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fo r large numbers of men to re-turn without emasculation hasyetto be fully elaborated.Maleassertiveness without themoral center and heroic self-abne-gation found in early Christianityand stoicism (as opposed to femi-nine malleability) is not a stableel-ement inhuman psychology.It canbecome a nihilistic will to power.For example, among Italian Futur-ists of the 1930s, artists glorified warand scorned women. They hatedpacifism and cheered Mussolini.Fascism had a self-conscious ele-ment of nihilistic masculine power.

Churches continue to be ref-uges fo r women under the influ-ence of an ancient bridal spiritual-ity or some later equivalent Andmany Christian men, even amongthe Promise Keepers,will tell youthat the way to spiritual maturityisin the surrender of the will. Bu twhile these newly sensitive malesare workingon that, theProtestantministry is becoming a woman'sprofession. This seems a fittingcon-clusion after centuries of majoritiesof women being involved in the ac-

tivities of churches.And, as hasbeenthe case fo r ages, despite the hulla-baloo to the contrary, the churchesare still refuges fo r homosexuals.That it has taken until nowfo r somebody to write a book

about this centuries-old problemof so many men being repelledbya maudlin Christianity is extraor-dinary. Thank God, Leon Podleshas finally spelled it out. He has afew suggestions as to how thesituation might be rectified, butmore than once he concedes thatnew activities designed for menwill not bring very many backfrom an indignant exile that longago became reflexive fo r them.Among the Christian virtuesare manly self-denial, not amor-phous receptivity; moral restraint,not moral passivity; and courage,the antithesis of acquiescence. Mili-tary stoicism again comes to mind,butwhat is needed isn't some kindof religious boot camp or morestrenuous witnessing by Christianathletes, though these might help.The damage, if Podles is correct,has been done by a settled habitof

misusing metaphors.If the seduction began withasubtle change in references, so thathe soul of the believer (instead othe Church) is the bride of C hristthen sermons, hymns, and prayerare going to have to take pains toavoid the saccharine images thaare exacerbating the damageChristians are going to have to reinject masculine metaphors intodiscourse about our Faith. Justification is by the grace of God, butrue peace comes f rom overcoming moral challenges and from disciplined pursuit of real values, nosentimental indulgence.Art embodies the metaphorsby which we live.Art is not the cornerstone of the Christian churchbut the artistry in worship and devotion are more significant thanthe cornerstone of any building inwhich that church assembles. Acathedral can't be built on slimysand and be expected to stand foa thousand years. But a thousandyears in Purgatory engendered byslimy metaphors does appear to bea possibility fo r many.

i M J T R i A.WhAT ihe V A T J C A N ARckivEs REAlly

AbouT Pope PiusXIIPius Xn and the Second WorldW a r: According to the Archives ofthe Vatican. By Rev.Pierre Blet,SJ. Paulist. 304pages. $29.95.

In a recent address, RabbiMarv in Hier, the dean of the

Simon Wiesenthal Center in LosAngeles, accused the Vatican ofrefusing to open its archives fromWorld W ar II, the implication be-ing that the Vatican would beembarrassed by Pope Pius XII'sconduct in regard to the Holo-

caust. But Pope Paul VI, in factopened the archives in 1964, andR e v . Pierre Blet, S.J., a professoat the Gregorian University inRome, and three other Jesuischolars conducted research inthe Vatican archives that pro

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V

duced 11 volumes of historicaldocuments with the French titleActes et documents du SaintSiege relatifs a la Seconde GuerreMondiale (Actes).In the book under reviewhere, Fr. Blet observes that these11 volumes have somehow "es-caped the attention of many whospeak and write abou t the Holy Seeduring the war." Fo r instance, of677 citations in John ComwelTsbook attacking Pius XH, Hitler'sPope, only 21 are citations of theActes. But Fr. Blet makes impres-sive use of these primary sources,along with diplomatic documentsfrom the U.S., G reat Br itain, Ger-many , and Italy, that together pro-vide a clear portrait of Pope PiusXn during W orld War II. Thus hisarguments in defense of PiusXH'sactions have substantial credibility .In the lexicon of the accus-ers o f the Vatican, "the silence ofPius XU" means that the Pope didnothing to save Jews f rom theNazi death camps. Fr . Blet show sthat the Vatican consistently op-posed the persecutions and depor-tations of Jews in many Nazi-oc-cupied and Axis countries.In S lov ak i a , w h i c h w a sheaded by an anti-Semitic Catho -lic priest, the Vatican officially pro-tested the anti-Jewish laws anddeportations. Vatican Secretary ofState Luigi Cardinal Maglione fre-quently instructed the Vatican'sd ip lomatic representat ives inSlovakia, Romania, Croatia, Italy,and even Germany to intervene on

Dimitri A. Cavalli is a f reelancewriter in the Bronx, New York,and has wr itten frequently aboutPope Pius XII.

