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New documents fuel debate over Pius XII
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 01, 2010
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Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionTwo new documents concerning Pius XII and the Holocaust unearthed in an English archive seem destined to add fuel to the fire of an already polarized debate about the World War II-era pope’s alleged “silence.”
Italian news agencies are reporting today that the first document is a brief account of an Oct. 19, 1943, meeting between Pius XII and the American Ambassador to the Holy See, Harold Tittmann. Although that session came just three days after the deportation of Roman Jews by the Nazis, the subject apparently did not arise.
Instead, Tittmann reported that Pius XII urged the Allies to ensure that the city of Rome did not become a battleground.
Pius XII also expressed concern, according to the document, about “small bands of Communists” operating around the city which might commit acts of violence between the departure of German occupying forces and the arrival of the Allies. Reportedly, he also stated that up to that point, the German occupiers had demonstrated respect for the Holy See.
The second document, apparently much longer, is a report of a November 1944 conversation between Pius XII and British Ambassador Francis D’Arcy Osborne. According to that text, D’Arcy Osborne pressed the pope to denounce the Nazi deportation of Jews then unfolding in Hungary.
Pius replied that he was also under pressure to denounce Soviet war crimes in Poland and the Baltic states, something D’Arcy Osborne urged him not to do because of its possible impact on public opinion. At the time, the Soviets were an ally of the United States and Great Britain.
According to today’s reports, Pius XII said he was still considering what to do, but that in any event, a papal condemnation would be “anonymous,” meaning that he would denounce abuses without mentioning the guilty parties by name.
When D’Arcy Osborne insisted that Soviet conduct could not be compared to the mass extermination of Jews in gas chambers by the Nazis, according to his report, Pius XII agreed.
Some commentators in the Italian press have predicted that the new documents put Pius XII in an unflattering light, confirming his general reluctance to speak out directly against the Nazis.
However, Andrea Riccardi, the founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio as well as a lay Catholic historian and a veteran of Catholic/Jewish dialogue, argued that they can be read in a different light.
The first document, Riccardi said, simply confirms Pius XII’s already well known concern for keeping Rome safe. The second, he said, illustrates his larger approach to crimes against humanity during the war – “to denounce the sin, but not the sinner.”
Pius’ agreement with D’Arcy Osborne that the Nazi campaign against the Jews could not be compared to other war crimes, Riccardi argued, is a “sign that the pope was aware of the historical enormity of the Shoah as a crime without precedents.”
The two documents were revealed by Italian researchers Mario J. Cereghino and Giuseppe Casarrubea, best known for their work on the mafia.
Andrea Tornielli argues that
Andrea Tornielli argues that the documents are neither new nor damaging to the Venerable Pius XII. http://blog.ilgiornale.it/tornielli/2010/02/01/falso-scoop-su-pio-xii-se...
http://blog.ilgiornale.it/tor
http://blog.ilgiornale.it/tornielli/2010/02/01/falso-scoop-su-pio-xii-se...
I cannot discern what went on
I cannot discern what went on during this period of time in our pontiff's mind. I do not think it would have mattered anyhow. i support Israel and their people. Stalin killed a lot more innocents than the nazis. I would hope something will emerge to exonerate this matter and we can move on. The world is NOW and it has trouble enough.
By not getting our history
By not getting our history correct, by not getting to the truth, we are doing injustice to those that were oppressed and killed. We can't move on until, this monstrous act is brought to full light. We can't move on until this is done. It is like some abused child that comes to you and tells you what happened to them 30 years ago and you tell them to 'Move on'. You don't understand that these events have to be righted and corrected in order for healing and wholeness to occur. Tom Powell
We will never get our history
We will never get our history correct because it keeps changing from one generation to the next. Remember that the Victors write the History not the Losers....God knows the true history..It's time to move on and pray that all is well with what you do today......God Bless....
The United States did not
The United States did not have an ambassador to the Vatican in 1943. Roosevelt had a "personal representative" to the pope ... dramatically different from an ambassador. And his name was Myron Taylor, not Harold Tittman.
Nice job checking the facts on that one.
Also, D'Arcy Osborne is well known by Pius XII supporters as a less than credible source on anything. Pius XII was an intermediary for German Generals that planned to assassinate Hitler. Pius brought the plan to Osborne who, in turn, ignored it.
Although you are right that
Although you are right that the US did not have an ambassador at this time and that the President's emissary was Myron Taylor, you neglected to note that the US presence at the Vatican was larger than one person. Harold Tittman served as the Assistant Chief of the U.S. delegation to the Vatican and was recorded as having met with Pius XII to discuss the issue of German atrocities at least once in October of 1941.
