5 Things We Learned From New Book About Pope Pius XII And Nazi Germany
Former Pope Pius XII has long been at the center of a controversy involving the Vatican and what he did or didn’t do to help Jews during World War II.
The Holy See has defended the pontiff, saying he had worked behind the scenes to rescue Jews from Nazi Germany. His critics have argued he did little to nothing, so much so that he’s often referred to as “Hitler’s pope.”
When the wartime pope died in 1958, his papers were sealed in the Vatican Apostolic Archive, leaving unanswered questions about what he knew and did during World War II. It has been a major point of controversy for decades, and questions swirled about his guilt or innocence just as the Vatican prepared to canonize him a saint, a process that started in 2000.
READ: ‘Holy Silence’ Tries to Get Into the Mind of Pope Pius XII During World War II
In 2020, the archives were opened. Historian David Kertzer, a Vatican scholar, has now penned a new book that sheds light on Pius XII in an attempt to finally clear up any misconceptions. Kertzer’s 484-page book, “The Pope at War,” is based on a treasure trove of documents — 12 volumes to be exact — from the Vatican, along with state archives of the United States, Italy, France, Germany and Britain.
READ: Pius XII’s Role During WWII Still Unclear But He Helped Save Palestine’s Jews
As the Holocaust unfolded, what exactly did the Vatican do to help Jews escape? That’s the big question many have been asking, and the documents reveal some interesting details. The book, which hit bookshelves on June 7, answers that question and much more. Here’s a look at five revelations from “The Pope at War”:
5. Pope’s advocacy focused on Jews who had converted
Kertzer describes how the Vatican worked hardest to save Jews who had converted to Catholicism or were children of “mixed marriages” between Catholics and Jews. Documents reveal the Vatican searched baptismal certificates and lists of those who had converted, which were handed over by the German ambassador to the Holy See at the time.
“The amount of material in these archives about searching for baptismal records for Jews that could save them is really pretty stunning,” Kertzer, a professor of anthropology and Italian studies at Brown University, told The Associated Press.
4. The Vatican was interested in remaining neutral
“The Pope at War” is available wherever books are sold starting June 7. Photo via Penguin Books
Like Switzerland, the pope was looking for the Holy See to stay out of the war. Kertzer asserts that the pope wasn’t driven by antisemitism — instead, he wanted to stay neutral in an effort to protect the Vatican and Catholic interests in Italy and across Europe as the Nazis swept to power.
Kertzer found that the pope was afraid of the fallout from the war — most notably fear that Catholics would suffer in German-occupied countries, followed by fear over the possibility of communism spreading across Europe if the Axis powers lost.
3. Vatican newspaper told not to report on Nazi atrocities
The Roman Observer, the official Vatican newspaper, was ordered by the Holy See to suppress news about German atrocities throughout the 1940s. The Vatican’s motivation for that was to maintain peace with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who had allied himself with Adolf Hitler.
The newspaper also never reported on, or even denounced, Nazi massacres — including when some 1,000 Jews were rounded up in Rome, just outside the Vatican’s walls, in 1943 and sent via train to Auschwitz.
Nonetheless, Kertzer also argues that despite all this, Pius XII was not “Hitler’s Pope.” That’s the nickname given to him by historian John Cornwell in the 1999 book by the same name. However, the pope also wasn’t exactly the champion for helping Jews as the Vatican has previously argued.
2. Pope got help from a prince to communicate with Hitler
Pius XII’s decision to avoid direct public criticism of Hitler or the Holocaust may have stemmed from a 1939 negotiation between the Vatican and the Germans. The intermediary was a German prince named Philipp von Hessen, the son-in-law of Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel III.
The pope, who spoke German, met Hitler’s envoy for the first time on May 11 of that year in Rome. According to transcripts included in the book, the pope said, “I have been very considerate, and the Reich Chancellor’s reply was very kind. But the situation has since deteriorated” — a reference to Hitler closing Catholic schools and seminaries and the slashing of funds benefiting churches in Austria.
“I am certain that if peace between church and state is restored, everyone will be pleased,” the pope added at the time. “The German people are united in their love for the Fatherland. Once we have peace, the Catholics will be loyal, more than anyone else.”
1. The pope was no ally of Hitler
While the pope wanted to see the Soviets defeated for fear for what would eventually happened with the start of the Cold War in the post-WWII years, Pius XII was no friend of Hitler or fascism, according to the book.
Johan Ickx, who serves as the archivist of the Vatican’s secretariat of state, praised Pius XII over his efforts and was quoted in Vatican News as saying, “For the Jews it was obvious and clear that Pius XII was on their side and both he and his staff would have done everything in their possibility to save them.”
Kertzer’s book, which took two years to research, compile and write, answers many questions about the complicated circumstances around the decisions Pope Pius XII had to make in those years.
The book — and the archival material contained in it — goes a long way in helping to answer questions that many had been asking for the past 80 years. It ultimately paints a portrait of a mixed legacy fraught with contradictions.
Clemente Lisi is a senior editor and regular contributor to Religion Unplugged. He is the former deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and teaches journalism at The King’s College in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.