There are few more dividing and controversial figures in the history of the Second World War
than the then pope Pius XII. Accused of being Hitler’s lackey as well as being hailed as the
rescuer of millions of Jews, the mystery of the real intentions of Pius XII is as
big of a mystery as to why he chose to stay silent during one of the most turbulent and
horrifying times of History. But the mystery is about to be solved as researchers are
beginning to gather again at the Vatican to analyze what Pius XII did and didn’t.
Welcome to Nutty history and let’s find out if Pope Pius XII was in fact Hitler’s Pope or not?
In 1963, a play called The Deputy had its world premiere in West Berlin.
Based on the events of the Nazi regime and the second world war, the play raised many
questions on the conduct of the then pontiff Pius XII or as he was known before ascending to papacy,
Eugenio Pacelli. Though the play was categorized as fiction, it created enough doubts to spike
interest among people of Europe and America to look into Pope Pius XII’s actions during
the Holocaust and the Second World War. In response to the outcry sparked by the drama,
the Vatican published an 11-volume collection of the pontiff’s wartime documents. The papers,
published between 1965 and 1981, were criticized as “selective and insufficient,” by the media,
furthermore damaging the reputation of the late pope. Over the years, the criticism of
Pope Pius XII grew furthermore, leading up to the publication of the book by British journalist John
Cornwell dubbing Pope Pius XII as Hitler’s Pope which also happens to be the title of
the book. Though the book has been challenged by various commentators for its leading ideas
and factual assertions and the author himself has softened his stance, it was also praised
for bringing the relationship of the Catholic Church with fascism and Nazism into the light.
American historian and Rabbi David G. Dalin openly tried to dismiss the book “Hitler’s Pope” by
publishing a book with a contrasting theme “The Myth of Hitler's Pope”. Dalin’s book focused on
documents showcasing everything Pope Pius XII did to save the lives of hundreds of Jews in Europe.
And although D. G. Dalin offers more substance and evidence than Cornwell’s Hitler’s Pope; the
book fails to answer one important question. On October 16th, 1943, when Nazi SS forces arrested
over twelve hundred Jews in Rome’s historic Jewish quarter, right across the Tiber from the Vatican,
why did Pius XII stay silent? Why he did not condemn Hitler and his racist Nazi thugs?
In 2019, incumbent Pope Francis announced that the church isn’t afraid of history and allowed
the Vatican archive to be opened for a small number of scholars who would study documents and
records from Pius XII’s papacy which has been kept secret until now as goes the Vatican tradition.
But, to figure out the mystery of Pius XII being or not being Hitler’s Pope, we might
have to delve deeper into history. Before we examine Pius XII, we need to learn about Pius XI.
Eugenio Pacelli was elected Pope on March 2nd, 1939, and took the name Pius in respect
and honor of his immediate predecessor Pius XI. Coincidentally, like when Pius XII became
pope so close to the beginning of the second world war, Pius XI was elected right before
the beginning of the Fascist era in Italy. And according to the Pulitzer winning book “The Pope
and Mussolini,” it was no coincidence that the two papal elections brought winds of ominous
changes for world politics. The book claims that, despite being radically contrasting personalities,
Pius XI and Mussolini shared similar goals for the future of Rome and the rest of Italy. They had a
mutual lack of faith in democracy and a visceral hatred for communism. And thus, the newly elected
pope played a major part in helping to bring Mussolini into power. But conventional history
claims that the Church heroically battled against the fascist regime but David I. Kertzer, author of
“The Pope and Mussolini” presented strong evidence against the notion in his book. The church was in
fact rewarded by Mussolini for their support by restoring privileges of the church lost over time
and instructed the Italian police to enforce the Catholic morality code, in other words,
a Christian Sharia. The book further asserted that this partnership between the holy Pope and
Fascist dictator Mussolini was made possible by two people. First, Father Pietro Tacchi Venturi,
who was Pius XI’s personal emissary to Mussolini and was a well-known anti-Semite. His political
actions and infamy had earned him the name ‘Mussolini’s Rasputin’. Second, Cardinal Secretary
of State Eugenio Pacelli, who would later succeed Pius XI as Pope Pius XII. The book claims that
Pacelli’s political skills and ambition made him Mussolini’s most powerful ally inside the Vatican.
