Catholic scholars urge pope to slow Pius sainthood
ROME |
ROME (Reuters) - Top Catholic scholars have written an unusual and impassioned private letter to Pope Benedict urging him to slow down the sainthood procedure for wartime Pope Pius XII, accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust.
The letter, which was made available to Reuters by a source familiar with the initiative, is extremely rare because in the past it has mostly been Jewish groups and not Catholic academics who have written to popes about the issue.
The 18 Catholic scholars from United States, Germany and Australia, used the word "implore" twice in the letter, saying that if Pius was made a saint before the historical record is cleared up, it could irreparably harm Catholic-Jewish relations.
"Holy Father, we implore you, acting on your wisdom as a renowned scholar, professor and teacher, to be patient with the cause of Pius XII," the scholars wrote in their letter.
Many Jews say Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, did not do enough to help Jews facing persecution by Nazi Germany.
The Vatican maintains that Pius chose to work behind the scenes, concerned that public intervention would have worsened the situation for both Jews and Catholics in a wartime Europe dominated by Hitler.
The Catholic scholars suggested that they had to take a hard-line judgment on Pius until Vatican archives were open for more study by historians.
"Currently, existing research leads us to the view that Pope Pius XII did not issue a clearly worded statement, unconditionally condemning the wholesale slaughter and murder of European Jews," the scholars told the German pope.
HEROIC VIRTUES
In December, Benedict angered Jews when he approved a decree recognizing Pius's "heroic virtues", moving him one step closer to sainthood. The two remaining steps are beatification and canonization.
"The movement to press forward at this time the process of beatification of Pius XII greatly troubles us," the scholars told the pope.
The scholars included Rev. Dr. John Pawlikowski of the Catholic Theological Union, a leading historian on Judaism and the Holocaust and Dr. Eugene Fisher, the retired expert on Jewish relations for the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference.
Copies of the letter were to be sent to Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican official in charge of relations with Jews, and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, a leading figure in Catholic-Jewish dialogue in the United States.
Jews have asked repeatedly that the Vatican's wartime archives be opened for study and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom repeated the request to the pope directly when the pontiff visited Rome's synagogue last month.
"We implore you to ensure that such a historical investigation takes place before proceeding with the (sainthood) cause of Pope Pius XII," the scholars told the pope.
They said that Pius had become in essence, a de facto "symbol of Christian-anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism" and added:
"Proceeding with the cause of Pope Pius XII without an exhaustive study of his actions during the Holocaust might harm Jewish-Catholic relations in a way that cannot be overcome in the foreseeable future."
Benedict, a German who was drafted into the Hitler Youth and German army as a teenager during World War Two, has had a more difficult relationship with the Jewish community than his predecessor Pope John Paul II.
Many are still seething at his decision last year to start the rehabilitation process of traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, who denied the full extent of the Holocaust.
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If the Pope knew the Holocaust was going on, then certainly Roosevelt and Churchill did. And if the Pope failed to issue a “statement” — certainly those political leaders failed to bomb the railroad tracks and bridges going to the camps on a weekly basis to prevent anyone from being transported there.
They indeed had the planes available, when they exterminated the civilian population of Dresden. And the Nazis — as deranged madmen — would of course have responded to Allied bombing of transportation routes to the concentration camps by maniacally and irrationally transferring all needed resources from the fronts to protect and rebuild them. Thus a quicker end to the war, fewer Allied soldiers killed, fewer Jews gassed.
So perhaps an inquiry into Churchill’s hero-hood is in order alongside one into Pius XII’s sainthood. And more generally an inquiry into why so very many people, prominent Jews included, stood by and let a third of the Jewish people be incinerated in that holokauston.
- Israeli diplomat Pinchas Lapide: “The Catholic Church under the pontificate of Pius XII was instrumental in saving lives of as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands… (this) figure far exceeds those saved by all other Churches and rescue organizations combined.”
- Former chief rabbi of Rome Emilio Zolli (who became a Catholic and took the baptized name of Eugenio after Pius XII’s birth name): “Volumes could be written on the multiform works of Pius XII, and the countless priests, religious and laity who stood with him throughout the world during the war… No hero in all of history was more militant, more fought against, none more heroic, than Pius XII in pursuing the works of true charity . . . and thus on behalf of all the suffering children of God.”
- Israeli rep to the UN Golda Meir: “We share in the grief of humanity at the passing away of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII. In a generation afflicted 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 its victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out about great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace.”
- Albert Einstein: “Being a lover of freedom, when the Nazi revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, but the universities were immediately silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, but they, like the universities were silenced in a few short weeks. Then I looked to individual writers . . . . they too were mute. Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth. . . . I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel great affection and admiration . . . . and am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly.”
- On May 26, 1955, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra traveled to Rome to play for Pius XII in thanks for his aid to the Jews.
- Not directly related, but another person whose story could have been recounted on screen (like Schindler), was Giovanni Palatucci. He was an Italian police official who, when the Nazis began their occupation of Rome, secretly destroyed files that would have led to the deaths/deportation to concentration camps of many Jews in Italy; forewarned Italian Jews of impending raids so that they could leave beforehand; redirected many Jews who were destined for concentration camps outside of Italy to a lesser known internment camp in southern Italy (Campania region) where his uncle (Bishop Giuseppe Palatucci) used his influence to turn the camp into a place of respite and safety. Take the time to look up the way of life at this camp, where the Jews were allowed to come and go as they pleased throughout the day until curfew at night. They mingled with local residents, played cards, and even started a band. The Italian Catholics did their best to ensure that Jewish lives were saved. Giovanni Palatucci refused the chance to leave the country when his life-savings acts were discovered by the Nazis. He wound up being arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he died shortly before its liberation.
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