Table of contents:
- Who was Pope Pius XII, before the papacy
- Activity of Pius XII on the Holy See
- So still, an accomplice of the Nazis or a saint?
Video: Who Pope Pius XII Really Was - Nazi Accomplice or Saint: Declassified Vatican Documents
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Recently, the Vatican decided to open the veil of secrecy over part of the history of the Catholic Church during the Second World War. Archival church documents were declassified. They were kept in the strictest secrecy due to suspicions that the head of the church at that time, Pope Pius XII, knew about the horrors of the Holocaust, but turned a blind eye to it. The documents throw light on all the controversial aspects of this pontiff's papacy. A friend of the Nazis? Cautious adversary? Or is the situation much more complicated than it seems at first glance?
With the opening of the Vatican archives in March, we hope the truth will be revealed. Historians have reviewed all of the recently available documents from the vast archives of the Church. They say they have found evidence that suggests that Pius learned about the dire plight of the Jews under the Nazi regime as early as 1942.
Usually papal records are published 70 years after the death of the Pope. In this case, however, Pope Francis made an exception. In early 2019, marking the 80th anniversary of the election of his predecessor, the current Pope declared that the Church "is not afraid of history." He said that perhaps the "tortured decisions" within the church led to the fact that the behavior of the pontiff on the issue of the Holocaust seemed too restrained to some.
Who was Pope Pius XII, before the papacy
Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli - that was the name of the future pontiff, was born in Rome on March 2, 1876. In 1899 he became a priest. Later he served in the Vatican State Secretariat. Then he was the papal nuncio. In 1929, Pacelli became a cardinal. Prior to his election, he was Secretary of State of the Vatican.
On his birthday, Eugenio received a luxurious gift from fate - he became Pope. Pius XII was the first pope to be elected as a secretary of state since the time of Clement IX in 1667.
Activity of Pius XII on the Holy See
He made a significant contribution to the development of Catholic social teaching. Dad was very categorical on some issues. For example, in the condemnation of communist ideology. He considered it totalitarian. Pius XII actively protested against the persecution of the Catholic Church in the Soviet Union. He was even interested in the fate of the soldiers of the SS "Galicia" division. The Pontiff saved them from deportation to the USSR.
Pius XII greatly contributed to the creation of new Catholic churches. The Vatican even announced its intention to canonize him. Only the procedure was stopped due to the fact that the activity of this pope raises many questions. Scientists are now actively studying his activities during the Second World War in order to understand these important confusing issues.
Pope Pius XII was elected in 1939. The beginning of his reign coincided with the birth of the Nazi regime. Because of his silence on Nazi crimes that he could not have been unaware of, Pius XII is sometimes referred to as "Hitler's Pope." The pontiff ruled until 1958. Some researchers state directly that Pius knew about the massacres of Jews, but did nothing.
Why is information about Pius XII so contradictory? As Pope during World War II, he decided to remain neutral towards the greatest evil of the 20th century - Hitler's Third Reich. Many consider his position in relation to Nazism to be catastrophic for the church. The pontiff's refusal to publicly condemn the Nazis is a shameful moral failure with devastating consequences.
The Vatican claims that Pius XII was very active, but tacitly, to save the Jews. Archival documents will help shed long-awaited light on this vexing question. Dozens of scientists are studying archival documents. Among them are also employees of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, along with a renowned expert in the study of the pontificate of Pius XII, professor of history at the University of Münster, Hubert Wolff. Professor Wolff believes that there is no doubt that Pius XII knew about the massacres.
So still, an accomplice of the Nazis or a saint?
Pope's supporters say he helped save many Catholics from Nazi persecution. They also emphasize the fact that Italian monasteries provided refuge to thousands of Jews. Recently released secret Vatican documents have given experts a deeper understanding of the decision-making process in Rome.
Among the documents, a certain memorandum was discovered that urged Pius XII not to believe any reports of atrocities by the Germans. This was written by a member of the Vatican State Secretariat. Information about this was called "exaggeration" in the document, and Jews who claim the opposite were called "not a very honest people."
Pius XII refused to speak out openly against Nazism, despite all the attacks, considering it "explosive". According to him, found in the correspondence, he said that he was afraid to "do even more evil." The Pope has always expressed his position very vaguely, in the form of general phrases about hatred of war and the protection of minorities.
For the first time, Pius XII dealt with the Nazis while still being a Vatican diplomat. He is said to have suppressed certain political interests in the Church while at the same time providing her with protection from Hitler's forces. This raised a lot of questions then about the nature of the working relationship between the Vatican and the fascist regime. After all, he became Pope Pius XII six months before the war and was silent when Hitler occupied Poland in 1939.
Many researchers argue that Pius was silent because he was afraid to endanger Catholics in all countries that were under Nazi control. In Germany, Catholics were generally a minority among German Christians.
There have been speculations that Pius does not openly condemn the Nazis because he sees Nazi Germany as a barrier between Christians and Communists. Historians will try to find out all the motives of the pontiff's behavior by studying the declassified archives. Why did he do this and not otherwise, and what discussions took place outside the walls of the Vatican?
Scientists promise to give complete and unambiguous answers to all these questions by the end of the year. Due to many different factors, the study of the legacy of Pius XII is a huge undertaking, as documents relating to this period are millions of pages and are divided into 121 sections, according to topics.
The Vatican had already tried to open the archives in the period from 1965 to 1981. Then 11 volumes of materials were published. Historians considered the publications to be very selective and unsatisfactory in terms of information content.
Meanwhile, the already tarnished reputation of Pius XII hangs in the balance. The connection between religion and military conflict has many gruesome historical examples. At the same time, one should in no way forget about how many wonderful people of true faith, who with all their might brought the victory over Nazism closer, the war revealed. But what really lies behind the neutral behavior of one of the most talked about pontiffs in history? The final answer is still far away …
True nobility also has a place in history, read our article about how the Irish repaid the Choctaw Indians 200 years later.
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