behalf of endangered Jews.On October 30,1941, Cardi-na l M aglione encou raged the pa-pa l nuncio in France to intervenewith the Vichy regime in order tosoften the application of the anti-Semitic laws. The nuncio's pro-test against the deportation ofFrench Jews in August 1942 re-ceived international attention.Fr . Blet also shows that it isuntrue that the Vatican did noth-ing to stop the arrests o f RomanJews in October 1943. As soon asPius XII heard of the arrests, heha d Cardinal Maglione lodge astrong protest with the Germanambassador. The Pope also o r-dered Bishop Alois Hudal , the rec-to r o f the German Catho l i cChurch in Rome, to protest thearrests to the German MilitaryGovernor of Rome. Along withthese protests, shelter was givento thousands of Jews in Catholicconvents, monasteries, and theVatican itself.In response to the deporta-tions of Hungarian Jews in June1944, the Pope personally ad-dressed an open telegram to H u n-garian Regent Nicholas Horthy ,urging him to spare "so many un-fortunate people" f rom "furtherafflictions and sorrows." The HolyFather's intervention along withthose of the Red Cross, the King ofSweden, and President Rooseveltb rought a tempo rary halt to thedeportations. When the deporta-tions resumed in October, the pa-pal nuncio in H unga ry, acting onorders f rom Rome, continued tomake protests. (Fr. Blet does notmention o ther documented inter-ventions on behalf of Jews in Bul-garia, Albania, Greece, Poland,Lithuania, and even Japan.)Fr . Blet notes that important

Jewish leaders and organizatiosuch as Chief Rabbi Miros lFreiberger of Zagreb, Chief RabIsaac Herzog of Jerusalem, ChRabb i Alexande r Sha f ranBucharest, Chaim Barlas of tJewish Agency, the World JewiCongress, and the American Jeish Committee often expresstheir gratitude to Pius XO. If tPope did little or nothing to hethe Jews and sy mpathized with tNazis, then why did so many Jewin nearly every part of the worpraise him on so many occasionIn addition to helping Jewthe Vatican assisted prisoners wa r and other civilians, helping1941 and 1942 to alleviate tfamine in Greece du ring the Naoccu pation. As Fr. Blet wr it"The very mass of documentsitself stands as an eloquent tesmony of the intensity of the cathat the pop e showed on behalfthehuman problems that the wbrought throughout the world.Dur ing Wor ld War II tVatican publicly maintainedimpartiality between the warripowers. This attitude often angerboth sides. However, the Vaticoften violated its ow n impartialiFo r example, in the early montof 1940, the Pope acted as an itermediary between the Britigovernment and a group of Geman generals who w anted to ovethrow Hitler. Unfortunately, tconspiracy never w ent forward.Critics of the Vatican suchSaul Friedlander and GuenthLewy often explain the Pope's "lence" by suggesting that he sathe Nazis as a bulw ark against tSoviet Union. In fact, Pius XII directly assisted the Soviet Un iduring the war. In response to dlomatic appeals made by Preside

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Roo sevelt in the fall of 1941, PiusXII agreed that American Catho-lics could support the extensionof the Lend-Lease prog ram to theSoviets. W hile the Vatican alway scondemned Communism, thePope had nothing but paternalsentiments fo r the Russian people.Along these lines, the extension ofLend-Lease to the Soviets couldbe moral ly justified because ithelped the Russian people, whowere the innocent victims of Naziaggression.The Fascists w anted Pius XIIto bless the N azi invasion of theSoviet Union publicly and werebitterly disappointed w hen he re-fused. On September 5, 1941,M sgr. Domenico Tardini, CardinalMaglione's deputy, explained toItaly's ambassador to the Vaticanthe Vatican's refusal to back theinvasion: "I wou ld be very happyto see Communism ou t of action.It is the worst enemy of theChu rch. But it is not the only en-emy. Naz ism ha s conducted averitable persecution against theChurch and continues to do so."

Tar dini added that the Pope couldno t publicly condemn Commu -nism without condemning "theerrors and persecutions of Na-zism" at the same time.Instead o f embracing th eNazis, Pius XII strongly opposedtheir persecution of the CatholicChurch in Germany and the oc-cupied countries. In a letter of May7,1939, to the Archbishop of Ber-lin, the Pope urged the Germanbishops and the clergy to resistNazi persecution.In January 1940 the Pope o r-dered Vatican Radio to broadcastPolish Cardinal August Hlond'sreports on the persecution o f theCatholic Church in Po land. Thesereports were independent co nfir-mation o f media reports aboutNazi atrocities, reports previouslydismissed as Allied propaganda.Fr. Blet omits to mention thatthese broadcasts also describedatrocities against Jews.Unlike many historians andjou rnalists, F r. Blet discusses whatPiusXII actually said in public, andho w his statements were greeted

