Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., September 20, 2009 Tishrei 2, 5770 | | Israel Time: 16:27 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Strenger than Fiction Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Magazine Week's End Anglo File
Share |
Last update - 00:00 24/10/2008
Jerusalem and Babylon / Should Pope Pius XII be made a saint? Leave that to the Vatican to decide
By Anshel Pfeffer
Tags: Pope Pius XII, Jewish World 

Should Pope Pius XII be made a saint?

The simple answer to that: It's none of your business.

The more theologically accurate answer is that it doesn't matter, what you, I, or anyone else thinks on the matter - not even the current pope. According to the rules of the Catholic Church, Pius XII either is a saint already or is not and can never be.
Advertisement
All that's left to the powers that be in the Vatican is to recognize him as the saint that he either is or is not.

Now that we've cleared that up, let's get back to the unseemly argument that seems to have broken out between the Jewish people and the Holy See. Only, once again, that too is not very inaccurate.

There are a number of arguments going on in that realm. One is between historians over facts and their interpretation. Not surprisingly, there are Jews on both sides of this argument.

Another debate is raging between Catholics and Catholics on matters of faith and religious politics.

There is also a third argument in the works between elements in the Vatican and some Jewish organizations, but this is just as much about style then about substance.

As for the historic debate, there is little an amateur can add. After reading two books, interviewing a number of experts and reading countless newspaper on the subject, I am no closer to reaching my personal conclusion on why Pius kept quiet during the Holocaust.

Was it because he wasn't very troubled by the extermination of the Jews and secretly prayed for a Nazi victory? Or was his silence rather a cover for valiant rescue efforts carried out with his encouragement?

Neither side has managed to produce enough evidence to convince me either way. And, I doubt they ever will since the only major remaining source of documents are the Vatican archives - and even when those open, you can almost be certain there will be nothing there to change anyone's mind.

If there was a document clearly showing Pius' involvement of behalf of the Jews, the Vatican would have displayed it prominently, and if there was a "smoking gun" proving him to be a collaborator, rest assured, it has long ago been removed.

The internal Catholic debate is especially interesting, both because it puts the entire Pius problem into context and because it neatly mirrors similar issues within the Jewish religious establishment.

Pius' WWII record is not the major consideration within the Vatican over his canonization. Those who revere him do so for his image as the last century's leading Catholic conservative. His adoration is a central tenet for those who believe in the most extreme version of papal infallibility.

If Pius XII has still not been recognized as a saint, it means for many Catholics that there is still a question mark looming over the historical role played by Rome during the entire era before, during and after the War.

It is a dispute that has been going on for centuries. The promulgation of papal infallibility by the First Vatican Council in 1870 caused Lord Acton to write his famous dictum: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

Since then, subsequent popes have never retreated from the principle of infallibility, and, as a rule, were prudent in using it. The one striking exception to this rule was in 1950, when Pius XII ruled that the "assumption" of Mary is an article of faith of the Catholic Church.

Like Acton in 1870, infallibility still causes many Catholics discomfort, and for the conservative hardliners, his canonization is imperative to confirming their ascendancy within the church.

The current Pope Benedict XVI is quite rightly seen as a conservative but he is also a clever politician and is trying to tread a careful path between the factions in the church. He has infuriated the hardliners by not acting to bring Pius' beatification, the crucial step towards canonization, forward.

Judaism as a religion generally has a less developed sense of dogma than the Catholic Church, but many who rail against the paralysis of Orthodox rabbinical thinking, hidebound by relatively new concepts such as Da'at Torah (knowledge of the Bible), emunath hachamim (faith in the sages)and hadash asur min hatorah (anything new is forbidden by the torah), will sympathize with Catholics who struggle to preserve their faith in the face of papal infallibility.

As a response to haskalah (Jewish enlightenment), the rabbinical establishment tried to stifle debate by commanding allegiance to tradition and strictures that were to suddenly stop evolving.

All this leads to the latest acrimonious round of charges between elements in the Vatican and Jewish representatives over the caption in the Yad Vashem Museum on Pius, the supposed cancellation of Benedict's visit to Israel and the threats of what might happen to Jewish-Catholic dialog if Pius is indeed canonized.

