What is the Truth About WWII, the Pope Back Then and the Jews


I just finished reading The Pope at War; The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini and Hitler by David I. Kertzer. It is a long history book; one you would not expect to be exciting. I found it was hard to put down as the well-known history of WWII unfolded.  

Countless times I've seen both views of Pius XII. One view is he did everything he could to avert the war and save the Jews. Another view is he was chummy with Hilter and Mussolini and really put the Catholic Church into their camps. The book is new and unique in that a trove of records from WWII was just released. Author Kertzer went through them. Remarkably, they include confidential letters exchanged between Pius, Mussolini and Hilter as well as reports officials from Italy, Germany and the U.S. filed after visits with Pius. There were, of course, newspaper reports on the war over its duration. 

When Hitler started his invasions, the Pope, and much of Europe I suppose, thought he would conquer most or all of the continent quickly. Mussolini of Italy wanted to be a big player in the victory of fascism over democracies, but he could not round up much of an army. He thought he would be a big player, however, by delivering the Pope's endorsement of Hitler's fascism to Hitler. Mussolini did just that. 

While leaders around the world wrote to the Pope and sent emissaries to plead with him, he refused to condemn the invasion. Leaders in the Jewish community called on him and his aids begging for at least a statement of shame to Hitler and his side kick, Mussolini, for rounding up Jews and gassing them. The Pope in his correspondence and in his visits with foreign leaders refused to do either. Pius XII consistently wrote to both Hitler and Mussolini, and said the same to visiting officials, "I have no problem with fascism or its leaders." The Pope consistently expressed criticism of damaged Catholic property and closing of some Catholic schools. His interests were not in any way with the Jews or democracy. 

Many Jews, however, were hidden by Catholic families and individual priests. It's safe to say a lot of lives were saved by these Catholics. This is no credit to the Pope, however, who was a quite slippery and untrustworthy character. Eventually, the Vatican Secretary of State died. The Pope never replaced him because, like Trump, he considered himself a genius at international relationships.

Today we see the Catholic hierarchy doing crafty things to pay as little as possible to victims of sexual abuse. There is bankruptcy and shifting of funds to cemetery foundations. During WWII the thinking was the same. Helping the Jews, even saying something on their behalf, did not help the huge Catholic institution. Pius thought his job was protecting the church and its property, not doing what we would call his Christian duty.

 

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