An Open Letter to Catholics on Pius XII

Dear Fellow Catholics:

Pope Pius XII has been the victim of irresponsible charges by the media and certain scholars. Although he is treated scandalously, few Catholics have come to his defense. The world should be honoring and praising Pius XII today, not maligning him.

A Scapegoat for the Crimes of Others

The judgment commonly expressed by those most familiar with the 50 years of attacks on Pius XII is that he has been made a scapegoat for the crimes of others. The bottom line of vilification is that the Holocaust — the most heinous crime of recorded history — has been put on the doorstep of the Vatican. Among some writers there is a mountain of indifference, falsehood, hearsay, conjecture, guesses, and blatant prejudice.

The Holocaust left a nightmare burden of blame to be dealt with. What has motivated flawed and unsound books and articles? Some wrote to justify relatives, co-religionists, their country, themselves, or to strike out against the guilty. Some, who detested everything Catholicism stands for, found that demeaning the pope was a very convenient way to express their distaste. Other marginal Catholics, out to destroy papal authority and change the Church into a voice of political correctness, looked on Pius XII as the personification of all that was wrong with the Church. Then, there were some writers and academics who greatly enhanced their careers by attacking Pius XII.

Books exposing the supposed failures of popes have always appealed to passionate “reformers,” and today there are grants to be had, prizes to be won, and money to be earned. It seems the more blatantly a book attacks Pius XII, the better it has sold. Hitler’s Pope took the market by storm. It has now been demolished by competent scholars.

The Evidence is on Our Side

No scholarly evidence warrants such defamation of Pius XII. Since the 1960s it has been considered the height of intelligence and virtue to attack revealed religion and religious authority. Pius XII was a perfect target. Yet the evidence on which his defamation has been based is almost totally fabricated. According to historian Robert F. Graham, S.J., it is a “fabricated scandal.” Documents and events may always be interpreted differently. But “different” does not defend inaccurate interpretations.

It is very significant that Pope Pius XII had the nearly unanimous praise of all his contemporaries, a fact mostly ignored by his detractors. He does not appeal to modern sensibilities largely because he was always teaching the Gospel and Catholic doctrine to a world deafened by nationalism and the drums of war. Most importantly, not one of the charges against him holds up under careful analysis.

There is absolutely no evidence that Pope Pius XII did anything wrong or stupid; there is overwhelming evidence that he did virtually everything right, and that he acted only after the most careful and penetrating analysis of every possibility and after fervent prayer.

It is Time to Defend the Church

Catholics should make sure they are informed and do not inadvertently support denigration of Pius XII or the Church. They should issue public statements on the matter, encourage the appearance of knowledgeable speakers at Catholic colleges and schools, sponsor research, recommend articles in diocesan newspapers and magazines, promote the production of films on Catholics who rescued Jews, and look into setting up prizes for genuine works of scholarship and inspiring works of creativity.

Catholics should defend the Church and counter these attacks against Pius XII, a saintly servant of God whose beatification will undoubtedly take place. The case for his sanctity is one of the strongest ever presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Below are three copies of letters written to help clear the record. I hope these models encourage you to come to the defense of our Church and one of her exemplary servants.

© Copyright 2004 Catholic Exchange

Margherita Marchione, Ph.D., is the author of: Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy (1997); Pius XII: Architect for Peace (2002); Shepherd of Souls: A Pictorial Life of Pius XII (2002). More of her books, including Man of Peace (2003) Paulist Press, The Fighting Nun: My Story (Cornwell Books, New York/London, 2000), Pope Pius XII (Ancora Press, Milan, 2003) and Bilingual Italian-English and Spanish-English Coloring Books can be found at the the Paulist Press website.

An Open Letter on Pius XII and the Media

Dear Editor:

This generation should be talking about the debt of gratitude it owes Pope Pius XII (1939-1958), not maligning him. Indeed, there is an abundance of evidence testifying to his courage and integrity, as well as to his efforts to prevent World War II and to shelter countless victims, including Jews. During nineteen years of unprecedented violence and change, he led the papacy in a ceaseless search for peace.

The Catholic Church has survived persecutions for two thousand years. Political and ideological attacks against Pius XII and the current controversy — claiming “silence,” “moral culpability,” or “anti-Semitism” — prevalent in the media today, mislead Catholics. They are a serious misreading of a great and heroic pontiff. As the public record attests, Eugenio Pacelli brought to the service of the Church and to humanity his deep commitment to the poor, the sick and afflicted, and to those especially who suffered because of World War II and the ideologies that provoked it.