Yad Vashem certainly should not allow itself to be bullied into changing what its experts believe to be the historical facts - and the future of Israel-Vatican relations cannot be hostage to that. The threats of Jewish leaders of the harm that will be caused by the canonization are equally out of order.

The diplomatic and inter-religious issues between Israel, Jewish organizations and the Vatican and the historical debate over what the pope did in the Holocaust should not be connected to the question of whether Eugenio Pacelli is to become St. Pius or not.

That is quite simply a matter of Vatican political power games and Jews really have no business getting involved in them.

Related articles:
  • Vatican fumes at Israeli minister's remarks on Nazi-era pope
  • Vatican defends wartime pope against charge he turned blind eye to Holocaust
  • Peres urges Pope to ignore row over Pius XII and visit Israel

    More Jewish World news and headlines
    • PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
    Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Ahmadinejad under fire
    World powers condemn Ahmadinejad for calling Holocaust 'a lie'
    The rabbi and the star
    Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Michael Jackson threw his life away
      1.   I Agree 100% 10:05  |  Yishai Kohen 24/10/08
      2.   Canonization at all costs 10:40  |  EX-Catholic 24/10/08
      3.   MODERN VATICAN = ANCIENT EGYPT 10:49  |  indrajaya 24/10/08
      4.   Jews Should Have a Say in Pius Beatification 10:50  |  Scott 24/10/08
      5.   Is Jesus death an internal Jewish matter? 11:12  |  HS 24/10/08
      6.   POPE/SAINT 11:39  |  HRM 24/10/08
      7.   Interventionin canonization 12:00  |  Tomas 24/10/08
      8.   Vatican must think 12:09  |  Claudius 24/10/08
      9.   Syllabus of Errors 12:27  |  Motic 24/10/08
      10.   Pope 12:31  |  Dani 24/10/08
      11.   After the holocaust the anti-Judaism did not stop 12:57  |  Edith 24/10/08
      12.   #3 good point Indrajaya 12:59  |  Edith 24/10/08
      13.   Dirk Verhofstadt wrote a very good book on that pope 13:02  |  Edith 24/10/08
      14.   Thanks 13:06  |  Fritz T. 24/10/08
      15.   Is the Vatican anti-Semitic? Leave it to Jews to decide 13:10  |  Susan 24/10/08
      16.   The Roman Empire 13:15  |  Mark Lincoln 24/10/08
      17.   Another nail in the Catholic church coffin 13:35  |  Peter Williams 24/10/08
      18.   Pope Pius XII - Not Jewish enough? 14:01  |  Natallie Durson 24/10/08
      19.   THE DOCUMENTARY PROOF IS HERE 14:02  |  Barry S. Roffman 24/10/08
      20.   Pope?s double heading status is problem of Vatican 14:32  |  H.H.M. 24/10/08
      21.   Pope Pius X11 be made a saint? 14:34  |  David Nigel Braham 24/10/08
      22.   is not your business, you jews 14:49  |  Rodrigo 24/10/08
      23.   #6, NOT all GOYIM are DAMNED, PIUS XII is 14:54  |  Barry S. Roffman 24/10/08
      24.   We had our say 2000 years ago .. its a done deal! 15:17  |  SA 24/10/08
      25.   Pius XII 15:41  |  chelemer 24/10/08
      26.   saints and sinners 15:41  |  Shmuelshachor 24/10/08
      27.   Beatification - the Church`s business... 15:51  |  bat yam 24/10/08
      28.   What Jews do aginst Christian Persicution acorss the world now? 15:56  |  JV 24/10/08
      29.   No disagreement 16:05  |  Arie 24/10/08
      30.   Religions should stick to themselves. 16:06  |  Lou Medel 24/10/08
      31.   deity 16:15  |  Abraham The First 24/10/08
      32.   What`s the Big Deal? 16:15  |  MIKE 24/10/08
