Perhaps the greatest example of character assasination of the 20th century has been the fairly recent attacks on Pius XII, who was Pope during World War II. It has been alleged, especially by some recent authors such as John Cornwell in his book "Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII," and anti-Catholic authors such as Jack Chick, that Pius XII was, at best, silent during the war, and at worst, an actual collaborator with the Nazis. Nothing could be further from the truth! Before, during and immediately after the war the Pope's opposition to the Nazis, and the Church's work in saving Jews and others from the Nazi killing machine were known and respected by many, including Jewish leaders, world leaders, the press, and, not least of all, the individuals who were saved (1).
Pope Pius XII walked a dangerous tightrope during the war, on the one hand taking concrete action and speaking out on behalf of oppresssed people, on the other hand trying not to engage in the kind of public grandstanding that would backfire and prod Hitler and the Nazis into escalating their actions against the very people he and the Church were trying to save, or shutting down the Vatican and replacing the Pope with his puppet and rendering the Church impotent, both very real dangers. The facts are there, and yet the false allegations are spreading, doing damage to not just the memory of this courageous Pontiff, the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church, Christian-Jewish relations, and ultimately, the truth.
As a result of the Pope's cautious policies and actions the Catholic Church saved more Jews in World War II than all other relief agencies combined, including the Red Cross (2). Estimates range as high as 860,000 saved (3). Indeed, the Pope's intervention in appealing to Admiral Mikios Horthy, Regent of Hungary, stayed the planned deportation of some 750,000 - 800,000 Jews in that country alone in June of 1944. This aid was not limited to pleas to sympathetic government officials. The Church issued thousands of false certificates of baptism, allowing Jews to pass as Catholic so they could escape to safety. Also, Jews were hidden in the homes of the faithful, and in churches, even within the Vatican itself, and in the Pope's summer residence! Millions of dollars were given in aid to Jews, and when the Nazis "demanded 100 pounds of gold within thirty six hours or 300 Jews would be taken prisoner" (4) the Vatican contributed thirty pounds of solid gold vessels to make up the difference. (Remember that gold is worth hundreds of dollars an ounce, no small amount of money these days, and a huge fortune back then!). These cannot be interpreted as the actions of an indifferent Pontificate.
As for speaking out, Pius XII faced a dilema. It was necessary to stand for truth and righteousness, but being overly prevocative could jeapordize the Jews more than help them. Even the International Red Cross concluded that public protest would be innefective, and carry the potential danger if instigating the Nazis to harsher action in the Autumn of 1942 (5). This reality was sadly bourne out after the Archbishop of Utrecht, Holland spoke out against the planned deportation of Jews, only to have the Nazis retaliate by deporting to their deaths not just the Jews, but every priest, monk and nun of Jewish descent. Many Jews did not want the Vatican to speak out. Said one Jew, "None of us wanted the Pope to take an open stand. We were all fugitives, and fugitives do not wish to he pointed at. The Gestapo would have become more excited and would have intensified its inquisitions." (6) Pius XII knew that his speaking out would have to be done carefully, so as not to make a terrible situation even worse.
Yet he did speak out. The New York Times editorial on Christmas Day 1941 stated:
The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas. The Pope reiterates what he has said before... In calling for a "real new order" based on "liberty, justice and love," to be attained only by a "return to social and international principles capable of creating a barrier against the abuse of liberty and the abuse of power," the Pope put himself squarely against Hitlerism. (7)In their 1942 Christmas Day editorial they praised the Pope as"a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent," and that the Pope "expresses as passionately as any leader on our side of the war... (that) they must refuse that the state should make of individuals a herd of whom the state disposes as if they were a lifeless thing." Indeed, the Nazi regime knew that the Pope's statements were directed against them. (8)
Thus the Pope declared in 1943, "do not be surprised, Venerable Brothers and beloved sons, if our soul reacts with particular emotion and pressing concern to the prayers of those who turn to us with anxious pleading eyes, in travail because of their nationality or their race..." and backed up this statement with the actions described above. And in an appeal to the Slovak government in 1944, after they had breached an agreement to protect Jews within that country, "The Holy See hopes that the Slovak government, in accordance with the principles of the Catholic religion, to which the vast majority of the people belongs, will leave no stone unturned in order that the Jews who are still in the territory of the Republic may not be subjected to even more sufferings." Pius XII did speak out, unambiguously and cautiously, but stayed focused on the principle that it was concrete action that saved people, and protest must be delecately exercized. This cannot be construed as a position of apathy or collaboration. It was a calculated course of action that could get results.
