Flashback: Pope Pius XII and the Jews

This past April, the Holy Father, John Paul II went home. (Santo Subito!)

UM's rag The Michigan Daily ran stories that were mostly respectful of his passing, but one article implied that the church did nothing during the Holocaust.
I then wrote a letter, telling them the truth about the Church during the Holocaust.

Catholic Church did not sit idly by during Holocaust

First off, I would like to thank the Daily for its generally respectful coverage of His Holiness Pope John Paul II’s passing ... I do, however, take issue with how you implied that the Church did nothing to protest the Shoah (Holocaust). I think it is a bit of an exaggeration to say that the “Roman Catholic Church fail(ed) to protest the Nazi Holocaust.” In fact Pope Pius XI (pope from 1922-1939) was an opponent of the Nazis and in 1935 wrote an encyclical (Mit Brennender Sorge) to the German people speaking against the Third Reich. Pope Pius XII (pope from 1939-1958) wrote against the Nazis in 1935 (before his papacy) saying that they “are in reality only miserable plagiarists who dress up old errors with new tinsel. It does not make any difference whether they flock to the banners of social revolution, whether they are guided by a false concept of the world and of life, or whether they are possessed by the superstition of a race and blood cult.” (Robert Graham, S.J., ed., Pius XII and
the Holocaust) Thousands of Jews were hidden in the Vatican. Jews were also
hidden within the Pope’s summer home. It is estimated that between 700,000 and
860,000 Jews were saved by the Roman Catholic Church’s efforts. Isaac Herzog,
the chief Rabbi of Jerusalem in 1944, wrote, “The people of Israel will never
forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal
principles of religion which form the very foundations of true civilization, are
doing for us unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our
history, which is living proof of divine Providence in this world.” There are
countless other examples of what the Church did for the Jews. In no way can
anyone say that the Church “fail[ed] to protest the … Holocaust.” One could
argue that the Church did not do enough, and indeed that may be so. One cannot
argue, however, that the Church was silent or even complicit as some have
suggested. For more information, see the document “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah” at www.vatican.va or the article at www.catholic.com/library/HOW_Pius_XII_PROTECTED_JEWS.asp.

Andrew Fanco
Engineering senior

I Came across that as I googled my name on Friday.
The link to that and the other letters of that day is here:
http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/06/4253c1657fec8

(There I went railing against the "liberal media!" What a crazy paranoid putz I am!)