Pope Pius XII: Historians pose new questions to Vatican

publiziert: Freitag, 3. Nov 2000 / 09:16 Uhr

Vatican City - Roman Catholic and Jewish historians examining Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust have put the Vatican on the spot.

After an 11-month study, they concluded that published Vatican material on World War II leaves many important questions unanswered and urged the Vatican to open up its archives.

There has been no immediate response from the Vatican. Its chief spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said it was premature. He noted the commission of three Catholic and three Jewish scholars, issued its "preliminary report" only last week.

The report, and remarks by commission members at a news conference, raised explosive questions about what Pius XII and his top aides were doing as reports of the persecution of Jews across Europe reached the Vatican.

The panel was formed by the Vatican and Jewish groups to examine accusations that Pius did not speak out forcefully enough against the Holocaust. For Jews, the issue took on urgency when the Vatican appeared to have put Pius on a fast track for beatification, the last step before possible sainthood.

Since the first controversy surrounding Pius' role during the Holocaust arose in the 1960s with Rolf Hochhuth's play "The Deputy," the Vatican has consistently defended its wartime pope. It said he worked prudently for peace and was thanked by Jews for his efforts.

At a Vatican news conference a year ago, two church representatives denied the Vatican ever received concrete evidence of the extent of Hitler's campaign to exterminate the Jews.

One of them, Cardinal Pio Laghi, said at that time that while modern satellites can detect "a cow in the field in Nicaragua," it is unfair to judge the World War II era by such standards.

In posing specific queries to the Vatican, the commission appeared to challenge the Vatican's contention that it was unaware of the extent of the tragedy. The report cites "astonishingly detailed accounts of killings" by the chaplain of a hospital train in 1942. It recalls how a Ukrainian Catholic bishop "described with sharp clarity the atrocities and mass murder" against Jews and the local population that same year.

"There is evidence that the Holy See was well-informed by mid-1942 of the accelerating mass murder of Jews," the report said. "Questions continue to be asked about the reception of this news and what attention was given to it. How thoroughly informed was the Vatican regarding details of Nazi persecution and extermination? What was the Holy See's reaction, and what discussions followed reports that flowed in describing evidence of the `Final Solution."'

The Rev. Peter Gumpel, a Jesuit who has been documenting the case for Pius' beatification, called the questions "leading and loaded." Gumpel denied that the beatification has been put on hold, as some have suggested, saying he is still putting together material to make the case.

"It is absolutely open when and if" the beatification would be approved, Gumpel told The Associated Press. "I personally think it will." The commission examined documents published by the Vatican in 11 volumes between 1965 and 1981.

"We appreciate that even if full access to the archives were granted, this would not necessarily lay to rest all of the questions surrounding the role of the Holy See and the Holocaust," the report said. "Nevertheless, we believe that this would be a very significant step forward in advancing knowledge of the period and enhancing relations between the Jewish and Catholic communities."

After the report was released on the Internet, the commission members were asked what particularly struck them from their research and what surprises, if any, it contained. Eva Fleischner, a Catholic theologian on the commission, said Pius put much of his hopes in the power of diplomacy and prayer.

"That simply didn't work when confronted with the Nazi machinery," she said. But she said that "so many other world leaders failed at least as much as the pope."

(AP)

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