The Pope and Vatican officials were not alone in their labor to save as many Jews as possible. Catholic clergy and laity also helped hide and smuggle Jews to safety, spoke out themselves, and put their own lives at risk. Indeed, many Catholics paid the ultimate price for their convictions. It is hard to estimate how many Catholics were killed for professing, or acting upon their faith since the Nazis did not keep records of religious affilliation, except in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses (9). It is recorded that 2,759 Catholic clergy were kept in Dauchau alone, of whom 1,034 died. Both Catholic clergy and laity who spoke out were percesuted by the Nazis, some being incarcerated locally for a few days, many dying in custody of "accidents" or "illnesses." In fact, many Polish priests, some 300 of them were died in Nazi medical experiments (10).
It is important to remember the very real peril that threatened the Vatican during the war. Vatican City is a tiny piece of real estate without an army, and was surrounded by Axis Italy. Indeed, all of Europe had fallen under Nazi domination or attack. The so called neutral nations did business with the Nazis, and were not necessarily so neutral after all, and certainly were not taking up arms against them. Great Britain stood firm against the bombing raids, but a major offensive would be months, perhaps years off. The Soviet Union, no great friend of the Church, was suffering itself after their betrayal by Hitler. Northern Africa was firmly within the grasp of the Nazis. The Vatican was surrounded on all sides. Hitler had plans to take over Vatican City, and replace Pius XII with a puppet pope, a plan that did not reach fruition after the Americans entered the war, but a very real threat nevertheless.
Seen in this light, the Pope's pronouncements, political interventions and support of clandestine aid to the Jews takes on an heroic character. It is remarkable under the circumstances that the Holy See and the faithful were able to accomplish as much as they did, saving, as has been stated above, more Jews than all other relief agencies combined! Likewise it is astonishing that the Pope and Vatican officials were able to publically say as much as they did. Some organizations, such as the World Council of Churches and the Red Cross, with heavy hearts, to be sure, curtailed their public protests altogether. Yet the Pope used his position to speak out, in language that may have been "indirect, round-about and imprecise," (11) but so formulated that the whole world would know exactly who he was talking about. There are those who say the Pope did not do "enough." How much is "enough" under these circumstances, and how much is "enough" when compared to other agencies that did so much less?
If all this is true, why is the myth of Pius XII's inaction or collaboration proliferating? Some have suggested the seed was planted by playwright Roth Hochhuth in his 1963 play, "The Deputy," in which he portrayed a silent Pope, who did not do enough to save the Jews. Certainly there are always authors and journalists who oppose the Church because of it's teachings or public statements on controversial issues or matters of faith who can raise the allegation in an attempt to discredit the Church in the eyes of the public.
Also, considering that the Church is supposed to be a force of justice in the world, and the Pope its chief spokesman, one would expect to find the Church on the front lines of the battle against evil. As we recall the Nazi atrocities, an evil so huge that it is isn't hard to imagine people asking why more could not have been done, and grasping at these myths promoted by those with an anti-Catholic ax to grind in an effort to understand how so much evil could have gone on, and right under the noses of so many in Europe, and the world. The bastion of truth and justice in the world is, right or wrong, a natural target of criticism when the facts of the situation have been forgotten.
I submit as well that we live in an age of finger-pointing. Blame must be assigned somewhere (preferably away from oneself). If something goes wrong, it was somebody's fault, or so goes society's prevailing attitude. Muckraking journalists and too many attorneys feed off, and amplify this mindset, telling us that someone else is responsible for our troubles, encouraging us to sue, and above all, blame, blame, blame! Ours is a culture of victimization, with so many looking for the one who has wronged us. With this mindset, if one is ignorant of the facts, one could see the Pope as someone who failed to step in and stop the Nazis, and therefore guilty by indifference. I emphasize "if one is ignorant of the facts" which, sadly, is where the situation stands today. So many are so quick to judge without knowing what really happened. And the myth, if repeated often enough, eventually becomes believed as fact.
We owe it to the memory of Pius the man, and we owe it to the Church he shepherded that did work to save so many, to get our facts straight, and recall the courage of the Pope who stood on a tiny island against a stormy sea of evil and not only declared that it not be so, but took every action available to see that it not be so.
(2) "Pius XII and the Holocost: A Reader" A publication of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1988.
(3) Pinchas E. Lapide, in his book "Three Popes and the Jews" cited by James Akin in his article "How Pius XII Protected Jews" in the February 1997 issue of This Rock magazine. See also "Pius XII and the Holocost: A Reader" A publication of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1988.
(4) Joseph Lichten, "A Question of Moral Judgment: Pius XII and the Jews," quoted in Akin. (5) Akin, "Pius XII and the Holocaust"
(6) Quoted in Lichten, quoted in Akin.
(7) Reprinted in "Pius XII and the Holocost: A Reader" A publication of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1988. (8) Ibid. (9) See the U.S. Holocaust Museum Library Online at http://library.ushmm.org/faqs.htm#stats2 (URL valid as of 05/08/00).
(10) See "Pius XII and the Holocost: A Reader" A publication of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1988.
(11) Robert A. Graham, S.J. in "Pius XII and the Holocost: A Reader" A publication of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1988.