Vatican City – Pope Francis has strongly defended his wartime predecessor Pius XII against accusations he turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, saying the opening of Vatican archives will shed light on the controversy.
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In an interview published on Friday in the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Francis condemned anti-Semitism, saying it was a “continuing” problem that was more prevalent in right-wing parties in Europe, and called Holocaust denial “madness”.
He also repeated that he did not rule out resigning as pope like his predecessor Benedict XVI if he felt he could no longer rule the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church, saying that he would ask God for guidance “when the time comes”.
In his most comprehensive remarks to date on the controversy surrounding Pius, Francis confirmed that he intended to open up the Vatican archives for the wartime period but he did not say when that would happen.
“They will shed a lot of light,” he said.
Some Jews have accused Pius, who ruled from 1939 to 1958, of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust. The controversy has put a strain on Catholic-Jewish relations for decades.
The Vatican says Pius worked behind the scenes to save thousands of Jews and did not speak out more forcefully for fear that his words could have led to more deaths of both Jews and Christians at the hands of the Nazis.
“I don’t want to say that Pius XII did not make any mistakes – I myself make many – but he has to be seen in the context of that era. For example, was it better for him not to speak out so that more Jews were not killed, or that he speak out?” he said.
Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, said that during the war his predecessor was seen as “a great defender of Jews”, and that his critics “have dumped all kinds of things on poor Pius XII”.
“EXISTENTIAL RASH”
He said Pius ordered the Church to hide many Jews in the convents of Rome and other Italian cities, that he sheltered Jews in the papal summer residence south of Rome and that 42 children of Jews and other refugees were born in his apartments there.
He said he sometimes “breaks out in an existential rash” when “everyone takes it out against the Church and Pius XII” and “forgets” the responsibility of the great wartime powers.
“Did you know that they knew perfectly the train network the Nazis used to take the Jews to concentration camps? They had photos. But they didn’t bomb the train tracks. Why? It would be good if we could talk a little about everything,” he said.
Last month Francis visited the Yad Vashem memorial to Holocaust victims in Jerusalem. The Yad Vashem’s website, addressing the issue of the allies activity during the war, says: “In practice, no military initiatives were taken to prevent or delay the extermination.”
Jewish groups have asked Francis and his predecessors to freeze the process that could lead to sainthood for Pius until the all the World War Two era archives are opened to historians, saying Catholic-Jewish relations could be harmed if the process moved ahead.
Speaking to reporters on the plane returning from Jerusalem last month, Francis said the sainthood cause for Pius was stalled because he had not been credited with performing a miracle, which Church rules require, suggesting it was not stalled because of any outside pressure.
It would be a sin to consider that a good catholic like Mr. Pope Pius II was anything other than a higher mind. After all, we heard so many messages from the all knowing church condemning the anti-semitism and hate in the era right?
Ultimately, I think that the church wants to save its own decisions for anything other than self-electrocution. But really, they are more envious of their own captivity for human relations.
A church for discipline of human blessing is not always liked. To not defend their “pope-maximus the filth” does not mean that the church can actually step up to its “responsbilities” in the new era. Ultimately, they have no where to go but to the crucifixion of their own ideals. And that does not walk on human street.
By gone eras are not always repeated, but honor is not to be given where hate has been found in excess.
A dog in the Vatican today. Barking at his “last supper”. Disgusting.
I cannot make statements regarding Pope Pius XII action during the war because I was a teenager in concentration camp. However there is ample evidence of the actions of 2 catholic bishops in Rome after 1945. Bishop Hudal an
Austrian and Draganovic a Croatian . They were instrumental in the escape to South America of Eichmann, Mengele and many other war criminals. This was done from Rome
One can research all they want through the Vatican archives; the fact of the matter is that Pius never spoke out publicly about the pending deportation of the Jews from Rome in 1944, or the slaughter of Italian civilians at the Adreantine caves by the SS. The deporation of the Rome Jews might have been stopped had Pius spoke out against it.
Two weeks after the Nazis began arresting Jews in Rome in October 1943, the London Jewish Chronicle wrote, “The Vatican has made strong representations to the German Government and the German High Command in Italy against the persecutions of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Italy…”
Along with the Vatican’s protests, thousands of Jews found refuge in Rome’s convents, monasteries, and the Vatican itself.
When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, Jewish leaders and newspapers around the world eulogized him, recalling his wartime opposition to Nazism and role in saving Jews. The Rabbinical Council of America, the ADL, the American Jewish Committee, etc., all praised him. In an editorial (October 10, 1958), the Jerusalem Post stated that “Jews will recall the sympathetic references to their sufferings contained in many of his pronouncements, the refuge from Nazi terror which he gave to many in the Vatican during the last war, and the very cordial way he received his Jewish visitors.”
Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, said, “When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims.
First, I have no idea what #1 said or means to say.
I suspect the information in the archives will not be as bad as some Catholic bashers hope it is; but it will be much worse than the Catholic Church has admitted so far. That said, Frank…it’s been 70 years, open the archives let’s see for ourselves.