Vatican Archives Open Today – Former Jewish Critic: Pope Piux XII “A Hero”…
INTERVIEW: Thanks to Pius XII [left], Almost a Million Jews Saved from Nazis, Says Jewish Man Who Hated Pacelli But Now Calls Him a Hero (ARCHIVES OPEN TODAY)
Pope Francis Opens March 2, 2020, Vatican Apostolic Archives Around the Pacelli Pontificate to Scholars.
March 02, 2020 –
“I have decided that the opening of the Vatican Archives for the Pontificate of Pius XII will take place on 2 March 2020, exactly one year after the eightieth anniversary of the election to the See of Peter of Eugenio Pacelli.”
With these words, Pope Francis made a long-awaited announcement. The statement came in his address about a year ago on, March 4, 2019, to superiors, employees and collaborators of the Vatican Secret (now renamed Vatican Apostolic Archives), on the eightieth anniversary of the election as Supreme Pontiff of the Servant of God Pius XII.
“The figure of that Pontiff, who found himself guiding the Barque of Peter at one of the saddest and darkest moments of the twentieth century, agitated and lacerated by the last world war, with the consequent period of reorganization of the nations and post-war reconstruction,” Pope Francis observed, “has already been investigated and studied in many aspects, sometimes discussed and even criticized (it could be said with some prejudice or exaggeration).”
“Today,” he added, “he has been appropriately re-evaluated and indeed placed in the correct light for his many qualities: pastoral, above all, but also theological, ascetic, and diplomatic.”
The Pope said he assumed this decision after hearing the opinion of his closest collaborators. Francis expressed his certainty “that serious and objective historical research will be able to evaluate, in the proper light and with appropriate criticism, the praiseworthy moments of the Pontiff and, without any doubt, also moments of serious difficulties, of tormented decisions, of human and Christian prudence, which to some might have seemed to be reticence, and which instead were attempts, humanly also very hard-fought, to keep the flame of humanitarian initiatives lit during periods of more intense darkness and cruelty, of hidden but active diplomacy, of hope in possible good openings of hearts.”
“The Church is not afraid of history,” the Jesuit Pontiff highlighted, adding: “rather, she loves it, and would like to love it more and better, as God does! So, with the same trust of my predecessors, I open and entrust to researchers this documentary heritage.”
To remember that today marks this historic opening, ZENIT brings you from our archives this exclusive interview with Gary Krupp, who through the Pave the Way Foundation and experts, historians and leaders of the archives themselves, have through research inside demonstrated that the controversial pope, criticized for not being vocal against Hitler, actually was responsible for saving the lives of about 800,000 Jewish people. Enjoy the interview – click here to read it…
Comment:
So, when can we expect the much maligned pontiff Pius XII, to be canonised?
Comments (28)
It is a disgrace how the Church has not worked harder to defend the reputation of Pius XII.
Him being seen as controversial has obviously suited modernists who do not want him raised to the altars. They have allowed yet another black legend to endure.
The work of Gary Krupp (indicating the Church saved 860,000 jews under Pius XII) has been known for some time now. In fact, this number was known even in the 1960s thanks to Pinchas Lapide, a Jewish Theologian and Israeli diplomat.
Many other prominent Jews praised Pius XII. Not least the Chief Rabbi of Rome, who post-war converted to Catholicism and took the name “Eugenio” – the Pope’s own christian name – in his honour.
I agree Pius XII should be canonised and also declared “righteous among the nations” (a title granted by Israel to those who worked to save Jews during the war).
Probably the most cynical attack on Pius XII was the book “Hilter’s Pope” which had a cover photo which sought to suggest it was Pius XII meeting with Hitler. In fact it was a picture of the still-Cardinal Pacelli on his way to meet with the German Weimar Government – a Government which pre-dated the Nazi regime.
The photo was misused because it features soldiers guarding the Government building, and their uniforms are very similar to German uniforms in WW2, especially the very distinctive style of German military helmet – which is well known in popular culture, due to 100s of war films. This naturally suggests to people that the photo was taken during the Nazi period.
