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Decades of doubt over the role played by "Hitler's Pope" under the Fascist regimes in Italy and Germany during the 1930s and 1940s may be answered if Pope Francis, as a close friend has suggested, opens the Vatican archives. Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who has known the Argentine former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio for 20 years, said he had discussed the role of Pius XII – the man long dubbed as "Hitler's Pope" – at length with the new pontiff. The Rabbi, who recently co-authored On Heaven and Earth, a book of interviews with his friend, said he had made clear...

Sunday, July 29, 2007 Catholics and the Nazi vote 1932 Two interesting maps of Germany. On the first, the black areas are those with the highest concentration of Catholics according to the 1934 census: On the second map, the black areas show the highest concentration of Nazi votes in the 1932 election (white the lowest) Well fancy that! The post Catholic Church Conservation:Catholics fiercest anti-nazis in pre-war Germany has larger versions of the maps if you want to see more detail.

Pope Benedict’s decision to resign has re-ignited media debate about his degree of complicity in the cover-up of child abuse by Catholic priests. That debate echoes an earlier controversy over the complicity in evil on a much vaster scale of a predecessor of Benedict. Pius XII was pope during the Nazi period, and has been condemned for not using his office more vocally to denounce the persecution of Jews. Ironically, it was Pope Benedict who stoked the debate about Pius in 2009 after calling for him to be granted venerable status, first stage on the road to sainthood. What Benedict’s...

The new book, Soldier of Christ, published by Harvard University Press, is a definitive biography of Pope Pius XII.There’s a running joke in Canada about our charming sense of delicate hubris. A Toronto newspaper headline wryly proclaims: “Man Lands on Moon. Boots made in Montreal!” In other words, we’re only 30 million strong and we’re invariably mistaken for quiet Americans, and so when we do achieve something remarkable, even of a minimal variety, we like people to know. Which is why the world needs to know that what will now be the standard life of Pope Pius XII—the definitive biography...

Revealed: Soviets influenced reputation of Pope Pius XII as Nazi collaborator. Documents continue to trickle out from a number of sources, including the Vatican, that may begin to restore the image of the wartime pope who at the time was heralded as a champion of the rights of Europe’s minorities, including the Jewish community... http://www.speroforum.com/a/MEXUNANSQF48/73090-New-book-to-shine-light-on-Pope-Pius-XII-and-the-Holocaust

AS A HISTORIAN OF THE HOLOCAUST, I frequently receive requests from Jewish educators, seeking support for grant applications for their Holocaust programs. Almost all these applications include a sentence about how the new program will inform students that the Pope, and the Vatican, "did nothing" during the Holocaust to help Jews. The most recent such portrayal reached me while I was writing this review. It is part of a proposal to a major Jewish philanthropic organization, and contains the sentence: "Also discusses the role of the Vatican and the rabidly anti-Semitic Pope Pius XII, who were privy to information regarding...

Pope Pius XII. Jerusalem, Israel, Jul 5, 2012 / 03:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial has made changes to a controversial exhibit on Pope Pius XII, presenting a more balanced view of his actions toward the Nazis and their Jewish victims. Pave the Way Foundation President Gary Krupp, a prominent Jewish defender of Pope Pius XII, said his inter-religious group was “very pleased” with Yad Vashem's change of position, which “should show the world that it is truly an institution based on facts and truth.” “The black legend against Pope Pius XII is being bleached white...

Nearly 20 portraits of Pope Pius XII line the walls of Sister Margherita Marchione's office, and dozens of smaller likenesses fill shelves. There are also a pair of his shoes, his white zucchetto (or skullcap), and a gold reliquary containing two handkerchiefs and a strand of his hair. It is a veritable shrine built by Sister Margherita, 88, who became a vocal proponent of sainthood for Pius after learning in 1995 that her order in Rome, the Religious Teachers Filippini, had saved 114 Jews from the Nazis at the time Pius was pope. Hers is a controversial cause. The extent...

The beginning of the Vatican release was notable: "This afternoon, 17 January 2010 -- 2 Shevat 5770, Pope Benedict XVI will make a visit to the Jewish Community of Rome." Greeted by Chief Rabbi Riccardo de Segni, the pontiff arrived at the city's Grand Synagogue just before 5pm local time (11am Eastern), and an hour later, is just completing his address, the fulltext of which will post as soon as it emerges. In the meanwhile, Reuters' Phil Pulella reports from on-site that it didn't take long for the moment's prime flashpoint of Catholic-Jewish relations to come to the fore:...

Vatican fumes at Israeli minister's remarks on Nazi-era pope By Adi Schwartz, Haaretz Correspondent and Staff Vatican officials are furious over Minister Isaac Herzog's statement in Thursday's Haaretz that the planned beatification of Pope Pius XII, who headed the Catholic Church during the Holocaust, is "unacceptable." Cardinal Andrea Lanza di Montezemolo told the Italian paper Corriere della Serra yesterday that "Israel's interference in the matter of Pius XII must stop. We've had it with this interference. Outside opinions are liable to disrupt [the process], and they look like an attempt to force Pope Benedict XVI to make a decision. The...

VATICAN CITY, July 14 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday strongly deplored Israel's strikes on Lebanon, saying they were "an attack" on a sovereign and free nation. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Pope Benedict and his aides were very worried that the developments in the Middle East risked degenerating into "a conflict with international repercussions."

Vatican condemns Israel for attacks on Lebanon VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday strongly deplored Israel's strikes on Lebanon, saying they were "an attack" on a sovereign and free nation. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Pope Benedict and his aides were very worried that the developments in the Middle East risked degenerating into "a conflict with international repercussions." "In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence," he told Vatican...

In keeping with the solemnity of the Yom Kippur holiday, though, I spent my time after services reading David Dalin's new book The Myth of Hitler's Pope. It's a short book but in just a very few pages succeeds (or so it seems to me) in proving that Pope Pius XII has been horribly traduced by his many critics. There are spots where Rabbi Dalin's enthusiasm gets the better of him. I think it is hard to deny that the Vatican willingly cooperated with antidemocratic forces in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. And Dalin's own evidence makes clear that...

Rabbi David G. Dalin received his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He is the author or co-author of several books. His most recent book, and the subject of my interview with him, is The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis.

While so many in the media have found it outrageous that Bill Clinton could be accused of having "blood on his hands" over administration inaction on violence in America, for CBS it is perfectly acceptable -- even worthy of nationwide TV promotion -- to charge a Pope had the blood of six million Holocaust victims on his. On March 19, CBS’s "60 Minutes" promoted the book "Hitler’s Pope," by British journalist John Cornwell. If an author of Cornwell’s disposition were writing about Bill Clinton, CBS would have no trouble dismissing him as a "Clinton hater," as a vicious tool of...

Saddam Hussein's former foreign minister and right-hand man has persuaded sympathisers in the Vatican to arrange free legal advice for his defence against war crimes. Tariq Aziz, a practising Christian who acted as foreign spokesman for the Iraqi dictator, secured the services of Italian lawyers after contacting a group of Roman Catholic priests and bishops. He wrote to his family from jail in Baghdad urging them to contact Father Jean-Marie Benjamin, a Left-wing priest who had previously brokered a controversial meeting between Aziz and the Pope before the war last year. Fr Benjamin, who has said he is acting with...