      33.   JERUSALEM AND BABYLON 16:22  |  Philomene 24/10/08
      34.   Beatification is the Church`s business... 16:32  |  bat yam 24/10/08
      35.   #2 - CANNONIZE A PEDOPHILE TOO? 16:34  |  Barry S. Roffman 24/10/08
      36.   Pius 16:57  |  JW 24/10/08
      37.   It may be the Vatican`s decision but 17:17  |  Gee 24/10/08
      38.   #11, Bat Yam, POWERFUL INFORMATION 17:25  |  Barry S. Roffman 24/10/08
      39.   Barry-13. Not my article. Look below at Jerusalem Post article- 18:11  |  bat yam 24/10/08
      40.   Pius xii saint?? 18:14  |  wouter veenhuijsen 24/10/08
      41.   Pius xii saint?? 18:14  |  wouter veenhuijsen 24/10/08
      42.   Extremely unlikely Pius would have seen Jews as a priority. 18:20  |  Michael 24/10/08
      43.   knowledge assists in all things 18:24  |  victor hardman 24/10/08
      44.   to bat yam #11 `Beatification...` 18:58  |  Colin Wright 24/10/08
      45.   We have to respond to such a disgrace. 19:02  |  Fortuna Benmayor 24/10/08
      46.   This Catholic sees it that way now 19:12  |  hollingsworth 24/10/08
      47.   BRILLIANT ARTICLE 19:12  |  judith 24/10/08
      48.   EXCELLENT ADVICE 19:43  |  Arik Silverman 24/10/08
      49.   Articles of Beatification 20:11  |  Daniel Garcia 24/10/08
      50.   Who exactly is Monsignor Ratzinger? 20:16  |  Crux Ansata 24/10/08
      51.   It does matter 20:48  |  Don 24/10/08
      52.   Re: CANNONIZE A PEDOPHILE TOO? 20:56  |  Angel 24/10/08
      53.   About Anshel Pfeffer 20:56  |  Boris 24/10/08
      54.   Pfeffer is a pontificator 21:40  |  Jonny Moses 24/10/08
      55.   Beatification Is Not Canonization 22:44  |  Jeff Northridge 24/10/08
      56.   Boris 23:07  |  hollingworth 24/10/08
      57.   #24 23:40  |  bob 24/10/08
      58.   #38 hollingsworth is for the 100 years war ? or not 01:01  |  v.hardman 25/10/08
      59.   response to MIKE "What`s The Big Deal?"(??) 02:18  |  wouter and dorien 25/10/08
      60.   JESUSALEN 04:21  |  cristian 25/10/08
      61.   THE SHOW MUST GO ON POPE, GO ON BABY 04:41  |  indrajaya 25/10/08
      62.   Jewish Naivete 06:53  |  sol zotter 25/10/08
      63.   Hitler was Catholic 07:15  |  James ben Goy 25/10/08
      64.   Nothing new - we know catholic Romans - 08:32  |  17 25/10/08
      65.   2 rodrigo 13:08  |  ex-jewish 25/10/08
      66.   Colin Wright # 44 13:55  |  Charles 25/10/08
      67.   Critics of Pius XII 14:36  |  Giuseppe Efrati 25/10/08
      68.   BUTT OUT Jews do not pray to Catholic saints 15:28  |  PETER SM 25/10/08
      69.   # 63, Goy. Hitler was 50% Jewish. 19:57  |  Sarah 25/10/08
      70.   Pius XII attitude towards Jews was abherant 20:09  |  Dwido 25/10/08
      71.   v.hardman 20:14  |  hollingsworth 25/10/08
      72.   17 20:18  |  hollingsworth 25/10/08
      73.   Appreciation 20:54  |  joe 25/10/08
      74.   #65 Hitler may have been 1/2 Jewish 20:56  |  Crux Ansata 25/10/08
      75.   INTELLECTUAL CATHOLICISM(Hollingsworth) 21:12  |  joe 25/10/08
      76.   SARAH and old wives tale. 21:16  |  PETER SM 25/10/08
      77.   #65 , #70 21:26  |  joe 25/10/08
      78.   jewish silence 22:15  |  George 25/10/08
      79.   joe and "experience" 22:40  |  hollingsworth 25/10/08
      80.   #71 hollingsworth must stick to the subject! however 22:59  |  v.hardman 25/10/08
      81.   WRONG PERSON 23:11  |  TOBIA 25/10/08
      82.   #74,76, Crux/Peter - Don`t buy it 23:47  |  Sarah 25/10/08
      83.   CRUX Ansta "May" is proof of nothing 23:56  |  PETER SM 25/10/08
      84.   &$ HOLLINGSWORTH AND THE TRUE FAITH ?? 00:06  |  victor hardman 26/10/08