Gabriel Syme,
I know that Pius XII was seriously and very unjustly treated by soft historians like John Cornwell, who wrote the disgraceful Hitler’s Pope and so this is good news about the opening of the Vatican archives. That should put to rest the lies and misinterpretations of the war-time pope.
Another piece of news about the archives has come out today so I hope it’s OK to publish it here. It’s Cardinal Zen challenging the claim that Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedit both approved the Chinese government nominating bishops – he
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/03/02/cardinal-zen-invites-cardinal-re-to-show-claimed-china-documents-from-vatican-archive/
Cardinal Zen asks for the documents to be published from the archives to prove this.
The opening of the archives could turn out to be a can of worms for the liars and apostates within the Vatican.
Yes Michaela,
We all hope that the truth about Pope Pius x11 comes out. It would be interesting if the fake media gives this as much coverage as the did to denigrating him.
On your point about Cardinal Zen, there is an interesting piece over at Breitbart London quoting Chris Patton the last British governor of Hong Kong. He disagrees with Pope Francis ‘ selling out’ ( my words) the patriotic church to the Communists.
Of course as Patton is chancellor of an English university, he has to toe the pc line by mentioning the Muslin Ugers and saying that south American communism is “good communism” as opposed to Chinese communism being bad!
As our estimable editor would say ‘gimmie strength’
I Googled to see if I could find any comment from John Cornwell on this topic but only found an article in The Guardian about the opening of the archives, where they quote Cornwell as follows:
“Hitler’s Pope, a controversial biography of Pius XII by British author John Cornwell, published in 1999, claimed the pope was an antisemite who “failed to be gripped with moral outrage by the plight of the Jews”. He was also narcissistic and determined to protect and advance the power of the papacy, the book argued. Pius XII was “the ideal pope for Hitler’s unspeakable plan. He was Hitler’s pawn. He was Hitler’s Pope.”
Cornwell’s claims were challenged by some scholars and authors. He later conceded that Pius XII had “so little scope of action that it is impossible to judge the motives for his silence during the war”, although the pontiff had never explained his stance.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/01/unsealing-vatican-archive-reveal-hitler-truth-pope-pius-xii
That was quite a climbdown – from “Hitler’s pawn, Hitler’s pope” to “it is impossible to judge his motives” suggests malice on Cornwell’s part.
My gripe with Pope Pius XII was that he tried to do the Fatima Consecration of Russia but didn’t know he had to include all the bishops – surely, with such an important act, he should have made sure of the facts.
However, the evil attacks on him about the plight of the Jews during the war, when he did his utmost to help them, are unconscionable. Cornwell should hang his head in shame.
Laura,
one of my own big disappointments was when I read Taylor Marshall on the subject of the consecration – he fell for the “Sr Lucia said it had been done”, and I quote:
“On August 29, 1989 Sr. Lucia affirms in correspondence that the consecration of Russia “has been accomplished” and that “God will keep His word.”
Subsequent events:
November 9, 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall
December 25, 1991 Dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
July 26, 2000 Third Secret of Fatima revealed by Cardinals Bertone and Ratzinger”
So, he falls for the line that since certain political events occurred, that was the same as the conversion of Russia.
I used to look to him as a sound source, but not any more.
I would cut Pope Pius some slack as he would have been relying on his advisers. He thought he was doing the right thing. At least he didn’t set it aside as not important as his successors have done.
It always pains me to read and hear Pius XII attacked for not doing enough during the war to help the Jews. He did more than anyone else, according to the New York Rabbi, David Dalin. I quote:
What does New York Rabbi David Dalin think of Pope Pius XII?
“The Jewish people had no greater friend in the 20th century,” says the historian.
According to Rabbi Dalin, who last Wednesday addressed the meeting organized by the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation, “during the Second World War, Pius XII saved more Jewish lives than any other person, including Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler.”
http://polish-jewish-heritage.org/Eng/pius.htm
That’s a brilliant interview, and shows that the greatest minds among Pius’s contemporaries realised the good he had done. Even Albert Einstein and the prime minister Golda Meir praised him to the skies.
