8/2/2019 "The Nazis knew Pius XII well which is they feared him"
by Dimitri Cavalli in L'Osservatore Romano (Weekly edition
1/1
number 6 - weekly edition in English L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO
Wednesday, 10 February 2010 - page 13
When the American Bishops explained why they should help the
Russians
The Nazis knew Pius XII wellwhich is why they feared him
ered a well-publicized address that ex-plained that the
extension of assistanceto the Soviets could be morally justi-fied
because it helped the Russian peo-
ple, who were the innocent victims ofGerman aggression.
Throughout the war, the Pope'sdeputies frequently ordered the
Vati-
can's diplomatic representatives inmany Nazi-occupied and Axis
coun-tries to intervene on behalf of endan-gered Jews. Up until
Pius XII's deathin 1958, many Jewish organizations,newspapers and
leaders lauded his ef-forts. To cite one of many examples, inhis
April 7, 1944, letter to the PapalNuncio in Romania,
AlexanderShafran, Chief Rabbi of Bucharest,wrote: It is not easy
for us to find theright words to express the warmth andconsolation
we experienced because ofthe concern of the Supreme Pontiff,who
offered a large sum to relieve thesufferings of deported Jews....
The Jewsof Romania will never forget thesefacts of historic
importance.
The campaign against Pope Pius XIIis doomed to failure because
his de-
tractors cannot sustain their maincharges against him that he
wassilent, pro-Nazi, and did little or noth-ing to help the Jews
with evidence.Perhaps only in a backward worldsuch as ours would
the one man whodid more than any other wartime lead-er to help Jews
and other Nazi victims,receive the greatest condemnation.
Account of a confidential Audience in 1942 with Pope Pacelli
The Pope's silence was not out of fear
PAOLO DEZZA
In December 1942, I preached thespiritual exercises in the
Vatican forthe Holy Father. On that occasion Ihad a long Audience
at which, speak-ing to me of the Nazi atrocities inGermany and in
the other occupiedcountries, the Pope expressed his sor-row and
anguish because, he told me.They are complaining that the Pope
does not speak. But the Pope cannotspeak. Were he to speak it
would beworse.
And he reminded me that he hadrecently sent three Letters, one
to theman he described as the heroicArchbishop of Krakow, the
futureCardinal Sapeha, and two others totwo other Polish Bishops in
which hedeplored these Nazi atrocities. Theyanswer me, he said,
with thanks,
but inform me that they cannot pub-lish these Letters because
they wouldaggravate the situation.
And he mentioned the example ofPius X who said, when faced
withsome trouble in Russia: You must besilent precisely in order to
preventgreater evils.
Moreover the falsity of those whosay he kept quiet because he
wantedto support the Nazis against the Rus-sians and Communism was
also clearon this occasion. And I rememberthat he said to me: Yes,
the Commu-
nist threat exists but the threat of theNazis at this time has
become evenmore serious. And he talked to meabout what the Nazis
would havedone had they won.
I remember him saying this to me:They want to destroy the
Churchand crush her like a toad. In the newEurope there would no
longer beroom for the Pope. They are sayingthat he can go to
America. But I amnot afraid and I shall stay here. Andhe said so in
a very firm and assuredmanner which is why it could beclearly seen
that if the Pope remainedsilent it was not out of fear or for
hisown interests, but solely because hedreaded aggravating the
situation ofthe oppressed.
For while he was speaking to me ofthe threat of the invasion of
the Vat-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
Bernard-Henri Lvy's article written after Benedict XVI's visit
to the Jewish commu-nity of Rome and in which he juxtaposes as
scapegoats the figures of Pope Ratzingerand Pope Pacelli has
fuelled a debate. Published in Corriere della Sera on 20 Jan-uary
and launched anew that same day by L'Osservatore Romano and in
Spain on
24 January by El Pas, the piece by the French intellectual has
been extensively com-mented upon. The following article that
responds further to the accusations levelled atPius XII
appearedon22Januaryintheweeklysupplementof
theIsraelidaily,Haaretz.
