Christian Attitudes

The question of whether Pope Pius XII did as much as he could to help the Jews during WW II has still not been answered, but it has been raised again by Pope Benedict.

Meanwhile, here is some more material on the subject: The Case Of The Wartime Pope: The Historical Controversy Of Pius XII

When Sr. Margherita Marchione discovered that members of her religious order in Rome had saved 114 Jews, she decided to research the subject, interviewing both Catholics and Jews who were there at the time.

Her findings? Evidence exists of a huge system of P.O.W. location and hiding as well as the smuggling of Jewish refugees, which originated in the Vatican. Although there are no documents to show it, interviewees told Sr. Margherita that the orders for these institutions came from Pius XII himself.

In 1998, Sr. Margherita received a letter from a Msgr. Ferofino, who told her a story about Pius XII and the Jews. Msgr. Ferofino was in Santo Domingo, serving as secretary to the bishop there under the rule of dictator Rafael Trujillo. Msgr. Ferofino received notice from Pius XII asking them to visit Mr. Trujillo and ask him for 400 visas, so the pope could send a shipload of Jews to Santo Domingo. They had visas to the U.S., but U.S. authorities would not accept them. Mr. Trujillo accepted the immigrants, who gradually went to the U.S. via Mexico after arriving in the Dominican Republic.

Meanwhile, John Cornwell, who wrote Hitler’s Pope, has somewhat revised his ideas, but is still not convinced that the Pope did enough.

Hitler's Pope has been criticized for its accuracy and dedication to objective history, and Mr. Cornwell admits that since its publication, his views have undergone revision.

"While I believe with many commentators that the pope might have done more to help the plight of the Jews, I now feel, 10 years after the publication of my book, that his scope for action was severely limited and I am prepared to state this," he said. "Nevertheless, due to his ineffectual and diplomatic language in respect of the Nazis and the Jews, I still believe that it was incumbent on him to explain his failure to speak out after the war. This he never did."

Not exactly the current Pope’s claim that Pius XII ‘spared no effort’ to help the Jews.