The people criticising him, the interview points out, are those who came after. The people living at the time, thanked the Pope for all he had done.
I definitely think Pius XII’s Cause should be progressed, without delay.
I tried to find a connection between Gary Krupp and the Krupp armaments company in Germany, which has profited so immensely – from combatants on both sides – from world wars. I couldn’t find any link, however.
Mr. Krupp’s Pave the Way Foundation is interesting. According to the Wikipedia entry, it pursues a lot of the typical ecumenical blather to smooth over the non-theological differences between religions. Sort of a back-door indifferentism.
But even more interesting is the heavy criticism his admiration for Pius XII has drawn from those who appear to have a vested interest in promoting the “Hitler’s Pope” falsehood. It would appear that leftist Jews and their supporters are not pleased with Mr. Krupp at all. Here is the “criticism” part of the article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pave_the_Way_Foundation#Criticism_of_Pius_XII_related_activities
RCA Victor,
The critics of Pius XII and his “silence” during the time of the holocaust, are nearly always ex-seminarians, like Cornwell, or typical liberal types, using anything they can get their hands on to criticise this pope because their agenda is to change the teaching of the Church. They know they can’t do that upfront so the next best thing is to make Catholics think that this pope was unChristian at a critical time in history. They didn’t fool everyone though, and definitely not the great minds among the Jewish people, such as Albert Einstein, who said:
Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then, I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they like the universities were silenced in a few short weeks… Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone had had the courage and intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I had once despised I now praise unreservedly.” (After the war Einstein wrote, “Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty.”) Albert Einstein (December 1940 edition of Time)
Nicky
It’s that quote from Albert Einstein that always sends shivers down my spine. It’s unanswerable. He had no motive to praise the Church or Pope Pius XII and yet he came out clearly to say that it was the Catholic Church alone that stood up for the Jews under persecution. It’s marvellous. God bless him for his honesty.
RCA Victor,
That criticism of Mr Krupp is extremely harsh and the Catholic priest who is attacking him will no doubt be one of those who bleat on about “justice and peace” meaning let those who want to sin, sin away there! Genuine justice is not in his sights, obviously, the way he is insulting Mr Krupp and his research.
What goes right against these pseudo-historians is the fact that the Jews who were contemporaries of Pope Pius XII have spoken up for him. They just can’t get past that. That’s a fact.
This video popped up just now so I thought I’d share it. It’s not YouTube so I’m not sure it will show here. I copied the video link, it’s from the Vatican news site – it’s about the opening of the archives.
https://www.facebook.com/vaticannews/videos/218152109316719/
Yippeee! It worked, LOL!
This article in The Washington Post really took my breath away. After listing good things done by Catholics, they take a side-swipe at Pius XII saying that it remains to be seen if the archives show the Pope as being linked with the good works of other Catholics (as if he did nothing himself!)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/03/03/pope-pius-holocaust-vatican-records/
There again, TWP is a very anti-Trump paper so what else can we expect!
None may dare question the holocaust narrative. But, the forensic analysis that has been done to date does not support the tale.
The larger issue is that the Jews use the holocaust as a club to beat down Christian civilization.
LarryZB,
We do not use the term “the Jews” here in debates like this. If you wish to make a serious point about the history of the holocaust, that is fine, but I certainly do not see any truth in your claim that “the Jews use the holocaust as a club to beat down Christian civilization”.
It is my considered opinion that it is imperative that no Christian should fall into the error of seeing “the Jews” as bad people, to blame for every ill in society. They are not.
Our Lord Himself was a Jew – although, as my old Irish grandfather, RIP, once said “ah, but He died a Catholic”!
N O T I C E . . .
As you may remember, folks, I posted a request for prayers, back on the Lourdes thread, for my 14 year old Great Nephew, Anthony, who is to undergo a major operation on his back.
Today, his mother was informed that the operation will take place on 1st May – Feast of St Joseph the Worker.
