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Last update - 00:00 29/05/2007
New biography of Pope Pius XII rejects charges of anti-Semitism
By Reuters

Accusations that wartime Pope Pius XII was an anti-Semite who turned a blind eye to the Holocaust are part of a "black legend" not supported by historical documents, the author of a new biography says.

The book by Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli, his fourth on Pius, is being published weeks after the Vatican put Pius a step closer to sainthood, a move that angered some Jews.

Some Jews have accused Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, of being
i
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ndifferent to the Holocaust and not speaking out against Hitler. His
supporters consider him a holy man who worked behind the scenes to help Jews throughout Europe.

"This is a black legend that refuses to die. Pius XII has become a lightning rod for all the presumed responsibilities of the Catholic Church in that period," Tornielli said.

Tornielli, a journalist with the newspaper Il Giornale, has called his
650-page biography "Pius XII, Eugenio Pacelli, A Man on the Throne of St
Peter." Eugenio Pacelli was Pius' name before he became pope.

In the book, Tornielli cites new documents from the Pacelli family archives showing that as a high school student Eugenio had a close friendship with a Jewish classmate, Guido Mendes.

Pacelli, then a cardinal and Vatican secretary of state, helped the Mendes family slip into Switzerland, from where they moved to Israel, the book says.

The Anti-Defamation League has asked Pope Benedict to suspend the sainthood process until the Vatican declassifies its Second World War-era archives.

Tornielli's latest book, published by Mondadori, also includes excerpts from letters the future pope wrote to his family in the early 1930s when he was Vatican ambassador in Germany, expressing concern over the rise of Hitler
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  1.   ON HIS WATCH, SIX MILLION JEWS WERE MURDERED, HE WAS SILENT 03:36  |  jorge 29/05/07
  2.   What? 04:16  |  Poly 29/05/07
  3.   Pius XII 05:44  |  G 29/05/07
  4.   What Difference Does It Make? 07:40  |  Yosemite 29/05/07
  5.   Pope 08:05  |  Connie 29/05/07
  6.   THE FACE I DON`T LIKE THE MOST AMONG POPES 08:15  |  indrajaya 29/05/07
  7.   Zzzz, Zzzz 09:00  |  Natallie Durson 29/05/07
  8.   Natalie Durson 10:19  |  Connie 29/05/07
  9.   #7, Natalie the black and white specialist 10:36  |  Seymour 29/05/07
  10.   TOMELLI ACOMEDIAN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS ANTI SEMITIC 10:44  |  paul harris 29/05/07
  11.   #8 IS NATALLIE A CATHOLIC ??? 10:46  |  paul harris 29/05/07
  12.   To know for sure... 11:40  |  Ben Azai 29/05/07
  13.   Connie (in a textbook example) 12:04  |  Natallie Durson 29/05/07
  14.   Well said Seymour #9 12:13  |  Jay 29/05/07
  15.   How many Piuses of today? 13:25  |  InquiringMinds 29/05/07
  16.   Refugees from Darfur 14:27  |  E Hovani 29/05/07
  17.   Pope 14:28  |  j10 29/05/07
  18.   Pope 14:41  |  j10 29/05/07
  19.   TO NATALIE DURSON 17:23  |  Nicole 29/05/07
  20.   No matter what anyone says... 17:27  |  TAZ 29/05/07
  21.   Inquirinminds # 15 , and others 18:53  |  charles 29/05/07
  22.   Good point, InquiringMinds 19:43  |  Walter 29/05/07
  23.   Walter , Conway 20:01  |  charles 29/05/07
  24.   Natalie Durson 20:12  |  Connie 29/05/07
  25.   This Matter Is Not Simple 20:38  |  Yaakov Sullivan 29/05/07
  26.   to Jorge from tegucigalpa #1 20:40  |  TAZ 29/05/07
  27.   If anti-semites weren`t allowed to be saints... 21:10  |  dlb 29/05/07
  28.   Sullivan takes the opportunity to attack South African Jews 21:43  |  Jake 29/05/07
  29.   Revisionism 22:09  |  Po Perry 29/05/07
  30.   Open the secret Vatican vault 22:16  |  AV 29/05/07
  31.   Po Perry on his fiats on "revisionism" 22:17  |  Yaakov Sullivan 29/05/07
  32.   If Jesus was alive today, the Vatican would excommunicate him 22:24  |  Ian 29/05/07
  33.   Quite the reverse Jake, quite the reverse #28 22:29  |  Yaakov Sullivan 29/05/07
  34.   Connie, it is not only the Church that is in need of a mirror 23:04  |  Yaakov Sullivan 29/05/07
  35.   Sullivan, what I am claiming the Pope did? 23:07  |  Jake 29/05/07
  36.   Pius XII and the holocost 23:16  |  Bonheur 29/05/07
  37.   #8 Golly day, Connie; that sounds like the same 23:56  |  ballistic 29/05/07
  38.   #13 Golly day, Natalie; whack her a few more times 23:59  |  ballistic 29/05/07
  39.   pope pius 00:31  |  Shmuelshachor 30/05/07
  40.   Great! Another religous group to annoy! 00:40  |  Man 30/05/07
  41.   Natallie Durson - AMEN! 00:42  |  Mike 30/05/07
  42.   Yakkov 00:43  |  Connie 30/05/07
  43.   Ian: Read Church doctrine then talk 00:50  |  I can go on! 30/05/07
  44.   Jake - Saving Jews doesn;t make you saint 00:54  |  Sam 30/05/07
  45.   Connie - True 01:05  |  Manny 30/05/07
  46.   Yaakov Sullivan 01:07  |  Jewish Youth 30/05/07
  47.   Making Pius a saint, is like making a person who murdered your .. 01:27  |  Joe 30/05/07
  48.   #42 Mike; read your post! 01:32  |  ballistic 30/05/07
  49.   How many Jews in the USA 01:44  |  John Coady 30/05/07
  50.   #41 WE CAN AND MOST NEVER FORGET 01:58  |  TOBIA 30/05/07
  51.   RESOND TO YAAKOV SULLIVAN 02:05  |  TOBIA 30/05/07
  52.   John Coady...I never thought of that! 02:44  |  Pete 30/05/07
  53.   REwarding evil 02:47  |  TOBIA 30/05/07
  54.   You can say the same about the U.S. 03:25  |  levi 30/05/07
  55.   To G 03:30  |  Brenda 30/05/07
  56.   re: this matter is not simple 03:49  |  Brenda 30/05/07
  57.   "Jewish youth" from NYC 04:51  |  Jake 30/05/07
  58.   Natallie And Ballistic 07:26  |  Yosemite 30/05/07
  59.   #53, YOSEMITE 08:51  |  indrajaya 30/05/07
  60.   #56 Say Jake; that was a rather tart message 09:42  |  ballistic 30/05/07
  61.   #57 Yosemite; what does your post 09:49  |  ballistic 30/05/07
  62.   Pius XII 17:26  |  Mannstein 30/05/07
  63.   On his watch six million jews were murdered 08:38  |  tom 29/01/09
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