Perhaps it should be mentioned that Germany was 40% Roman Catholic and Pope Pius XI signed a concordat with Hitler when he came to power in 1933, giving him international recognition, and pulling the rug from under any parish priest who might have spoken against Fascism.
The Concordat was to prevent German government involvement in church matters, or government using church clerics to support political matters.
The Jews did not want the Pope to openly condemn the fascists, the Dutch bishops did that and were all put in concentration camps along with countless Catholics who were rescuing the Jews.
Pius xii realised he was dealing with a monster with all the continental power in his hands. Speaking out only killed more people.
So he did the next best thing, which was to rescue as many Jews as possible using neutrality as a cover. He ordered every monastery and convent or church property to be used to aid Jews, Gypsies and allied airmen to escape the Nazis.
Look what Rabbi Lapide said.
“.the Catholic Church, under the pontificate of Pius XII was instrumental in saving at least 700,000, but probably as many as 860,000, Jews from certain death at Nazi hands.... These figures, small as they are in comparison with our six million martyrs whose fate is beyond consolation, exceed by far those saved by all other churches, religious institutions and rescue organizations combined”
Britain had already rejected 1500 Jews and America wouldn’t take any either. This was a dark time when all the continent was under absolute Nazi rule.
Very interesting, Rabbi Lapide goes on:
“Were I a Catholic, perhaps I should have expected the Pope, as the avowed representative of Christ on earth, to speak out for justice and against murder - irrespective of the consequences. But as a Jew, I view the Church and the Papacy as human institutions, as frail and fallible as all the rest of us. Frail and fallible, Pius had choices thrust upon him time and time again, which would have made a lesser man falter. The 261st Pope was, after all, merely the First Catholic, heir to many prejudices of his predecessors and shortcomings of his 500 million fellow believers. The primary guilt for the slaughter of a third of my people is that of the Nazis who perpetrated the holocaust. But the secondary guilt lies in the universal failure of Christendom to try and avert or, at least, mitigate the disaster; to live up to its own ethical and moral principles, when conscience cried out Save! whilst expediency counselled aloofness. Accomplices are all those countless millions who knew my brothers were dying, but yet chose not to see, refused to help and kept their peace. Only against the background of such monumental egotism, within the context of millennial Christian anti Judaism , can one begin to appraise the Pope's wartime record. When armed force ruled well-nigh omnipotent, and morality was at its lowest ebb, Pius XII commanded none of the former and could only appeal to the latter, in confronting, with bare hands, the full might of evil. A sounding protest, which might turn out to be self-thwarting - or quiet, piecemeal rescue? Loud words - or prudent deeds? The dilemma must have been sheer agony, for which ever course he chose, horrible consequences were inevitable. Unable to cure the sickness of an entire civilization, and unwilling to bear the brunt of Hitler's fury, the Pope, unlike many far mightier than he, alleviated, relieved, retrieved, appealed, petitioned - and saved as best he could by his own lights. Who, but a prophet or a martyr could have done much more?”
The Pope chose “prudent deeds” over “loud words” which would have cost many more lives.
Watch the film The Scarlet and the Black starring Gregory Peck, it gives a reasonable account of the times.
