'Pope Pius XII saved thousands of Jews'

What I would like to hear if Pope Pious XII condemned Nazi regime. The truth is he collaborated with Nazi. The Result is the killing of Six Millions Jews and Chrisitians.

In 1943 the commander of the Italian zone in France ordered the French authorities to release all Jews arrested at the command of the Germans. The same thing happened in Croatia and Greece. It is reported that the pope in a radio broadcast said, 'He who makes a distinction between Jews and other men is unfaithful to God and in conflict with God's commands.' In parts of Poland the Italian army gave arms to Jewish partisans. After Pius's Christmas 1942 address, Berlin went crazy, calling the Pope,' the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals'. Martin Gilbert, The Righteous: Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust, chapter 15.

The church has never denied its guidelines prohibiting returning baptised Jewish childen to the Jewish community. As late as Pope Benedict's recent visit to the Holy Land, Jewish groups petitioned him to allow Jewish-born Catholics to know their real ancestry. Pope John Paul rejected Pius's guidelines and DID return Jewish children in his diocese in Poland. The facts are not in doubt.

In Italy PiusXI took a courageous stand against the new racial laws of 1938, and went toe-to-toe with Mussolini, expressing his disgust as an Italians, as well as Pope. Before he died, he set in motion the writing of an official condemnation of racism and anti-Semitism, a documented process discontinued and buried by Pius XII. If the evidence is so clear that Pius XII was as clear on racism and anti-Semitism, why has the Vatican refused to open its archives, offering scholars instead heavily edited summations of documents. Remember a committee of top scholars, Catholics and Jews, was disbanded because of this Vatican policy. One should be suspicious of new claims unless they are based on hard evidence. Until then, what is clear is that when the Vatican intervened to help Jews, it was a matter of helping converts who, in the eyes of the Church, were no longer Jews but Catholics.

who he helped come forward in support of this supposed great deed so he may be recognized?

The emotional baggage from that period bears heavily on our shoulders. Betrayal came from friends, neighbors and allies. Those that survived have had their burdens multiplied as they realized they were among the few. A community of thought has developed reflecting the images preserved by the few. Yet there were enumerable just and heroic people whose actions we may never know of and who perished with the many. I am reluctant to pass judgement for there were those that appeared to be complicit but accomplished great good. In some cases scholarly research may clarify. In other cases we must just try to understand.

All Jews instinctively know that gentiles have not done enough to serve and protect Jews over the years and centuries. This goes double for the Catholic church.

Child sex abuse, incarceration, crusades ete etc never allow the Roman politico-religious entity called the catholic religion to be called a church

This is nothing new, really. Rabbi David Dalin researched this years ago and came to the same conclusions in his book "The Myth of Hitler's Pope" Praise for Pius XII from prominent Jewish leaders "We share in the grief of humanity [at the death of Pius XII]…. When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace." Golda Meir Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir praised Pius XII's courage against the Nazis"No keener rebuke has come to Nazism than from Pope Pius XI and his successor, Pope Pius XII."Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary of America "In the most difficult hours of which we Jews of Romania have passed through, the generous assistance of the Holy See…was decisive and salutary. It is not easy for us to find the right words to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the supreme pontiff, who offered a large sum to relieve the sufferings of deported Jews…. The Jews of Romania will never forget these facts of historic importance." Rabbi Alexander Safran, chief rabbi of Romania "The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion, which form he very foundation of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in this world." Rabbi Isaac Herzog, chief rabbi of Israel "I told [Pope Pius XII] that my first duty was to thank him, and through him the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public for all they had done in the various countries to rescue Jews…. We are deeply grateful to the Catholic Church." Moshe Sharett (who later became Israel’s first foreign minister and second prime minister)Dr. Raphael Cantoni, director of the Italian Jewish Assistance Committee, wrote: "The Church and the papacy have saved Jews as much and in as far as they could save Christians.... Six million of my co-religionists have been murdered by the Nazis, but there could have been many more victims, had it not been for the efficacious intervention of Pius XII." Albert Einstein praised the efforts of Pius XII and the Church: "Only the Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty." Golda Meir, Einstein and many wouldnt have praised Pius if the Deputy, or the Hitler's Pope book were nothing more than propaganda. Starting in the autumn of 1943, Pius ordered Italian churches and convents to hide Jews.• In Rome alone, 155 monasteries and convents sheltered more than 5,000.• Roughly 3,000 Jews found refuge in Castel Gandolfo, the pontiff’s summer residence.• Hundreds of Jews were housed within the walls of the Vatican.• Monsignor John Patrick Carroll-Abbing, a rescuer, founder of Italy’s Boy’s Town and a close confident of Pius XII, testified in his memoirs that all of this was done at the direction of a pope who’s now derided as a closet anti-Semite. Dalin writes: “He (Carroll-Abbing) stressed that the idea that he and others like him acted in spite of the pope’s silence ‘is a blatant lie! I spoke to Pope Pius XII many times during the war, in person, face to face, and he told me not once but many times to assist the Jews. … I can personally testify that the pope gave me direct face-to-face verbal orders to rescue Jews.’” It's good to see the information go more "mainstream" media though.