Anthony’s Confirmation saint/name is Joseph, so he is very pleased at this choice of date. Then, when the weeks of his recovery were counted up, he was delighted to discover that his recovery period ends on the eve of his patronal saint – St Anthony.
Thus, it all looks very hopeful and, truth to tell, Anthony is looking forward to the operation much as I would look forward to a holiday in the Bahamas, if only I could remember to buy a lottery ticket 😀
Anthony (and his mother) want me to post this notice, since they are keen to have your continuing prayers. A couple of readers have loaned various relics to Anthony until after the operation – and his mother is still keen to have a first class miracle, so that the operation is not necessary – so, please do remember this lovely boy in your prayers. Please and thank you!
Praying for Anthony – those dates give a lot of hope, thanks be to God.
MM
Thank you!
Will remember young Anthony in my prayers, an easy one for me as I pray to my middle Saints name (most) days.
God bless him and his family.
Thank you, Patrick – much appreciated.
I also will remember Anthony in my prayers, I think Saint Joseph and Saint Anthony will be looking after him too.
Thank you, Theresa Rose – most kind.
I have been praying for Anthony and will continue to do so.
What great encouragement he can find through the dates he has been given. There’s no such thing as a coincidence, as they say!
Gabriel Syme,
Many thanks – I agree, there’s no such thing as “coincidence”. As someone once said, coincidence is just God’s way of staying anonymous!
That’s great news about the dates of the two saints connected to Anthony. They will see him all right, I’m sure of it. I will continue to pray for him, and hope that the operation is a success and he’s back on his feet soon afterwards.
I too will pray for Anthony. As it happens he has my middle name so there is no chance of me forgetting to include him in my prayers.
If I may just return to the topic of this thread. I fully remember Pope Pius XII. I first saw him in the Holy Year of 1950 and I thought then that I was looking at a saint. I went to Rome with my school Boy Scouts and it was the very first time that I had ever been abroad. Remember that WW II only ended in 1946 and for the Holy Year the Catholic Boy Scouts in England went on a pilgrimage to Rome. There were over a thousand of us and we had two special trains to take us from France to Rome. The whole experience was a thrill which I still remember.
I really do think that Pius XII ought to be canonised.
John Rayner
I agree that Pius XII will one day be canonised. The only reason it hasn’t happened thus far is because the liberals in the Church fear a backlash from that powerful revisionist element of Jewish historians who care less about truth than how best to undermine the Catholic Church. The true Jewish witnesses were Pius’ contemporaries, people like Golda Meir, later Prime Minister of Israel, who praised the Pope as a true friend who saved Jewish lives during their darkest hour. There’s also Israel Zoli, once chief Rabbi of Rome who converted to Catholicism because of Pius’ example and honoured the Pope by taking Eugenio as his Christian name. Other than that, the liberals in the Church hate the orthodoxy Pius XII defended and upheld.
Corona etc why is canon 935 not being invoked. Maximilian Kolbe kept the Eucharist in his spectacle case in Auschwitz Titus brandisima did a similar thing. In the early church the faithful were allowed to take the Eucharist home with them to be consumed on days when they could not get to mass.
Editor: this Coronavirus “crisis” is no such thing. It’s entirely contrived, Liam. And the modernist clergy are using it as yet one more excuse to weaken, and ultimately destroy, the Faith. Don’t fall for it.
Because of abortifacient use etc the world is one big death camp state control is also manifest since I have just had the latest visit to my home by the police (one of four visits) telling me I must take down the abortion posters in our car because of section 5 of the Public Order Act. I refused and await further developments and have written to the chief constable because the last visit was harassment and intimidatory in clear contravention of Margaret my wife and my own citizens rights to protest freely. Prayers needed. Thanks Liam Margaret and family.
Editor: Liam, your post has got nothing whatsoever to do with the Coronavirus. Please always check the sidebar for a live discussion topic to make sure you are on the correct thread. If there isn’t one, then use the General Discussion thread. There IS a Coronavirus thread, though, and here’s the link
https://catholictruthblog.com/2020/02/24/coronavirus-connected-to-fatima/
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