'A Violent Attack Against the Catholic Church'

VATICAN CITY — Here are excerpts from a translation of a statement made July 26 by Jesuit Father Peter Gumpel, a historian and postulator of the cause of beatification of Pius XII. The Vatican authorized the declaration.

In recent days, a violent attack has been unleashed again against the Catholic Church. The occasion for this defamatory campaign follows the decision of the Jewish-Catholic study group to suspend its activity.

This mixed study group was established in 1999 with the specific task to examine the 12 volumes of the work “Actes et Documents du Saint Siége relatifs à la seconde guerre mondiale,” which includes all the documents of the Vatican archives during the Second World War.

This initiative was praiseworthy in itself, leading to in-depth study of the historical truth regarding the activity of the Supreme Pontiff, Pius XII, during the Second World War, with special reference to his work of assistance to the persecuted Jews.

Anyone who has read this work can see how the Supreme Pontiff made every possible effort to save as many lives as possible, without any distinctions whatsoever. Unfortunately, this aspect was not sufficiently examined and considered by the said group.

Instead, from the beginning of the work, some — not all — of the members of the Jewish component of the group publicly spread the suspicion that the Holy See was trying to conceal documents that, in its judgment, would have been compromising.

These persons then repeatedly leaked distorted and tendentious news, communicating it to the international press.

Although aware of this manifestly incorrect behavior, the Holy See continued to encourage the discussion, despite the fact it had the possibility and right to withdraw from its participation in this group.

Indeed, in the course of an academic discussion, the least that can be expected from participants is an attitude of mutual respect and reciprocal trust regarding the honesty of the participants. Despite the Holy See's total willingness to continue the work of historical research, it was noted that not all the group's components, and perhaps not even one, had read the 12 volumes that were to be examined.

Each member of the group examined two volumes, and each one of them should have written a report. At the end of this preliminary work, the disparity in the judgments was such that Eugene Fisher, the group's coordinator, said: “They were so different in form and substance that a joint summary report would have been most difficult to write.”

At this point, the group decided to formulate and transmit to the Holy See a list of 47 questions. Among other things, the group requested the possibility to examine all the documents kept in the Vatican archives and not published to date.

The study group came to Rome in October 2000, and met with Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, Cardinal Pio Laghi, Monsignor (now Cardinal) Jorge María Mejía, and the under-signed in the capacity of expert appointed by Cardinal Cassidy. The purpose of the meeting was to answer the questions posed and clarify the historical events.

I met with the said group on Oct. 24, 2000, after preparing 47 dossiers to respond specifically and in detail to every single question sent to me 15 days before the meeting. With keen disappointment I observed that the reading of the volumes in question was done in a superficial manner, with interpretations of dates and facts that on some points were completely reversed. Given my explanations and the enclosed documentation, the members of the group could not object to anything.

At the end of the meeting, during which we were only able to address 12 of the 47 questions, I expressed my absolute willingness to continue the discussions. Unfortunately, this proposal was not accepted, also because following a new news leak, for which a Jewish member of the group was responsible, the time available was used to try to resolve issues of the internal crisis.

As a result of this situation, a consultation of two members of the group with the historian Father Pierre Blet was canceled.

It is disconcerting that in the subsequent months some Jewish members of the study group systematically spread the news that they had never received answers to their questions. Moreover, to date, the group has never presented a definitive Report on their work and, therefore, have not completed the task entrusted to them.

Instead, they have decided to suspend their work, alleging as the motive that they have not been allowed unlimited access to the Vatican archives. In this connection, it is known that the Vatican archivist, Cardinal Jorge María Mejía, explained in detail to this group the technical impossibility of viewing the post-1922 documents, given the quantity of the material (more than 3 million pages) which has not been catalogued.

At this point it is evident that the tendentious news spread in recent days is groundless, the objective being publicity to the detriment of the Holy See. Therefore, the initiative, which was intended to improve relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community has failed, and this is the direct responsibility of those who, contravening the most elementary academic and human norms, have made themselves culpable of irresponsible behavior.