In his scholarly book, The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (Oxford University Press, 2003), Philip Jenkins, a member of the Episcopal Church, contends that today’s anti-Catholicism stems from the radical social changes in the 1960s. These led to the rise of interest groups such as feminists and homosexual activists who oppose the Church. He believes that the mainstream media downplay even the most violent anti-Catholic actions: “Catholics and Catholicism are at the receiving end of a great deal of startling vituperation in contemporary America.”

Pius XII inspired the wartime organization, the Sword of the Spirit, led by Cardinal Hinsley of Great Britain. This was an ecumenical organization that published a monthly bulletin to bring together Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Monographs included topics on freedom, education, social and economic problems by Christopher Dawson, John Murray, S.J., Barbara Ward and other well-known writers.

The group published a series of leaflets on wartime activities. These offer proof of Pope Pius XII’s embrace of all peoples and faiths. Among the pamphlets, one title is: “Voice of the Vatican” by Robert Speaight. In it the author answers the question, “What is the pope’s attitude towards the belligerent nations and the issues for which they are fighting?” He analyzes the policy of Vatican Radio and shows how uncompromisingly it spoke on the moral and spiritual problems raised by the war. In “The Pope and the Jews,” A.C.F. Beales describes the struggle of the Catholic Church against anti-Semitism during the War. Certainly, such contemporary commentaries deserve to be carefully considered.

An Open Letter to Help Clear the Record

Dear Editor:

Several writers have rekindled the old debate about Pius XII’s alleged “anti-Semitism.” They make no mention of the evidence presented at the Nuremberg Trials demonstrating the Vatican’s repeated protests, nor do they describe the anger these protests provoked within Nazi ranks. They do not refer to the explicit statements in defense of Jews and against “Hitler,” “Germany,” and “Nazism,” used by the Vatican Radio and published in L’Osservatore Romano. Why are these sources ignored? These statements were often written by Pope Pius XII himself.

For some, Pope Pius XII was the enormously respected Church leader whose Christmas messages during and immediately after the Second World War prepared the way for democratic governments throughout much of Europe. For others, including John Paul II, John XXIII and Paul VI, Pope Pius XII not only played a key role in preparing for the Council, but his words were the most frequently quoted after Holy Scripture.

Testimonials of survivors of the Holocaust also make it perfectly clear that the pope was not anti-Semitic or indifferent to the fate of the Jews and that he did everything possible to help them. In a letter dated June 18, 1997, historian and Holocaust survivor Michael Tagliacozzo, director of Beth Lohame Haghettaot Center in Italy clearly expressed his sentiments: “In my study of the conditions of the Jews (The Roman Community during the Nightmare of the Swastika, November 1963), I pointed out the generous and vast activity of the Church in favor of the victims. I learned how great was Pope Pacelli’s paternal solicitude. No honest person can discount the merits attributed to him.”

In this study, Michael Tagliacozzo stated: “Pope Pacelli was the only one who intervened to impede the deportation of Jews on October 16, 1943, and he did very much to hide and save thousands of us. It was no small matter that he ordered the opening of cloistered convents. Without him, many of our own would not be alive.”

An excerpt from his correspondence of August 8, 2004, reiterates his convictions: “Any apology on the actions of Pius XII must be considered superfluous. This is clear to all men of good will and is entrusted above all to the memory of those Jews, now living, who have not forgotten the efforts and solicitude of Pope Pacelli….”

Regarding the shameful campaign of defamation, Tagliacozzo writes: “To refute this injustice, it suffices to recall the precious testimonials of Jews who lived during that tragic period of history. Among those thanking the Pope in 1943, were Israeli soldiers who came from Palestine; Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog; David Ben Gurion, Head of the Israeli Government; Golda Meir, Foreign Minister; the three Rabbis of Rome, Israel Zolli, David Prato and Elio Toaff; Gideon Hausner, Procurator General of the State of Israel; Nahum Goldmann, President of the World Jewish Congress.

“To these one must add the countless expressions of gratitude of those whose lives were saved in the religious houses in Rome, Assisi and elsewhere. Even if gratitude was expressed directly to the Institutions who protected them, the merit goes to Pope Pacelli who, on October 16, 1943, gave orders to open the doors of the parishes, convents and monasteries to save the Jews from deportation.”

