Defending Pope Pius XII

This past week has been full of ironies. One of the major news stories has been the controversy surrounding the Duke lacrosse players. I have to admit that I deliberately did not follow the story. Ever since the OJ trial, I have tried to avoid forced fed media stories. But, I think it is interesting that these men were convicted in the media for over a year, when they were innocent. I have heard over the past couple of days all the nasty things that were said by major news media personalities, as well as the usual activists. The hoopla surrounding this story was ironic given another story this week. The Vatican ambassador to Israel threatened to boycott the Holocaust memorial today at the Yad Vashem museum due to a photo and caption that implied that Pope Pius XII did not speak out against Hitler during the war. It is what the church refers to as the "Black Legend" and is the grossest libel ever thrown at the church. For the record, Pope Pius XII is a saint, and will be declared as much by the church in the years to come.

The libel began in 1960 with a work of fiction, a play, written by a communist named Rolf Hochhuth. The play was called The Deputy. This libel started as soviet propaganda and has been repeated over and over again by those who have issues with the church, namely those who oppose the church on abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, etc. Typical. However, now we have the Yad Vashem museum in Israel propagating the libel. Although Ambassador Franco backed down and did attend the ceremony in Israel, I wish he had not. It is about time that the Vatican, and all catholics, take a stand to defend Pius. The IRONY is that he was the only leader during the war who not only spoke out against the atrocities of Hitler, he was the only leader in the world who lifted a finger to save the lives of Jews during the war. Hey, Yad Vashem...You're Welcome! No other country in the world has opened it's WWII archives. Yet the ADL and other Jewish organizations demand the church open theirs. I thought people were innocent until proven guilty. Is the ADL saying the Pope Pius is guilty due to soviet propaganda and the only way the church can redeem herself is opening up archives that no other country has? Give me a break! However, be careful what you ask for. When the church finally does, we will learn that Pope Pius XII repeated warned Roosevelt about the concentration camps. Although Roosevelt was fully aware of this, he refused to allow Jewish refugees to enter the US. The Vatican has recently released the 3,000 page dossier submitted for Pope Pius' beatification which gives details about how he saved the lives of Jews during the war. When the archives are opened, we will learn that the Pope and thousands of catholic clergy gave save passage to thousands of Jews to Palestine. Although, the Zionist refused to allow Jewish catholic converts to enter.

There has been a revision of history here at Pope Pius' expense and it is about time we set the record straight. Pope Pius was hailed as a hero after the war by Jews. On the occasion of his death in 1958, Golda Mier had this to say...

"We share in the grief of humanity at the passing away of His Holiness Pope Pius XII. In a generation affected by wars and discords, he upheld the highest ideals of peace and compassion. 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."

Albert Einstein said this in 1940...

"Only the 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."

The chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, said this in 1948...

"What the Vatican did will be indelibly and eternally engraved in our hearts. Priests and even high prelates did things that will forever be an honor to Catholicism."

I could give quotes all day long. You can check out http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII for more.

There have been plenty of books written in recent years in defense of Pope Pius XII, including The Myth of Hitler's Pope by Rabbi David Dalin, The Pius War by William Doino JR., and Hitler, the War, and the Pope by Ronald Rychlak.

Finally, on Christmas Day, 1942, the The New York Times editorialized on the papal Christmas Message and praised Pius XII for his moral leadership:

The Pope’s Verdict

No Christmas sermon reaches a larger congregation than the message Pope Pius XII addresses to a war-torn world at this season. This Christmas more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent. The Pulpit whence he speaks is more than ever like the Rock on which the Church was founded, a tiny island lashed and surrounded by a sea of war. In these circumstances, in any circumstances, indeed, no one would expect the Pope to speak as a political leader, or a war leader, or in any other role than that of a preacher ordained to stand above the battle, tied impartially, as he says, to all people and willing to collaborate in any new order which will bring a just peace.
But just because the Pope speaks to and in some sense for all the peoples at war, the clear stand he takes on the fundamental issues of the conflict has greater weight and authority. When a leader bound impartially to nations on both sides condemns as heresy the new form of national state which subordinates everything to itself: when he declares that whoever wants peace must protect against "arbitrary attacks" the "juridical safety of individuals:" when he assails violent occupation of territory, the exile and persecution of human beings for no reason other than race or political opinion: when he says that people must fight for a just and decent peace, a "total peace" — the "impartial judgment" is like a verdict in a high court of justice.
Pope Pius expresses as passionately as any leader on our side the war aims of the struggle for freedom when he says that those who aim at building a new world must fight for free choice of government and religious order. They must refuse that the state should make of individuals a herd of whom the state disposes as if they were a lifeless thing.

The fact is the Yad Vashem Museum has insulted all catholics and should issue an immediate apology. It does not serve the memory of those who died in the Holocaust to defame the only world leader at the time that tried to help them.