Professor of Modern History in the University of Rome and ex-Senator of the Italian Senate,
Emma Fattorini claimed otherwise about Pius XI in her book “Hitler, Mussolini,
and the Vatican”. According to Professor Fattorini’s investigations, throughout his papacy,
Pius XI was left frustrated by those he trusted the most. He tried to help Jews
and protest the rise of Nazism but was thwarted by his own people. This includes not only rulers
of governments who were hostile to the Catholic Church, but also the Catholic press, and many
clergy up to the highest levels of the hierarchy, including his Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli.
When archives of Pius XI’s regime were made public in 2006, some documents related to Pius
XII’s tenure as Cardinal Secretary of State were also released. After Pope Pius XI died in 1939,
Pacelli became the camerlengo, the chamberlain who handled the transition after the death of a pope,
and the election of another. Professor Fattorini claims that during the transition period between
the death of Pius XI and Pacelli’s ascension to popehood, Pacelli changed history in many ways.
She claims the to-be-pope worked hard to color Pius XI in the agreement of many decisions Pacelli
took as Cardinal Secretary of State. And this may paint two different pictures of Pius XI, but one
thing is common, both authors, Professor Fattorini and Kertzer find Pius XII guilty of anti-Semitism.
The historical record shows Pius XII did very little to condemn the Holocaust, and nothing
effectual to stop it. He was the Vatican’s chief diplomat before becoming pope in 1939.
Furthermore, in 1933, Pacelli spearheaded an agreement between the German Holy See
and the Third Reich. This so-called concordat was deliberately ambiguous. Hitler claimed it
a seal of international and religious approval of the Nazi regime but the Vatican’s statement
was vague, calling it a compromise made in the Church’s interest. After he was elected pope,
six months before the outbreak of war, the Vatican maintained diplomatic relations with the Third
Reich, and the new pontiff declined to condemn the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939.
From there on the Vatican adopted a stance of official neutrality, and the Church yielded
their opportunity to push Allied powers to speak against the growing Nazi concern.
When the archives of Pius XII’s reign as Pope were made public, historian Hubert Wolf of
the University of Münster and a team of German academics were permitted access to the section
in the Vatican's library. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic occurred soon after and the research was
interrupted but the early signs of the research look grim for the Pope’s image. According to
early revelations, Pope Pius XII was well aware of the situation of Jews in Warsaw and Lviv
yet the Vatican maintained the stance of ignorance about the existence of the Holocaust. As the
world is recovering from COVID, the research has resumed and more facts are awaited to be revealed.
But there is another side to the story. A lot of scholars believe that by not openly protesting
Nazis, Pius XII did better to the Jews than harm. As catholic clergy who openly protested, the Nazis
saw more adversity against Jews as it made the Gestapo act more violently to suppress any voice.
Holland’s clergy, for example, was the most vociferous against the Jewish persecution and it
resulted in 107,000 Jews deported from Holland, a total of 79% of the Dutch Jewish population which
makes it higher than any other Western nation. Meanwhile, Rome may have kept silent in public
but covertly it was working in unison with the Allies to save Jews according to Historian Fr
Dermot Fenlon of the Birmingham Oratory. Pius XII tried to reason or threaten Hitler from
time to time to secure the lives of Roman Jews. He also appointed several prominent Jewish scholars
to Vatican posts after they were dismissed from Italian Universities because of Fascists policies.
In Hungary, an estimated 80,000 baptismal certificates were issued by Church authorities
to Jews. Pius later engineered an agreement with Brazilian President Getúlio Vargas to
issue 3,000 visas to "non-Aryan Catholics" who were Jews from Eastern Europe. According
to the Jewish Virtual Library of The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise,
Pius XII’s efforts resulted in saving more than 8 million Jewish lives. In 2012, Yad Vashem, The
World’s Holocaust Remembrance Center, changed the wording on an exhibit on Pius XII’s papacy, from
he “did not intervene” to he “did not publicly protest”. The new text acknowledged different
assessments of the pope’s position and Yad Vashem is looking forward to what Vatican archives will
reveal to researchers to establish a clearer understanding of the events that took place.
So, what do you think? Was Pius XII anti-Semitic or a good Samaritan who saved millions of Jews'
life? Tell us in the comments. Oh and thanks for watching Nutty History.