I am afraid that the Italian Jews I know confirm Lello Abbina's story. However, history also confirms, as Joseph notes, that the Italian army never participated in the Holocaust in any way, even when threatened to have their supplies cut by the Nazis in the Soviet Union. The Italian Army protected thousands of French Jews fleeing from the Vichy regime. Further, one of the greatest heroes of the war was Italian General Mario Roata who saved tens of thousands of Jews in the Balkans from the Nazi and Ustashi barbarians. The Pope who unquestionably saved tens and maybe hundreds of thousands of Jews was then Archbishop Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII -- a Pope who truly deserves to be a Saint.. As far as Pius goes, can someone explain his close ties to nazi groups like the Arrow Cross and Ustashi; fascists like the Slovakian puppet regime or the Vichy government, etc?? Nobody did anything to stop these monsters from their genocidal ways. And note that it wasn't just against the Jews I am talking about; the Ustashi were more interested in massacring Serbs. No record of Pius doing much to help there either...

I felt insulted when I saw the picture of the Pope at that shrine to self-pity called Yad Vashem. The Pope had no army to confont Germany. Why don't you replace it for Ben Gurion's picture? The claims that he didn't save the hungarian Jews is just as valid as the claims against Pius.

Popes don't get involved. Does anyone have any information on the present day pope getting involved in today's Palestinian Holocaust ? NO. Pope John Paul (recently deceased) said that these 2 American wars in the Middle East were immoral and crimes against humanity. He, spoke up on these wars. Has the present pope spoken up ? NO.

Today, besides the German Nazis we point the finger at FDR, Churchill, the Poles, Ukranians. Latvians, the Pope, But three fingers are pointing back at us. What about the revered Rebbes that quietly fled and left their followers to die, how about the Jewish Police and the Judenrats. Should we blame other religious leaders when many of our own saved themselves and deserted their followers? Can we blame other leaders when ours reamined silent, and can we blame other conquored peoples when our own dragged us from our homes and led us to the trains? The answer: sure we can blame anyone we want, but will we be taken seriously and what will we achieve?

Sir Martin Gilbert in 'The Rightous: Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust' points out that the Italian army never harmed a Jew in spite of being allied to Hitler. As a deeply Catholic country I don't doubt that their rejection of Nazi racism had something to do with the Church and its hierarchy. Only when Germany invaded Italy were Italian Jews murdered by the Nazis, and the Church did a great deal to rescue Italian Jews. Post-war Israeli leaders publicly thanked the Pope for helpng Jews.

and ruins young lifes...hogwash..

