Apparently breaking with a taboo among critics of the Catholic Church
and of Pope Pius XII – who reigned during the Second World War and the
Holocaust – Israel’s ambassador to the Vatican has recognized that the
pontiff did actually save thousands of Jews during the years of Nazi
predation.
Ambassador Mordechai Lewy affirmed on June 23 that “as of the raid of
16 October 1943 and the days following in the ghetto of Rome, the
monasteries and orphanages of the religious orders opened their doors to
Jews, and we have reason to believe that this occurred under the
supervision of the highest authorities of the Vatican, who were aware of
these measures.”
The diplomat spoke at a ceremony in which a Catholic
priest, Gaetano Piccinini of the order founded by Don Orione, was
post-humously awarded a medal honoring him as numbering among righteous
Gentiles.
Media reports in Italy claim that it was Pope Pius XII, who is largely
dismissed as having done little to save the victims of the Holocaust,
who transmitted an appeal to religious orders through his Secretary of
State, Cardinal Luigi Maglione.
The pontiff’s desire that the Jews of
Rome be sheltered from the Nazi storm was transmitted in conversations
and messages so as to avoid Nazi reprisals.
Besides the approximately
5,000 Jews who took refuge in Rome’s convents, schools, and monasteries,
several thousands more were sheltered at the papal village at
Castelgandolfo in Rome.
Ambassador Lewy said “the fact that the Vatican could not prevent the
departure of the train that took the captives from Rome to the
extermination camps can only have contributed to reinforcing the desire,
on the part of the Vatican, to offer its own premises as a refuge for
Jews.”
In any event, continued the diplomat, “we must recognize that
the train that left on 18 October 1943 was the only convoy that the
Nazis managed to organize in Rome for Auschwitz.”
In view of these facts, Ambassador Lewy affirmed that “it would be a
mistake to say that the Catholic Church, the Vatican or the Pope himself
were opposed to activities to save Jews. It is quite certain that it
was to the contrary: they always gave the help that they could.”
Some historians, despite contrary claims made
by writers such as John Cromwell, argue that it was the Catholic Church
that saved more Jews than any other institution during the Second World
War and the Holocaust.
Historian Pinchas Lapide, an Israeli consul to
Italy in the 1960s, claimed that this number may amount to 750,000.
Renowned British historian Sir Martin Gilbert, who has written about
righteous Gentiles who gave their lives to save Jews, has also praised
the work of Pope Pius XII.
The Jewish Virtual Library,
a website dedicated to the history and culture of the Jewish people,
wrote however of the wartime pope, “Pope Pius XII's (1876-1958) actions
during the Holocaust remain controversial. For much of the war, he
maintained a public front of indifference and remained silent while
German atrocities were committed. He refused pleas for help on the
grounds of neutrality, while making statements condemning injustices in
general. Privately, he sheltered a small number of Jews and spoke to a
few select officials, encouraging them to help the Jews.”
Pope Pius XII did receive thanks during his lifetime for his actions to
save Jews. At the end of the Second World War, Chief Rabbi Israel
Zolli of Rome entered the Catholic Church and took the name Eugenio in
homage to the Pope whose baptismal name was Eugenio.
In addition, a
wealthy Italian senator and member of Italy’s Jewish community presented
the pope with a luxurious villa in the center of Rome that still serves
as the Vatican’s nunciature to the Italian Republic.
Golda Meir, who would go on to become a prime minister, spoke as
Israel’s foreign minister in 1958 and praised Pope Pius XII following
his death.
Speaking on behalf of her government, the US-born Meir said
that “during the ten years of Nazi terror, when our people suffered the
horrors of martyrdom, the Pope raised his voice in condemnation of the
oppressors and to lift up the victims.”
While the pope had spoken
generally against the extermination of human beings, his critics still
maintain that he could have done more.