It is not clear what your point is about Francis D'Arcy Osborne. Assuming Pius was an intermediary for the plot against Hitler (hard to imagine given that it involved assassination, which Pius no doubt would have regarded as a mortal sin), what was Osborne supposed to do with that information aside from pass it along to his superiors at the Foreign Office in London?
Interesting. Also these are
Interesting.
Also these are diplomatic memos. And one doesn't generally speak one's heart in diplomacy.
But, I'm curious about the reference to the American ambasador to the Holy See. I thought we didn't have one until the Reagan administration?
Pius XII was involved in
Pius XII was involved in drafting an earlier encyclical - "With Burning Sorrow" issued in German in the mid 1930s, that categorically denounced the practices of the Nazis with respect to Jews under their political jurisdiction (without mentioning Germany by name. How many Encyclicals have been issued in German, rather than Latin?) In any event, the publication of that encyclical had no measurable effect on the conduct of the German govt. This was BEFORE Krystallnacht.
None of the criticisms of Pius XII's supposed silence emerged before the 1963 play "The Deputy". At Pius's death in 1958, many Jews, both in Israel and outside, spoke warmly of him, and his role in saving Jewish lives during the war.
There is evidence that the Soviet govt., in Postwar Europe, spread lies about Pius, trying to reduce the influence of the Papacy in occupied Eastern Europe.
TeaPot562
Only the Vatican would dare
Only the Vatican would dare to hold up "Mit Brennender Sorge" as some sort of example of its righteous attitude towards the Jewish people.
The Encyclical "Mit Brennener Sorge" [14 March 1937] had nothing whatever to do with the Jews.
On the contrary, it incited hatred towards them as a "people."
"Whoever wishes to see banished from church and school the Biblical history and the wise doctrines of the Old Testament, blasphemes the name of God, blasphemes the Almighty's plan of salvation, and makes limited and narrow human thought the judge of God's designs over the history of the world: he denies his faith in the true Christ, such as He appeared in the flesh, the Christ who took His human nature from a people that was to crucify Him; and he understands nothing of that universal tragedy of the Son of God who to His torturer's sacrilege opposed the divine and priestly sacrifice of His redeeming death, and made the new alliance the goal of the old alliance, its realization and its crown.
Mit Brennender Sorge did not condemn Nazism as such, only its "idolatrous" aspects. What is did condemn wholeheartedly was the concept of a Reich Church, a German National Church based on race i.e. the German race, set up in opposition to the indivisible, universal church [Rome] which knows no race. It condemned the concept of German racial superiority seeing that the Universal Church consists of all races, and it condemned interference in church affairs.
"Faith in the Church cannot stand pure and true without the support of faith in the primacy of the Bishop of Rome...Should men, who are not even united by faith in Christ, come and offer you the seduction of a national German Church, be convinced that it is nothing but a denial of the one Church of Christ. [22]
"He who searches the hearts and reins (Psalm vii. 10) is Our witness that We have no greater desire than to see in Germany the restoration of a true peace between Church and State." [43]
This Andrea Riccardi, in his
This Andrea Riccardi, in his less than credible explanation (apologetic)of Pius documentation sounds more like John Allan J. himself. These documents, if believed, would seem to confirm that Pius was cognizant of the enormity of the German crimes against the Jews, yet still said nothing, hid behind the "respect" of the Nazis for the "Holy See" and,as other historians suggest,his belief that "godless" communism posed a greater danger than Hitler (in Rome and in the world).
The canonization of Pope Pius XII is not just an act of Benedict XVI (for his own less than honourable reasons) is an act of our, my church. It is not a message I want to be associated with to the world or to my Jewish brothers and sisters.
We cannot change what Pope
We cannot change what Pope Pius XII said or did not say and since he did not say anything that put his infalabilety in jebertey No one can blame Mother Church for any thing. Stop dragging up the past and worry abought now with this culture of death we live in. Pray the Rosary and hope God will have mercy on us. Pray Pray Pray.
Douglas White
The transcribed message to
The transcribed message to Washington from Harold Tittmann is dated October 19th, but this is a mistake. Vatican records show that the meeting between Pius and Tittmann took place on October 14th. In fact, L=Osservatore Romano of October 15, 1943 reported on page one (top of the first column) that Tittmann was received by the Pope in a private audience on October 14, 1943. Apparently a handwritten "4" was misread as a "9" when the documents were typed. The Pope did not mention the roundup of Jews because it had not yet happened! His concern was that a group of Communists would commit a violent act and this would lead to serious repercussions. Of course, he proved to be exactly correct the following spring.