LETTERSto the editor of the NE W OX-FORD REVIEW are always wel-come. Al l letters, p arts of letters,o r notes received pertaining tothis m ag az ine, its co ntents, or tomatters of general interest to ou rreaders ar e automatically consid-ered to be offered fo r possiblepublication, unless specificallymarked "No t fo r Publ icat ion."We ar e sorry that because of thevolume of such communicationsand the cost of replying, we areunable to acknowledge our re-

ceipt of them.Please be assured that allletters ar e given careful consid-eration. The briefer the letter themore likely it is to be published.It is of course impossible to printal l the letters we receive. All cor-respondence accepted fo r pub-lication is subject to editing an dpossible abridgment.P lease typewri te anddouble-space your letter. Sendy o u r letter to: Letters Dept.,NEW OXFORD REVIEW, 1069Kains Ave., Berkeley CA 94706-2260. Or f a x it to: 510-526-3492.

by both sides. Thro ug hou t the wathe Pope insisted that an impo rtant condition f o r a "just and honorable peace" was the protectioo f a ll "ethnic minor i t ies ." Ispeech af te r speech, he alswarned the occupying powers thathey w ou ld face Go d's wrath ithey failed to treat al l civilians w itjustice, charity, and humanity.In his 1942 Christmas message, Pope Pius XII spoke of th"hundreds of thousands of peoplwho, without any fau l t o f theiown and sometimes because otheir nationality or race alonehave been doo med to death or tprog ressive extermination." Unlike most critics, who dismisthese words as vague, the ReicCentral Security Office concludethat the Pope "virtually accusethe German people of injustictoward the Jews...." On June 21943, Pius XII once again spokof persons "because of their nationality or their race.. .destinedeven without fault on their partto the threat of extermination."Although Fr. Blet's book successfully refutes the allegationagainst Pope Pius XII, revisionistlike R abbi H ier can always safelretreat to the position that thPope didn't do or say enou gh. Thitactic is intellectually disingenuou s because there can be a wo rldof d i f fe rence between "do innothing" and "not doing enough.Perhaps the debate shouldno w shift to the question of whichwa rtime leader actually did themosto rescue Jews from the Nazis. In1980 Fr. Michael O'Carroll askedany other government or privatinstitution co uld show a record osimilar concern fo r the Jews.At a time when attempts tderail Pope Pius XII's prospectiv

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beatification are intensifying, bothCatholics and non-Catholics canfinally educate themselves aboutthis controversy by consultingFr.Blet's extraordinary book. Whenreporters asked Pope John Paul IIabou t his much-maligned prede-cessor, he immediately referredthem to Fr. Blet's work.

bmeFly ReviewedA Return to Modesty: Discover-ing the Lost Virtue. By WendyShalit. The Free Press. 291 pages.$19.99.

In this co mbination of auto-biography and sociological text,Shalit calls for the resurrection ofthe long-neglected virtu e of mod-esty. Shalit recou nts how her con-servative Jewish parents' disap-proval of her fourth-grade sex edu-cation classes allow ed her to spendthose periods in the school library ,isolated from "how-to" lessons oncondom use. She describes cam-pu s life at Williams College in themid-1990s, with its coed bath-rooms, with feelings that rangefrom bemu sement to sadness and then to gratitude for her earlyhabit of isolation. She criticizesmag azine and new spaper articlesthat encou rage promiscuity. I par-ticularly liked Shalit's observationabou t the strippers who regu larlyappear on Howard Stem's show:I f they're so proud of their work,why won't they reveal their realnames on the air?According to Shalit, mostwo men really do crave a certainmo desty , in dress, behavior, and

relations with men,contrary towha t they've been told or havetold themselves over the pastthree decades. She accurately seesthis loss of innocence as a miss-ing childhood, the one that wasalmost stolen from her in four thgrade and that was taken awayfrom to o many of her contempo-raries. Shalit predicts a counter-revolution on behalf of modesty,

"because ifs a way of affirmingour essential innocence.*Shalit displays a certain ex-cessive modesty abou t her befiefsand arguments, presenting somewhat apologetically tru ths thatbyrights should be shouted from therooftops. Let us hope that manyyoung women will heed the advice of this wise contemporary .GerardEinhans

Are You Hungry forthe Real Catholicism?Are you sick of the watered-down and tasteless version being o f f e r e d

b y Father F l u f f , Sister Serendipity, a n d M r . a n d Mrs. C o n f u s e d C a t e c h i s t ?Would you like the full-course banquet of Catholicism?Then you should get a copy of C atholic Replies, w i t h answers to over800 qu estions abou t Catholic beliefs and practices. No t only will this boo k

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Compiled by James J. D r u m m e y ,who has been teaching and writinga b o u t the Faith for 30 years, CatholicReplies belongs in the hands of everyCatholic of substance. This 463-pagebook can be ordered for $20 (shippingincluded) by mail or by phone from: w

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