Letters
Pius XII
God bless Dr. Eugene Fisher for defending Pope Pius XII against the most recent attack on his World War II actions regarding Hitler and the Jewish people (“Rabbi's Condemnation of Pope Pius XII Criticized” May 30-June 5).
Rabbi Marvin Hier claims that the mere notion of canonizing Pope Pius XII “desecrates the memory of the Holocaust,” because the Pontiff chose to be “stonily silent” and not “lift a finger” to help Jews until it was expediently clear in late 1943 and 1944 that Hitler would lose the war. Rabbi Hier, who works for the prominent Simon Wiesenthal Center, made his remarks in New York recently. In fact, the Rabbi's defamation of Pius XII compounds the injustice of the Holocaust, given that the Pope said and did much to defend and save the Jewish people before and during World War II.
First, Pius XII's opposition to Nazism dates to his days as a papal envoy to Germany from 1917 to 1929. It continued as Vatican Secretary of State from 1930 to 1939. Not surprisingly, then, the Berlin Morgenpost criticized his papal election in March 1939, “because he was always opposed to Nazism and practically determined the policies of the Vatican under his predecessor.”
Long before late 1943–44, The New York Times praised Pius XII's war efforts in its 1941 and 1942 Christmas editorials. The Times saw fit to print that “more than ever [Pius XII] is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent” (1942). Reacting to the same Christmas message from Pius XII, the Nazi Gestapo lamented, “In a manner never known before, the Pope does not refer to the National Socialists in Germany by name, but his speech is one long attack on everything we stand for. … Here he is clearly speaking on behalf of the Jews.”
Jewish leaders around the world agreed with the Nazis, but chose instead to praise the Pope after the war and again at his death in 1958. In its B'nai B'rith's Bulletin, the Anti-Defamation League summarized the post-mortem praise of Pius XII well: “[H]is opposition to Nazism and his efforts to help Jews in Europe were well-known to the suffering world.”
Regarding Pius XII's knowledge of the “Final Solution,” he actually warned about Hitler's plans in a 1937 encyclical (Mit Brennender Sorge) that he drafted for Pope Pius XI. In the same encyclical (“With Burning Anxiety” in English), it can be argued that he compared Hitler and his allies to the devil. Finally, the Vatican has, in fact, produced an 11-volume report on its activities during World War II. Contrary to what Rabbi Hier says, the evidence vindicates Pius XII.
Those wishing to learn more on this important issue may call us at (740) 283-2484 or (800) MY FAITH (693-2484) for our free FAITH FACT on the subject.
Thomas J. Nash, information specialist Catholics United for the Faith Steubenville, Ohio
