For years, dissension has swirled around Pope Pius XII's legacy.So, when the Vatican recently announced that he was up for canonization, coughs of disapproval echoed throughout the Jewish community.
Pius' papacy lasted from 1939 until his death in 1958. He served as pope during the World War II era and has been accused of standing idly by as millions of Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
Rabbi Eric Silver, of Temple Beth David in Cheshire, recognized that he, too, did not hold a high opinion of Pius.
However, after attending a recent symposium in Rome by invite of the Pave the Way Foundation, Silver's viewpoint of Pius changed.
Pave the Way is an organization whose goal is to promote peace between various religions.
At Oct. 9th's Yom Kippur service, Silver told the congregation why Pius was a hero worthy of recognition.
"Normally the canonization of saints is an internal matter within the Catholic church. We don't care who they canonize, it's not our business. I'm not Catholic, I don't subscribe to their doctrines and so forth," Silver said.
"But here we have a figure who was involved in some aspect of Jewish life, so the question comes up now — in an era which the Catholic church says they're seeking improved relations with Jews — why are they proceeding with this when the record may not be clear? How would Jews be expected to process that except as a harsh declaration of anti-Semitic feelings?"
Pope Benedict XVI has said that Pius acted silently during the Holocaust to save Jewish lives.
The Vatican has defended Pius, contending he used behind-the-scenes diplomacy to help the Jews, according to the Associated Press.
Pius, "often acted secretly and silently because, in the light of the concrete realities of that complex historical moment, he saw that this was the only way to avoid the worst, and save the largest possible number of Jews," Benedict said earlier this month.
Silver explained the negative depiction of the pope began in 1963 with Rolf Hochhuth's play, "The Deputy," in which Pius and Roman Catholic clergy were accused of tolerating Nazi crimes against Jews.
The portrayal continued with more recent books like, "Hitler's Pope" by John Cornwell and "Under His Very Windows" by Susan Zuccotti.
"It depicted these things, Jews being marched off to their death under the pope's window with him looking on, you know, rather unconcerned," Silver said, adding, "It's an unmitigated lie."
Chunks of "Hitler's Pope" have been retracted by the author.
At the Vatican symposium, Silver said he heard eye-witness accounts and saw documents that Pius saved the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, and realized, he said, that a public condemnation of Hitler by the pope would have caused more harm than good.
"It's not that Pius said, 'Gee, if I denounce Hitler, he'll kill me. It's not about that. The man had no fear for his life.' I think he was more surprised than they were that he came out of it alive because he knew Hitler wouldn't hesitate to go after him," Silver said, noting that as nuncio, Pius (then Eugenio Pacelli), publicly criticized Nazism 40 times.
A public condemnation would have angered Hitler and likely caused him to invade the Vatican, Silver explained. And if that had happened, the Nazis would have found Jews concealed inside.
Silver's hope, he said, is to get the message out that Pius acted heroically during the Holocaust, not cowardly. He said Pius was working as God's emissary and knew his job was to save as many lives as possible.
"For him to do otherwise, would have indeed been a betrayal of his mission. I play in my mind a scenario that might have been going on in his head. He faces God who says, 'You couldn't have kept your mouth shut and saved a few more lives? You come to me with the deaths of all these people on your conscience because you had to make a statement?,'" Silver said.
"Sometimes being brilliant involves knowing what to say. And sometimes it's even more brilliant to know when to say nothing, even when it may be tearing you up inside."
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(Source: RA)