WWII and the Church

A recent comment left with me has fired a few shots at the record of the Church's activities (or inactivities, according to the writer) during WWII.

He maintains that even opening up the archives to many more documents will not change the record of the Church, which he maintains was "largely inactive in the face of genocide"

I'm not certain, Mr. Wilensky, which inactivity you are referring to.

In 1937, Pope Pius XI issued a statement in German (almost unheard of to this day.  The Pope really was doing his best to make sure that his target audience heard him) called Mit Brennender Sorge which came down very hard on the Nazi Party.

The man who became Pope XII on the death of Pope Pius XI had already been speaking out against the Nazis in word and in print, as evidenced in the archives of Osservatore Romano, since the mid-1930s.

Some Jews were hidden in the Vatican itself.  Others were hidden in other Church buildings, such as Castel Gandolfo, and convents and monasteries.

"The final number of Jewish lives in whose rescue the Catholic Church had been the instrument is thus at least 700,000 souls, but in all probability it is much closer to ... 860,000." (Pinchas E. Lapide, 'Three Popes and the Jews', pp 227-228).


Rabbi Israel Anton Zolli, Chief Rabbi of Rome converted to Catholicism after the war and took the baptismal name of Eugenio,  name of Pius XII.  While his conversion may have been 'encouraged' by other events, he did express his deep appreciation for Pius XII in his memoirs.


I am, for now (as Holy Week events are picking up speed, and I have much to do) going to leave you with this interview which spells out quite a bit and refers to a book you may be interested in. 


I have no fear at all with the opening of the archives.  Heck, if contemporary New York Times could sing PXII's praises over his war efforts, and if can be declared a 'Righteous Gentile" then I'm sure it's all good.


But the Truth will bear out.