So, in November 1944, the
So, in November 1944, the British ambassador in Rome knew that the Nazis were conducting mass exterminations of Jews in gas chambers? That the British (supposedly) knew this already at this time is the real historical shocker! If they did, they certainly didn't speak out...
70 years after the events,
70 years after the events, Katyn still remains an unspoken and unprosecuted crime, responsibility for which "Mother Russia" still sloughs off, and for which everybody who is ready to beat themselves raw over the Jewish Holocaust remain strangely silent.
Jan Karski, the Polish
Jan Karski, the Polish patriot (and later professor at Georgetown), informed the British and American governments about the exterminations of the Jews after the Polish underground sent him secretly out of Poland to report to London in 1942.
Indeed, and both the British
Indeed, and both the British and the American governments ignored him (instead of taking action as he suggested such as, for example, bombing the rail lines to the camps). In the US the leaders of the Jewish Congress refused to believe him...
John! Great job on being fair
John! Great job on being fair in your article! I appreciate it! As for me, the biggest impact is that Pius XII acknowledged the Shoah as an unparalleled crime against humanity and that Pius XII exceeded my expectations by making it a point to address ALL international incidents & potential threats. Well done, Pope Pius XII.
One of the reasons that EVIL
One of the reasons that EVIL triumphs over GOOD is that many of us continue to live in the past. By doing this we tend to be critical of everything. Satan wants nothing more than to point you in this direction by presenting information that will be interpreted in the negative sense. To live for Christ Jesus and to live in him is to not judge lest ye be judged. Trying to place blame for things that happened 70 years ago is defeating the teachings of Christ Jesus. Those who criticize need to look at themselves first for there in lies the problem. Pray for ALL people and remember the past only as a reminder to not make the same mistake again. May God forgive them for they know not what they do...........
Everyone who makes
Everyone who makes conclusions on Pius' behaviour during WWII based solely on these 2 documents is really short sighted. What do the prove? Nothing! They prove that he didnt spoke about the Jews in ONE conversation. Was he the Pope of the jews? Should he have spoken about the jews on EVERY occasion with EVERY person he met? The first priority of the Pope is the church. Many people dont get this. If he had wordly power, that is, if we had a real catholic state, the holocaust never would have happened. But thats what you get if you have atheists in power.
Why doesn't the NCR reveal
Why doesn't the NCR reveal the research on a Fr. Pancratius Pfeiffer, the Religious General of the Society of the Divine Savior. He lived a stone's-throw from the Vatican and was supposedly a go-between Pius and the German occupying force in Rome. That might throw a very different light on the subject.
These "news" belabor old
These "news" belabor old facts: We all know that Pius XII was in a terrible position: According to ordinary rationality and Prudence he had to do the maximum POSSIBLE: He was stuck between Staline and Hitler. Ultimately Staline was worse than Hitler.
Also, JUST BEFPRE the attack on Rome, and already AFTER the deportation of jews, what should Pius XII, - given the very littloe power he had,- tell have told the US Power? Blabber for future newpaper reports?
Maybe, if he had known in Summer 44, Pius XII should have urged the Americans NOT to stay along the Rhine during the 44/45 Winter bur rather TO MOVE ON and shorten Hitler`s evil power over the GErmans.
My city in Alsace, Mulhouse, was liberated in November 44 by a handful of Frenchmen, while the US-led front already stabilized for the Winter,with the result that MOST PEOPLE - MOST JEWS - IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS were killed during that long Winter of very low military action
As I grew older and realized the US political decision making I grew angry at the silence of the US Jews during that Winter. It also made me furious at the Newspapers-and-Jewish-talks about Pius XII, rather then about the US Jews who knew about the concentration camps, which the US army could have liberated.
Pius XII was stuck inbetween many contradictory tasks. Why did the much freer US Voices remain silent? And are these Voices now concentrating on Pius XII to hide their own silences? subconsciously throwing veils over their own behavior?
In Alsace the feelings are different. Even in the eighties, I remember talking with Jewish friends, still furious and desperate because it had been impossible for them to convince relatives to leave Cologne, even in 1938... Or to prevent in 1941 Friends to return Home to "then officially German" Alsace from the non-occupied French Midi to which the French had moved many Alsatians in 1939.
It is hard to draw any solid
It is hard to draw any solid conclusions from the little information that is offered here. Did the notes of Mr. Tittman and Mr. D'Arcy Osborne report everything that was said at those meetings, or only what the writers thought was important? The notes probably reveal more about American and English policies toward German atrocities than they do about Pius XII's.
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