‘Hitler’s Pope’ charge rejected

HOW utterly naive is TP O’Mahony in joining writers (some of them vehemently anti-Catholic) in attacking Pope Pius XII for not condemning the Nazis for their oppression of the Jewish people (Irish Examiner, September 12).

In response to a Papal condemnation, Hitler would immediately deny vehemently that such persecution occurred.

His powerful propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, would show films and pictures of ‘happy Jewish people’ working for the German war effort.

“All lies, all lies”, he would proclaim — “Pius XII is a dupe and agent of Churchill and Roosevelt, an enemy of the German Reich”.

Pius XII, as a former nuncio in Germany, was not naive. He knew well the depravity and ruthlessness of Hitler and his cohorts. He knew that the maniac Hitler would retaliate against any condemnation by inciting Himmler and Eichmann to redouble their efforts to eliminate all the Jews in Europe.

The best and true judgement of Pius XII comes from the Jewish people themselves who knew well the efforts he had made to save over 800,000 of them through the interventions of papal diplomats like Angelo Roncalli (the future Pope John XXIII).

In Rome, more than 4,000 Jews were sheltered and saved from the Nazis at the direction of Pius XII.

The Rome chief rabbi, Israel Zolli, was so impressed by Pius XII’s work for the Jewish people that he converted to Catholicism. He said: “Pius XII did more to protect the Jews from Nazism than did all the other religions of the world put together”.

A leading American Jewish rabbi, David Dalin, in his book just published, The Myth of Hitler’s Pope, contradicts the false statements in Rolf Hochuth’s and John Cornwell’s writings on Pius XII.

Rabbi Dalin merely confirms the writings of five reputable Jewish historians, Jena Levai, Joseph Lichten, David Herstig, Livia Rothinchen, Pinchas Lapide, all of whom praised Pope Pius XII’s work in saving Jewish people during World War II.

Fr Con McGillicuddy

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