DIMITRI CAVALLI
Some things never go away. The con-troversy over Pope Pius XII's
actionsduring World War II was recentlyreignited when Pope Benedict
XVIsigned a Decree affirming that his Pre-decessor displayed heroic
virtuesduring his lifetime. When the Pope vis-ited the Great
Synagogue of Rome onSunday, Riccardo Pacifici, president ofRome's
Jewish community, told him:The silence of Pius XII before theShoah
still hurts because somethingshould have been done.
This was not the first time thewartime Pope, who is now a step
closerto beatification, has been accused ofkeeping silent during
the Holocaust, ofdoing little or nothing to help the
Jews, and even of collaborating withthe Nazis. To what extent,
if any, doesthe evidence back up these allegations,which have been
repeated since theearly 1960s?
On April 4, 1933, Eugenio CardinalPacelli, the Vatican Secretary
of State,instructed the Papal Nuncio in Ger-many to see what he
could do to op-pose the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies.On behalf of
Pope Pius XI, CardinalPacelli drafted an Encyclical, entitledMit
brennender Sorge (With BurningAnxiety), that condemned Nazi
doc-trines and persecution of the Catholic
Church. The Encyclical was smuggledinto Germany and read from
Catholicpulpits on March 21, 1937.
Although many Vatican critics to-day dismiss the Encyclical as a
lightslap on the wrist, the Germans saw itas a security threat. For
example, onMarch 26, 1937, Hans Dieckhoff, anofficial in the German
Foreign Min-istry, wrote that the Encyclical con-tains attacks of
the severest nature up-on the German Government, calls up-on
Catholic citizens to rebel againstthe authority of the State, and
there-fore signifies an attempt to endangerinternal peace.
Both Great Britain and Franceshould have interpreted the
documentas a warning that they should not trustAdolf Hitler or try
to appease him.
After the death of Pius XI, CardinalPacelli was elected Pope, on
March 2,1939. The Nazis were displeased withthe new Pontiff, who
took the namePius XII. On March 4, Josep hGoebbels, the German
propagandaminister, wrote in his diary: Middaywith the Fhrer. He is
consideringwhether we should abrogate the con-cordat with Rome in
light of Pacelli'selection as Pope.
During the war, the Pope was farfrom silent: In numerous
speeches andEncyclicals, he championed humanrights for all people
and called on thebelligerent nations to respect the rightsof all
civilians and prisoners of war.Unlike many of the Pope's
latter-daydetractors, the Nazis understood
himverywell.AfterstudyingPius XII's 1942
Christmas message, the Reich CentralSecurity Office concluded:
In a man-ner never known before, the Pope hasrepudiated the
National Socialist New
European Order.... Here he is virtuallyaccusing the German
people of injus-tice toward the Jews and makes him-self the
mouthpiece of the Jewish warcriminals. (Pick up any book
thatcriticizes Pius XII, and you wont findany mention of this
important report.)
In early 1940, the Pope acted as anintermediary between a group
of Ger-man generals who wanted to over-throw Hitler and the British
Govern-ment. Although the conspiracy neverwent forward, Pius XII
kept in closecontact with the German resistanceand heard about two
other plots
against Hitler. In the fall of 1941,through diplomatic channels,
the Popeagreed with Franklin Delano Rooseveltthat America's
Catholics could supportthe President's plans to extend militaryaid
to the Soviet Union after it was in-vaded by the Nazis. On behalf
of theVatican, John T. McNicholas, theArchbishop of Cincinnati,
Ohio, deliv-
On 28 June 1964 LOsservatore della Domenica published
the account by Fr Paolo Dezza, SJ Rector of the
PontificalGregorian University from 1941-1951 of a highly
confidentialAudience granted to him by Pope Pius XII. Fr Dezza was
later
the confessor of Paul VI and of John Paul I, and was created
a Cardinal by John Paul II at the Consistory in 1991. The
fol-lowing is a translation of his article, which was written
inItalian.
