a far-flung me

sage of good-will, an expression of the Christian spirit at highest." Gilner added that Pius X II b y this blessing albegan a "new course" in Catholic-Jewish relations.T he tr ibutes to Pope P ius XII from Jews continued after thwar in Europe ended. O n Apr i l 22 , 1945, M oshe S harrett, thfuture F oreign M inister and Prime M inister of Israel, sentreport of his meeting with the Pope to the Executive of tJewish A gency. Sharrett wrote that "my first duty was to thanhim, an d through him, th e Catholic Church, on behalf of tJew ish public, for all they had done in the various countries rescue Jews, to save children, and Jews in general." (Lapidpp. 225-226)On October 11, the W orld Jewish Congress donat$20,000 to Vatican charities. A ccording to the New York Tim(October 12 , 1945), th e gift was "made in recognition of twork of the H oly S ee in rescuing Jew s from F ascis t and N apersecution." A lthough th e current leaders of the W o rJewish Congress have a much different view of the Vaticanwartime actions, they never retracted that recognition.During a St. Louis conference on the plight of displaceJe wish refuge es on M arch 17, 1946, W illiam Rosenw ald, tchairman of the U n i ted J ewish A ppeal fo r R efugees, OverseN e e d s an d P alestine, said, "I wish to take this opportunitypay tribute to P ope P ius for his appeal in behalf of the victimINSIDE T

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controversyof war and oppression. He provided aid for Jews in Italy andintervened in behalf of refugees to lighten their burden." (NewYork Times, M a rc h 18, 1946.) The previous week, the Popegranted Mr. Rosenwald an audience. A ccording to Mr. Rosen-wald, the Pope said that H olocaust survivors and J ewishrefugees should be allowed to resettle in the U nited S tates.In an article for Commentary (November 1950), Frenchscholar and H olocaust survivor Leon P oliakov discussed theVatican's conduct during the war. Poliakov suggested that theVatican during the H olocaust retreated to its "medieval tradi-tion" of protecting Jews from state persecution. "There is nodoubt that secret instructions went out from the Vatican urg-ing the national churches to intervene in favor of the Jews byevery possible means," Poliakov wrote. In fact, according toVolumes VI, VIII, IX, and X of the Actes, these instructionswere sent to the Vatican's many diplomatic representatives.Still, Poliakov was troubled because he believed that PiusXIFs public statements were too vague. But Poliakov conced-ed the argument that "public protests would have brought nohelp to the victims, and might have produced contraryeffects." H e cited the tragic case of H olland where the protestsagainst the deportations of Jews by the Dutch Catholic bish-ops in 1942 led to the arrest of C atholic Jews, who were pre-viously spared fo r deportation by the N azis .In 1955, th e Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, which wascomposed of Jewish refugees from many nations, toured Italy.T he O rchestra performed a concert at the Vatican on M ay 26,1955. A ccording to the Jerusalem Post (M a y 29, 1955), "Con-ductor P aul Klecki had requested that the Orchestra on its firstvisit to Italy play for the P ope as a gesture of gratitude for thehelp his Church had given to all those persecuted by N aziFascism."In 1957, the Pope received a delegation from the Am ericanJewish Committee. T he Ne w York Times on June 29 , 1957reported that the Committee's representatives described thePope as a "great friend" in the battle against racism and anti-Semitism in the U nited States. The Pope also praised theCom mittee's work, and issued a strong statement condemningant i -Semit ism.