I don't doubt that Pius XII had good intentions in 1939, but after the war he ruled that Catholics who saved Jewish children must not give the children back to the Jewish community. His reasoning was that they had been baptised and could not revert to being Jews, but this was deeply unsatisfactory to Jewish families who lost their children.

a lot of folks will never believe anything good about the catholic church, because the church is responsible for SO much corruption throughout history. but i think we have to realize that we are talking about a system that includes 1.5 billion people, and not all of them (or even most of them) are bad. i'm sure the descendants of those thousands of people are thankful to the pope.

Do we decided who the jews are to revere? No, so stay out of our religion - this is all so stupid

Hesemann said that Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli – the future Pius XII – wrote a letter on November 30, 1938, urging Catholic archbishops throughout the world to apply for visas for "non-Aryan Catholics" and Jewish converts to Christianity who wanted to flee Germany. According to Hesemann, there is evidence that the visas would have been given to ordinary Jews and that the terms "converted Jews" and "non-Aryan Catholics" were a cover to prevent the Nazis from discovering the true purpose of the visas. And if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you, very few miles, hardly ever used!!

After it seemed the world was turning against the Nazis, only then did the Church speak out against them We all know who set the stage for the holocaust The Churches in Germany did NOTHING to help the Jews, but when the Nazis had their T4 Program where they killed the handicapped, the Church spoke against it and they eventually stopped We all know who played the main role in the genocide of the Jews Did the Jews kill Jesus? perhaps, all I know is Jews have been paying the price since then

The people who are inclined to hate this fellow will not be swayed and those who already admire him will have that much more to admire. It's over 70 years. Give it a rest.

Yes we were hosted in a monastery but my father had to pay for the stay. It was not a free offer but a business. and the some 10,000 jews of Rome were hosted mostly by italian families. We fled the first night in a church but could stay only one night, The priest Padre Ceresi addressed us to a family of a memeber of his congregation but we had to pay there too. But few Italians showed their magnificence, helping us with fake documents, food, moral help. Their names have been signaled years ago to the Yad Va Shem as Just among the Nations. Pius XII was not in the list!

I was in Rome on the black Shabbath october 16 1943. More than 1000 jews were abducted from their homes by the nazis. The crowd was closed in the Military collegium in Via della Lungara, close to the Bothanic Gardens. There they remained for two days. Less than 500 meter from the Holy Siege. The squinting eye of the pope did nothing to free the deported jews of Rome. My grand parents, their brothers and sisters, my first friend Gianfranco Bonfiglioli, 2 and half years old, the Almagià sisters(the oldest was in hers 80 and had a fractured leg) all of them went in Auschwitz; only 17 came back. Destroyed in their spirit and in their bodies. Thees socalled historians cannot change our memory. The memory of witnesses less to make offense to our matryrs.

Once again it is disturbingly absurd as to how history is being revised to erase historical facts. The Vatican under Pius did nothing to help Jews but rather encouraged, colluded and harbored Nazi war criminals. Israel would do well to take this into account especially as to its relationship to the Vatican.

Except for the 1000 who were unfortunately rounded up before he could intercede. They readily admit that they were hidden on his direct orders in convents and churches and monasteries- and even the Vatican.

Yes,I'm sure he did help transfer much more than 200 thousand,from germany "to the East..." He also built bridges,the Brookling bridge and the Golden Gate...The week after Brazil declared war against Germany,the Brazilian Government arrested more than 300 catholic priests,that were using the crosses on top of the churches all along the coast as antenae for their short wave radios...and when the nazis were loosing the war,pius Xll had an office in the vatican,run by cardinal montini (that later became a pope himself),issueing passports for the ss murderers to escape to all over the world,specialy to S.America...Ask Gertrude Stein ,her sisters and her friends,how the pope helped...

I was there, when it happened. The church did nothing to prevent or help. I remember. We knew it would be useless to appeal to the church for help. If we were sinking into the morass of Nazi hate they would throw us a stone. I do remember, foldly, a small group of American Christians, who helped as much as they could. They helped me.

It would go a long way to erase a terrible blot on the Catholic church. But I imagine more evidence is required.