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Pope and Hitler: New revelations shed light on Vatican's deliberate silence on extermination of Jews

2022-06-03 19:15:56Histori SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Pope and Hitler: New revelations shed light on Vatican's deliberate silence
The Pope and Hitler

A secret that has been kept inside the Vatican for more than 80 years. It is about the secret negotiations between Pope Pius XII and Hitler, and about a new light on the Pope's silence in the face of the extermination of the Jews.

Deleted from all official documents of the Holy See, they were made public after the opening of the archives of Eugenio Pacelli, at the request of Pope Francis in March 2020. "I had already worked with the archival collections of Western countries, but I lacked data from the Vatican," said David I. Kertzer, an American professor at Brown University who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his essay entitled "Pope Pius XI and Fascism." ”, Ie on the historical events that precede the period treated in his new work.

His new book “A Pope at War. The Secret History of Mussolini, Hitler, and Pope Pius XII ”recently published in Italy contains many documents that had been removed from the 12 volumes of archival sources of the Vatican Secretariat in connection with World War II, and that speak of one of the most historiographical issues controversial and sharpest: Pope Pachel's failure to denounce Nazi genocide against Jews.

Let's start with Pope Pius XII's secret negotiations with Hitler. What did you find in the Vatican archives?

Minutes in German, which remained hidden for 80 years. They talk about the secret meetings between Pope Pius XII and the Führer's envoy, Prince Philip Von Hesen, an eccentric, gay character who was married to Mafalda of Savoy, so he was the son-in-law of Victor Emmanuel III. The meetings took place from the beginning of the papacy of Pius XII outside the normal diplomatic channels. The German ambassador himself to the Holy See was unaware of them.

What was the content of those talks?

The Pope urges Hitler to stop the policy of aggression against the Catholic Church in Germany. In return, Hitler's envoy set two conditions: the Pope's silence on the racial issue and the non-interference of the German clergy in the domestic politics of the Third Reich.

From May 1939, the meetings continued for several months, in preparation for Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop's visit in March 1940. The documents also show the Pope's 5 requests "to detoxify the public atmosphere before any talks begin."

Dissatisfied with the weak signals coming from Germany, the Pope demanded an end to attacks on the Catholic Church, the restoration of religious education in schools and the freedom of priests, and an end to the seizure of property. Hitler agreed to the terms set by Pacel.

Basically, you claim that the Pope exchanged his silence on the Nazi massacres, by ending hostilities against the Catholic Church?

He wanted to protect his Church and avoid divisions in the German Catholic world. Pacel's silence impressed the European public opinion in the first days of the war, after the German occupation of Poland. The debates officially began in the 1960s, when the famous book "Vicar" by Rolf Hoshhu was published. This is absurd, as the scandal over the deafening silence of Pius XII erupted immediately.

You also mention an order signed in 1938 for the disappearance of documents related to the sexual abuse of priests in Austria ...

A document dated March 1938 is still preserved today in the archives of the state secretariat, which at that time was headed by Pacel, the future pope. The order required the Catholic Church in Austria to burn all documentation relating to matters of clerical immorality. Austria had just been annexed by Hitler and the Vatican feared revenge. 

In your book, you dwell on the great diplomatic insistence from Europeans and Americans that the Pope publicly speak out against "German barbarism." Since January 1942, the Pope was fully aware of the extermination campaign launched by the Nazis ...

The Pope received detailed reports on this campaign from trusted clerics. The reports of the military chaplain Father Pirro Skavici arrived at his table. From Nunci to Bratislava arrived the news of the "cruel plan" of the Nazis, drafted by the Catholic Jozef Tiso, the Slovak Nazi leader. In late August of that year, the archbishop of the Ukrainian Church also informed the Pope of the "devilish raids" of the Germans. In September, Giovanni Malveci told him about the horrific massacres in Poland.

But when Americans asked for a public reaction to the horrific news of the extermination of the Jews, the Pope shunned them…

Yes, in September 1942 US President Roosevelt, through his envoy Miron Taylor, invited Pope Pius XII not only to publicly denounce this war crime, but to ask if there was any information confirming the extermination of Jews in Europe. The answer will come only a month later, very dry.

Although well-informed, the Pope acknowledged that he had received some alerts, but added that he was unable to verify their accuracy. In reality, it was Monsignor Angelo Del'Aqua, a member of the Secretariat of State who dealt with the issue, who advised the Pope to be careful, also because "exaggerating things was common for Jews."

However, after the raid on the ghetto of Rome, on October 16, 1943, Pope Pius XII worked hard to liberate the Jews who had converted to Christianity ...

The Vatican's efforts focus only on Jews baptized or married to Catholics, achieving their liberation. Shortly after the ghetto was created, Pacel met with British envoy Osborn and American Titman. He tells both of them that there is no reason to complain about the German army, which according to him had great respect for the Vatican. The meeting did not mention at all the thousands of Jews who were sent to the death camps at Auschwitz.

How do you think your book will be received at the Vatican?

I expect strong controversy, especially from those who continue to regard Pacel as the true Pope, before the revolution of the Second Vatican Council. But it is difficult to face the documents. I have in my hands tens of thousands of pages with digitized resources from the Vatican archives, but also those of the countries involved in the war. I hope that the debate that will follow will take into account these new sources. / La Repubblica - Bota.al


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