Pope Pius XII died on October 8, 1958. M an y Jewish orga-nizations and newspapers around the world mourned his pass-ing, and recalled his wartime efforts to rescue Jews. A t theU nited N ations, Golda M eir, Israel's F oreign M inister, said," W h en fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade ofN azi terror, th e voice of the P ope was raised for the victims.T he life of our times was en riched by a voice speaking out onth e great moral truths above th e tumult of daily conflict." T heZionist Record (October 17) in South Afr ic a published Meir'smoving eulogy along with tributes from Jewish organizationsto the late P ope ."Adherents of all creeds and parties will recall how PiusX I I faced th e responsibilities of his exalted office withcourage and devotion," declared the Jewish Chronicle in Lon-

don on October 10. "Before, during, and after the SecondW o rld W a r, he constantly preached th e message of peace.Confronted by the monstrous cruelties of N azism, Fascism,and Communism, he repeatedly proclaimed the virtues ofhumanity and compassion."In th e Canadian Jewish Chronicle (October 17), Ra bbi J .Stern recalled that P ius XII "made it possible for thousands of

Jewish victims of Nazism and Fascism to be hidden away..."In the N ovember 6 edition of the Jewish Post in W innipegW i ll iam Zukerman, the former American Hebrew columnistwrote that no other leader "did more to help the Jews in theirhour of greatest tragedy, during the N azi occupation ofEurope, than the late Pope."Representatives of the W orld Jewish Congress, A mericanJewish Congress, A merican Jewish Committee, S ynagogueCounci l of America, N ew York Board of R abbis, the A nti-De f amat i o n League, M assachusetts Board of R abbis ,R abbinical Council of A merica, N ational Council of Je wishW o me n, and the U n ion of A merican Hebrew Congregationsalso gracefully eulogized Pope P ius XII . The C hief R abbis ofLondon, R ome, Jerusalem, France, E gypt, A rgentina an dmany other Jewish newspapers also paid tribute to the latePope.H o w d o P i u s XII's detractors explain these many state-ments of praise from Jews? They prefer to ignore them. A nyacknowledgment of these tributes immediately underminesthe case against him.Instead, critics always focus on the Pope's "silence" with-ou t discussing what he actually said during the war, and howhi s addresses were received by all sides; insist that the Popedi d little or nothing to help Jews escape from th e N azis; exclu-sively cite authors who attack him while ignoring those whodefend him; and assign him sinister motives by using suspi-cion and a selective interpretation of evidence.R ecently, in Commentary ( July/August 1999), Prof. R obertW istrich argued that it is unfair to cite these tributes from Jewsbecause damaging evidence against the Pope was discoveredafter his death. But that argument ignores th e fact that manypost-war revelations have been very favorable toward theP ope. In 1946, the Vatican newspaper confirmed that P ius XIIin 1940 had acted as an intermediary between a group ofGerman generals who wanted to overthrow A dolf H itler andth e British government. The release of documents from th eBritish Foreign Office years later also confirmed his role in"The G enerals ' Plot." The 1953 publication of Th e Unde-clared War by W illiam Langer and S . Everett Gleason dis-closed the Pope's surprising 1941 concession to PresidenF ranklin R oosevelt that A merican C atholics could support theextension of the Lend-Lease program to the Soviet Union.T he conclusions of the first generation of authors critical ofthe Pope like R olf H ochhuth, Guenther Lewy, Saul Fr ied-lander and Carlo F alconi were invalidated by the completepublication of the 11 volumes of the Actes. U nfortunately,these volumes, which detail the Vatican's relations with all thebelligerent governments and assistance given to all the vic-tims of the war, have been either ignored or downplayed byhistorians and journalists.M a ny Jewish organizations had no reservations aboutattacking Father Charles Coughlin, the anti-Semitic radiobroadcaster. I f these same organizations were actually dis-pleased with Pius XII's actions, as Father John Pawlikosksuggested in Commonweal ( July 17, 1998), then why did theycontinue to publicly honor the Pope throughout the war andbeyond? H ow could Jews on six continents have been so trag-ically mistaken about one man? Could they all have beeneither blissfully ignorant or extremely disingenuous?M any Catholics have been puzzled by the fact that many

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8/2/2019 "The Good Samaritan: Jewish Praise for Pope Pius XII" by Dimitri Cavalli in Inside the Vatican magazine (October 20

