What part did the Vatican play during WWII & the Holocaust?

Question

I tried researching and I learned the Pope Pius XII did help save a lot of Jews but there is also mention of him being Hitlers "Pope". Just wondering if anyone could help clear this up. Thanks!

Answer 1

"Pius XII? This is the only human being who has always contradicted me and who has never obeyed me." Adolf Hitler --- from Hans Jansen's The Silent Pope? (2000)

In October 1958 in front of the United Nations General Assembly, Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel, said of Pope Pius XII at his death :

''During the 10 years of n**i terror, when our people went through the horrors of martyrdom, the Pope raised his voice to condemn the persecutors and commiserate with their victims.''

Some of the Jewish organizations that praised Pope Pius XII at the time of his death for saving Jewish lives during the horror of the n**i Holocaust were:

+ The World Jewish Congress

+ The American Jewish Committee

+ The American Jewish Congress

+ The Anti-Defamation League

+ The Central Conference of American Rabbis

+ The National Conference of Christians and Jews

+ The National Council of Jewish Women.

+ The New York Board of Rabbis

+ The Rabbinical Council of America

+ The Synagogue Council of America

No serious scholar contests the evidence that Pius XII took direct and indirect measures to save Jews from the n**i death machine.

At the start of World War II, Pope Pius XII’s first encyclical was so anti-Hitler that the Royal Air Force and the French air force dropped 88,000 copies of it over Germany. Here is a link to the Summi Pontificatus: Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the Unity of Human Society, October 20, 1939: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_x...

Unfortunately the Soviet Union and others had been trying to convince the world that the Catholic Church was pro-n**i since the death of Pope Pius in 1958. Here are some sources:

+ The KGB made corrupting the Church a priority: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTU...

+ The KGB campaign against Pius XII: http://www.the-tidings.com/2007/021607/d...

+ Pius XII and the Jews: http://web.archive.org/web/2001091910070...

+ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/w...

See also "The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews From the n***s" by Rabbi David G. Dalin which has compiled further overwhelming proof of Pope Pius XII"s friendship for the Jews beginning long before he became pope.

"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly. "

- Albert Einstein, Time Magazine, December 23, 1940 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...

See also:

+ The Holy See vs. the Third Reich by Ronald J. Rychlak http://soli.inav.net/~jfischer/oct98/ron...

+ Jewish Historian Praises Pius XII's Wartime Conduct by Michael Tagliacozzo http://academics.smcvt.edu/pcouture/jewi...

+ Did Pius XII Remain Silent? by Fr William Saunders http://catholiceducation.org/articles/re...

+ Cornwell's Cheap Shot at Pius XII by Dr. Peter Gumpel http://www.catholicculture.org/library/v...

+ Pius XII and the Jews: The War Years, as reported by the New York Times by by Rev. Msgr. Stephen M. DiGiovanni, H.E.D. http://www.catholicleague.org/pius/piusn...

+ Righteous Gentile: Pope Pius XII and the Jews by Rabbi David Dalin, Ph. D. http://www.catholicleague.org/pius/dalin...

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I read he saved many thousands of Jews with the help of many Catholics who risked their lives. But that is no reason to stop hating Christians and Catholics and cling to hate forever. Just can keep passing it on to each new generation. Now that is what I call getting even. I am scared of you!