Pope Pius XII Vicar of Christ Servant of God Deserving of Sainthood

On May 8, 2007, members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously to recommend that Pope Benedict XVI formerly declare Pope Pius XII "Venerable." Hopefully this recognition that Pope Pius XII lived the Christian virtues in a heroic manner will bring an end to the controversy over whether he did enough in defense of the Jews and other victims of the Nazis. The thirty cardinals and bishops-from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Japan, and the USA-studied six volumes of documents comprising more than 3,000 pages.

However, soon after the anouncement, Abraham H. Foxman, National Anti-Defamation League Director and a Holocaust survivor, urged Pope Benedict XVI to suspend the action taken by the Vatican Congregation regarding Pius XII's "heroic virtues" until all Pius XII documents in the Vatican Archives are made available.

Ever since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, every pope from John XXIII to Benedict XVI noted his sanctity. In fact, in his first Christmas message, John XXIII said his predecessor was worthy of canonization and called him, "Supreme doctor, light of holy mother Church, lover of the divine law." Pope John Paul II at the start of his 1987 visit to the United States, defended Pius XII during a meeting with Jewish leaders, recalling "how deeply he felt about the tragedy of the Jewish people, and how hard and effectively he worked to assist them during the Second World War."

It was Pope Pius XII who authorized false baptismal certificates to save Jewish lives. He also distributed visas for Jews to enter other countries, and ordered the superiors of convents and monasteries to open their doors and hide Jews and other victims of the Nazis and Fascists. Angelo Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) who also distributed many certifcates stated that all he was doing was following the Pope's directives.

Almost fifty years have passed since Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, then Apostolic Nuncio in Istanbul, wrote in his Diary about an audience with Pope Pius XII on October 10, 1941. He declared that the Pope's statements were "prudent."

It is interesting to note that when news of Pius XII's death on October 9, 1958, was flashed around the world, an editorial, "Fighter for Peace," in the Los Angeles Examiner expressed the sentiments of Catholics and non-Catholics, and declared that this Fighter for Peace was the Pope of Peace. Of those mourning the pope's death, Jews-who credited him with being one of their greatest benefactors-were in the forefront.

Did Pope Pius XII help the Jews? Indeed he did. Nor can one claim he was "silent." Rather one must speak of his "prudence." In his Christmas radio messages of '41, '42, and '43 following this audience, Pope Pius XII denounced theories that attribute rights to "a particular race." He revealed that "hundreds of thousands of people, through no fault of theirs, sometimes only because of nationality or race, were destined to die."

During World War II, 1939—45, and for nearly twenty years after, Pope Pius XII was almost universally regarded as a saintly man, a scholar, a man of peace, a tower of strength, and a compassionate defender and protector of all victims of the war and genocide that had drowned Europe in blood for six years. At the end of the war Western nations paid tribute to his steadfast efforts on behalf of the oppressed. Jews heaped praise on him for his help in their darkest hour and, at his death thirteen years later, they were among the first to express sorrow and gratitude for his solicitude for Jews during the Holocaust.

In the 1960s, however, there began a campaign of vilification against the Pope. The overall effect was to replace the judgment of Pius XII as a great and good man with the judgment of him as a weak, cold, church bureaucrat. Today the media, liberal Catholics, academicians, and editorial commentators with few exceptions accept as unquestionably true the claims made by his detractors - that he lacked courage, human compassion, and a deep sense of moral rectitude. Even when no solid evidence is provided to support such demeaning allegations, he is judged guilty of a sin of omission, such as not having personally raged against Hitler or not having excommunicated all Catholics serving under Hitler.

The accusers' strategy is to rewrite history, to ignore the reality of who had the power and the will to destroy mercilessly from 1933 to 1944 and to pretend that Pius XII possessed some kind of extraordinary ability that no one else in the world had - to make Hitler obey him. Their essential logic is this simple: the Holocaust occurred, millions died, and the mighty Pope refused to exercise his incredible authority. Therefore, he is guilty and shares responsibility for the Nazi crimes. (p. 13)

Still, Pius XII’s critics insist that if he had confronted Hitler directly - publicly excommunicating him and all who supported him - that German Catholics might have risen up in revolt. That is the accusation of the New York Times of March 18. 1998: “The Pope did not encourage Catholics to defy Nazis’ orders.” The idea that the Pope could bring about massive German defiance is completely implausible. Nearly ten years of Nazi rule had proved that anyone, Catholic or Communist, brave enough to defy the Nazis was immediately seized and punished. The Times first endows the Pope with power he did not possess and then demands that he act on that power. Essentially, it is a demand that he should have accepted the sacrifice of innocent people. The only certain result of papal moral rage would have been Hitler’s immoral rage. Further, the historical record on excommunications is clear. They have been notoriously ineffective over the last four or five centuries. Excommunicating Luther did not slow Protestantism nor did it cow Henry VIII nor any subsequent king or emperor out to humble and loot the Vatican. A pontifical excommunication against the Catholic powers of Venice (1606) only succeeded in demonstrating the uselessness of the act. Those who vest Pius XII’s Vatican with the kind of power held for a limited period in the Middle Ages but never demonstrated before or since are being disingenuous. It is unconscionable to malign a brave and good man with such feeble arguments.

In February 1945 Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog of Palestine stated: “The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion, which form the very foundations of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in this world.”

Jewish leaders worldwide recognized the greatness of Pius XII - the Pope who had saved the lives of so many thousands of people without distinction of race, nationality, or religion. The Jewish Post reported: “It is understandable why the death of Pope Pius XII should have called forth expressions of sincere grief from practically all sections of American Jewry. For there probably was not a single ruler of our generation who did more to help the Jews in their hour of greatest tragedy, during the Nazi occupation of Europe, than the late Pope.”

Today the principal admirers of Pius XII are devout Catholics, those who have studied his life and actions, the Vatican, and John Paul II. Those who have most carefully reviewed every day of his life and every word that he wrote - select members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints - are so convinced of his worthiness that they are pushing forward his cause for beatification and canonization.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Pope Pius XII and the Anti-Defamation League

INTRODUCTION