Those Pius XXII papers
At first glance, the self-imposed suspension of further research by the Jewish-Catholic study group exploring the wartime record of Pope Pius XII may seem like an academic storm in a teacup. It is, however, much more than that.
The row surrounding the suspension has come at a most inopportune time in the process of Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, threatening to obliterate much of the healing accomplished by Pope John Paul’s momentous pilgrimage to the Holy Land last year.
The study group suspended its work after some Jewish scholars objected to lack of access to material in the Vatican archives, saying that the available 12 volumes of material were inadequate for scholarly purposes. The Vatican has responded that it would be improper to make available archival material that has yet to be catalogued, a time-consuming and expensive process.
The scholars claim to have reason to believe that the yet unclassified 3 million pages of material may contain documentation offering greater insights than the already published volumes do.
It is valid to point out that under the circumstances greater progress should have been made in cataloguing relevant material in the 20 years since the last volume of World War II documents was released. Clearly, priority must be given now to identifying all applicable documents in order to arrive at a fully informed judgment of Pius’ war time record.
The last couple of years have seen the publication a slew of books on Pope Pius and the Holocaust, placing this matter into the spotlight. John Cornwell’s revisionist polemic, Hitler’s Pope, despite being discredited by most reputable scholars, has done much harm to Pius’ cause. Other more balanced works, however, raise important questions.
What did Pope Pius know, and how much did he do to alleviate Jewish suffering? Did the pope’s abhorrence of communism, affection for Germany or a “latent anti-Semitism” influence his diplomatic silence? Might a papal denunciation have swayed Hitler? What did Pius do to help Jews in mainly Catholic France, Slovakia or Croatia? What role did Pius play in sheltering and protecting Nazi leaders after the war?
Or was Pius simply a poor politician with good intentions, incapable of responding adequately to extremely complex political circumstances? How significant are the testimonials in praise of Pius by Jewish leaders such as the future Israeli premier Golda Meir, Maurice Perlzweig of the World Jewish Congress or scientist Albert Einstein towards the end of and after World War II?
Much of Jewish-Catholic relations hinges on the answers to these questions, and how the parties concerned react to that. The question of Pius’ wartime record must be resolved, as far as a complete resolution is feasible, before the wounds opened by this debate begin to fester. For that reason alone is it imperative that the study group resume its research, and that access to all relevant archival material be expedited.
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