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of the same Jewish organizations that con-demn Pius XI I today once never passed upan opportunity to praise him. W hat couldhave caused th e vast shift in Jewish atti-tudes toward th e late Pope?Some Catholic writers point to theinfluence of R olf H ochhuth's 1963 play,The Deputy, which presented the P ope as acold-blooded N azi collaborator who didnothing as six million Jews went to theirdeath. However , a l legations that th eVatican collaborated with th e N a z is di dno t begin with H ochhuth. W hile P ius XIIwas still alive, anti-Catholic authors likeA vro M anhattan (The Vatican in WorldPolitics, 1949) and Paul Blanshard(American Freedom an d Catholic Power,1949) condemned his act ions duringW o rld W ar I I . A lthough M anhattan and Blanshardfound isolated audiences in some Protestant andfundamentalist Christian circles, many J ews contin-ued to have a favorable impression of the wartimeP ope .Other cultural shifts in society ensured thatH ochhuth's demonic portrait would become accept-ed as conventional wisdom. Shortly af te rH ochhuth 's play made it s appearance, th e move-ment known as the N ew Left marched across col-lege campuses. T h e N e w Left was more than apolitical movement; it was also a cultural move-ment whose memb ers seized influential positions inthe universities, the media and the entertainmentindustry. The Catholic Church strongly opposed theN ew Left's social agenda of legal abortion, contra-ception an d sexual promiscuity. A ctivists needed aweapon to undermine the Catholic Church's moralauthority an d influence. "The silence of P ius XI I"provided such a powerful weapon, and it was used at everypossible opportunity. W hat right would a Church that failed tooppose th e mass murder of Jews have to teach morality toanyone? A few years ago, the U S Conf erence of CatholicBishops criticized U S Surgeon General D r. Jocelyn E lders fo rher pro-abortion views. D r. E lders responded by noting theCatholic Church's indifference toward both slavery and theH olocaust .

'Activists neededa weapon toundermine theCatholicChurch's moralauthority and

influence. T hesilence of PiusX I I ' provided

a weapon"

U nfortunately, Jewish organizationshave never sufficiently explained whythey changed their minds about the P ope.A clear answer may never be knownunless Jewish organizations finally pro-vide honest and convincing explanationsafter nearly 40 years of evasion.Could attitudes shift again? It 's possi-ble. In the last several years, manyCatholic newspapers and magazineshave been zealously defending P iusXIFs reputation. T he Catholic Leaguefo r Civil and Religious Rights has alsobeen successful in bringing the debateover th e Vatican's wartime role into th emainstream media. In his new book,Never Again:A History of the Holocaust,acclaimed H olocaust historian Sir M artinGilbert identifies the Vatican as one of theEuropean governments that protected Jews. Prof.W ill iam R ubinstein 's book, Th e Myth of Rescue(1997), which received substantial attention an d

criticism, argues that the A llies and Vatican couldno t have saved more Jew ish lives. R ubinstein'ssobering conclusion that the "responsibility forthe H olocaust lies solely and wholly with A dolfH itler, the SS and their accomplices, an d with noon e else" represents a return to reason.I t may take a generation to restore Pope PiusXII's good name. However, more and more peo-pl e today ar e recognizing that he acted like aGood Samaritan during W orld W ar I I . W hen thePope failed to prevent th e start of the war, heimmediately devoted himself to alleviating thephysical and spiritual suffering of countless num-bers of innocent victims regardless of their race orfaith. As the late Father Robert Graham, S.J.wrote, th e many tributes th e Pope received from Jews aroundthe world are a witness to both his efforts and his character.

(Cavalli isafreelancewriterbasedinNew Y o r k , with an M.A. rom CatholicU n i v e r s i t y . He is g r a t e f u l to the Rev. Matthew Flood, S.J. o f F o r d h a m Prep in

theBronx, New Y o r k and to Angela Sedaccafor translating a number ofdocumentsfrom the Actes into English. The Jewish newspapers cited are on

m i c r o f i l m at the New YorkPublic Library's Jewish Division.)

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