By what right do some critics discount the testimonials of survivors and rescuers? Sir Martin Gilbert — another contemporary historian — praised Pius XII’s efforts on behalf of the Jews during a TV interview broadcast February 2, 2004 on C-Span.

Catholic and non-Catholic historians have cleared Pius XII’s record. Pope John Paul II, in his historic address to Jewish representatives at Miami, on September 11, 1987, declared: “I am convinced that history will reveal even more clearly and even more convincingly how profoundly Pius XII felt the tragedy of the Jewish people, and how intensely and effectively he applied himself to assist them in the Second World War.”

One of the most hidden operations during World War II is the Vatican Information Service. It is the story of the Vatican’s efforts to discover information about missing prisoners of war. In September 1939, Pius XII instituted and personally supervised the founding and organization of this bureau. In June 2004, this story was published in book and DVD formats. Pius XII was the only leader in the world who cared for prisoners of war through this papal communication service. In the greatest rescue program in history, Pope Pius XII steered a careful course through chaos during World War II. His many acts of courage and mercy speak for themselves. To all he was a beacon of hope.

An Open Letter on Help to Slovakian Jews

Dear Editor:

When the deportation of 80,000 Slovak Jews became known in March 1942, the Vatican reacted immediately. The warning came from the papal representative in Bratislava and soon after another anguished appeal came from the papal nuncio in Hungary. Reporting on March 9, the Vatican official in Slovakia described the deportation as “an atrocious plan”: “The deportation of 80,000 persons to Poland, at the mercy of the Germans, is equivalent to condemning them to certain death.” In reply to the protests of Cardinal Maglione, Secretary of State, the Slovak official explanation was that these Jews were going to “work.” Their treatment, it was said, would be “humane.” A year later the government in Slovakia announced a new wave of deportations against which, as before, the Vatican protested.

Meanwhile Pius XII, warned by Nuncio Angelo Rotta in Budapest, on June 25 sent a famous “open telegram” to the Hungarian Regent, Admiral Horthy, on behalf of those suffering “because of their nationality or their race.”

The situation became almost identical in Slovakia. The papal representative at Bratislava reported that the hunting down of Jews was continuing and, in general, the government and the president (Dr. Josef Tiso, a priest) were servile executors of the orders of the occupation. The telegram of reply was signed by Monsignor Domenico Tardini of the Secretariat of State on October 29, 1944 (the original draft bearing the handwritten corrections of Pius XII): “Your Excellency shall go at once to President Tiso and, informing him of the profound distress of His Holiness for the sufferings to which so many persons are subjected against the laws of humanity and justice — because of their nationality or race. Summon him, in the name of the August Pontiff, to sentiments and resolutions conformable to his dignity and conscience as a priest. Let him know also that these injustices committed under his Government damage the prestige of his country and that the adversary exploits them to discredit the clergy and the Church in the whole world.”

A new book, The Holocaust in Slovakia and the Catholic Church (“L'Olocausto nella Slovacchia e la Chiesa Cattolica”), written by Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, was published by the Vatican Publishing House. Contrary to what critics of Pius XII state, this book attests to the Holy See's intervention to prevent the persecution of Jews in Slovakia during World War II.

This book recounts the history of Slovakia from 1939 to 1945 and analyzes how the Church intervened to rescue Jews. Monsignor Brandmuller describes the political, social and religious situation and studies the persecution measures against Jews. He includes previously unpublished documents and speaks of the reaction of the Slovakian bishops, clergy and faithful. He also reports on the perception of excessive influence of the Jewish section of the population on the economic life of Slovakia. However, among the Catholic population sentiments changed in favor of the Jews as soon as the persecution measures were introduced by the German National Socialists.

Monsignor Brandmuller includes the texts of communications of the Slovakian bishops and other original documents. He also analyzes documents collected in the archives of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesial Questions which are still not available for publication as well as the Actes et Documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, published in 1970-1981. He presents a very different assessment of the role that the president of the Slovakian republic, Josef Tiso, a Catholic priest, played. He explains the policy that Pius XII and the Holy See adopted in face of the persecution, and how they intervened to save the Jews. Pope Pius XII's policy was to influence the Slovakian government through diplomatic channels, in order to stop the persecution of Jews and their deportations to Polish extermination camps.

This book makes us understand how the appropriate interpretation of the sources allows the contribution of Pius XII and Vatican diplomacy to be seen in the just light of rescue of the Jews, against all the accusations and suspicions that have been raised. The Jews expressed gratitude to Pius XII, both when he was alive as well as after his death.

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