      85.   susan 15 00:47  |  potobac 26/10/08
      86.   #77 Joe 00:53  |  Crux Ansasta 26/10/08
      87.   Pius Zionism 01:27  |  Michael Philips 26/10/08
      88.   #79 HOLLINGSWORTH 02:38  |  joe 26/10/08
      89.   Gee Thanks... 04:30  |  Jack 26/10/08
      90.   ZIONISM is NOT a national"liberation"movement & Lefayes means 04:37  |  PETER SM 26/10/08
      91.   Who is anybody to tell another what to think or say! 15:59  |  JMK 26/10/08
      92.   Pius and Zionism 20:34  |  Michael Philips 26/10/08
      93.   Pius and Zionism 2 20:35  |  Michael Philips 26/10/08
      94.   Pius and Zionism 3 20:36  |  Michael Philips 26/10/08
      95.   Pius and Zionism Final 20:37  |  Michael Philips 26/10/08
      96.   Clarification of Pius and Zionism Final 21:14  |  Michael Philips 26/10/08
      97.   Thank You Haaretz! 21:32  |  Michael Philips 26/10/08
      98.   pope pius 21:34  |  morris 26/10/08
      99.   JESUSALEN 22:10  |  cristian 26/10/08
      100.   Pope Pius XII - Michael Phillips 92-96 22:53  |  Ilsa 26/10/08
      101.   Isla #100 17:50  |  Michael Philips 27/10/08
      102.   joe cited 19:33  |  hollingsworth 27/10/08
      103.   I see, v. hardman 19:37  |  hollingsworth 27/10/08
      104.   Pius XII 19:40  |  Mernk 27/10/08
      105.   Not our business 08:45  |  David Zukerman 03/11/08
      106.   Its an idea being re-enshrined, not a pope. 19:46  |  Dean Blake 11/11/08
      107.   scott 3 18:08  |  potobac 30/11/08
      108.   susan 15 18:12  |  potobac 30/11/08
      109.   Be active in the historical enquire 00:18  |  Andrea 30/01/09
      110.   Jerusalem and Babylon / Should Pope Pius XII be made a saint? Lea 23:29  |  JCS 04/03/09
      111.   Pope Pius 06:00  |  María 11/05/09
      112.   Absurd exagerations 06:18  |  Maria 11/05/09
      113.   common sense 08:09  |  Joel C 27/06/09
      114.   It`s a matter for the Catholic hierarchy. 11:53  |  Analyst Jack 24/08/09
      115.   Except ... internal Catholic power games may affect Jews 15:40  |  Stein 20/09/09
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Date Local Jewish Singles
    Ready to meet your match? Join Jdate today!
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Holidays are here
    Minerals Aromatics Body Lotion for free! Click here.
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Amazing Jewelry
    Visit SoKoBe.com for the best priced fine jewelry in the world
    More Headlines
    15:42 Medvedev: Peres told me Israel won't attack Iran
    15:37 PA: Trilateral summit doesn't mean resumption of peace talks
    11:48 Obama to host Abbas, Netanyahu at summit Tuesday
    14:21 Report: IDF, U.S. military to simulate Iran missile strike on Israel
    10:36 Gates lashes out at critics of new U.S. missile plan for Europe
    07:41 Report: Sweden won't probe paper over IDF organ harvesting article
    16:16 Iran supreme leader rails against 'deadly cancer of Zionism'
    17:38 TV ROUND-UP: Iran continues nuclear defiance, Netanyahu meets Mitchell
    10:40 Gaza militants fire two Qassams into western Negev
    14:53 Woman arrested after using credit card of friend she found dead
    10:01 Jaffa man, 22, killed in overnight shooting
    10:38 World powers condemn Ahmadinejad for calling Holocaust 'a lie'
    23:52 Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Michael Jackson threw his life away
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
    | Advert: Recommended Restaurants | Makom: Engaging on Israel
    | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved