A controversial Pope

A controversial Pope

Pius XII (Prince Eugenio Pacelli), was the head of the Catholic Church from the 2nd of March 1939 until his death in 1958. He therefore had the burden of leading the Christian community during the World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War. For many historians, he would have to speak more strongly against the massacre of Jews. They sustain that he condemned the excesses of the war, but he did not blame Hitler enough, in order to avoid the aggravation of the tyranny and the exposure of the Catholics in the occupied Europe.
Pius XII explains his position in his first encyclical Summi Pontificatus issued in 1939. He confirms the convictions of Pius XI against all forms of racism. He implicitly made a stand against Nazism, fascism, communism and liberalism, without naming them. The printing and distribution of this text has been banned. The New York Times reproduced the whole encyclical under the tile: “The Pope condemns dictators, treaty violators, racism. He urges the urgent recovery of Poland”.

But the case against him as: remaining silent while more than a thousand Jews of Rome were rounded up and deported to the ghetto located near the Vatican, on the other side of the Tiber. For some historians even if he did not stop this raid, the pontiff still saved tens of thousands of Italian Jews.
And as a whole, the Catholic Church under Pope Pius XII saved more than 800,000 Jews, defended by Jewish historians such as Sir Martin Gilbert, the specialist of the Holocaust and the main mentor for Liana Marabini. Many religious institutions, inspired by Pius XII, opened their doors to hide Jews and save their lives.

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