Reuters
Jewish leader confronts Pope on Holocaust 'silence'
Pontiff says Vatican helped Jews secretly, quietly
Pope Benedict XVI arriving at Rome's main synagogue, yesterday. Photo: Max Rossi/Reuters
An Italian Jewish leader told Pope Benedict yesterday that his wartime predecessor Pius XII should have spoken out more forcefully against the Holocaust to show solidarity with Jews being led to the "ovens of Auschwitz".
The comments, from the president of Rome's Jewish community Riccardo Pacifici, were made during the Pope's first visit to Rome's synagogue and were some of the bluntest ever spoken by a Jewish leader in public to a Pope.
"The silence of Pius XII before the Shoah, still hurts because something should have been done," Mr Pacifici told the Pope, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.
"Maybe it would not have stopped the death trains, but it would have sent a signal, a word of extreme comfort, of human solidarity, towards those brothers of ours transported to the ovens of Auschwitz," he said.
The visit, Pope Benedict's third trip to a Jewish temple since becoming Pope in 2005, has deeply split Italy's Jewish community after he took the decision last month to advance Pius XII on the path towards sainthood.
Many Jews say Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, did not do enough to help Jews facing persecution by Nazi Germany.
In his speech to the Pope, Mr Pacifici paid tribute to Italian Catholics, priests and nuns during the war and said their efforts made Pope Pius's "silence" hurt even more.
The Vatican maintains that Pope Pius was not silent during the war, but chose to work behind the scenes, concerned that public intervention would have worsened the situation for both Jews and Catholics in a wartime Europe dominated by Hitler.
The Pope, speaking after Mr Pacifici, broadly stuck to this stance, although he did denounce the Holocaust as "the most extreme point on the path of hatred" and acknowledged that "unfortunately, many remained indifferent".
"The Apostolic See (the Vatican) itself provided assistance, often in a hidden and discreet way," Pope Benedict said, referring to the wartime record of the Catholic Church during Pius' papacy.
Jews have asked that the Vatican wartime archives be opened for study and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom repeated the request to the pope privately at the synagogue.
"I asked the Pope to find a way to make it possible to open the archives in the Vatican in order to give some details of the papacy of Pius XII in order to ease tensions between the Jewish people and Catholics," Mr Shalom said at the synagogue.
Italian Holocaust survivors gave the Pope a letter saying "the silence of someone who could have done something has marked our lives ..." The letter said: "We are here but we have never left Auschwitz".
The visit comes 24 years after Pope John Paul became the first pope in nearly 2,000 years to enter a synagogue and called Jews "our beloved elder brothers".
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L BORG
Jan 18th 2010, 20:46
DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR THE POPE OF THAT TIME STAYED SILENT? WELL EVEN TODAY THE POPE IS SILENT ABOUT THE 43 YEAR OLD OCCUPATION OF PALESTNIAN LAND THE GAZA SIEGE AND THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE LEFT DEAD AT THE HANDS OF THE ISRAELIS
Brian Farrugia
Jan 18th 2010, 17:34
The holocaust, a great excuse to carry on killing Palestinians with impunity. Let us forever keep it in the news eh?
renald williams
Jan 18th 2010, 15:48
Old sins die hard… Ottubru 1942 - trakkijiet b’1060 lhudi, ghaddew quddiem il-Vatikan, biex ix-xufiera jaraw il-veduta . L-Lhud kienu ser jinzammu go post ghal jumejn , nofs mil boghod, qabel jintbaghtu Auschwitz. Pius XII kien infurmat u m’ghamel xejn. Spiccat il-gwerra - qassisin ghenu lil dawk li gew akkuzati mill-qorti ta’ Nuremberg; jaharbu mill-Ewropa bil-passaporti tal-Vatikan. Minn L-Isqof Alois Udal: Kap tal-Kummisjoni Pontificja ta’ l-Assistenza u nfluenti fil-Caritas; sa l-Qassis Bruni Ventinelli: li kien iwassalhom fil-port ta’ Genoa; bil-passaport li kien ikun ipprovdielhom Udal, harbu hafna. L-aktar famuz kien Josef Mengele, it-tabib tal-mewt t’Auschwitz. Pius XII ta’ ordni lill-Militar Amerikan , li ebda suldat iswed ma seta’ joqghod ghassa madwar il-Vatikan . We are to judge no one beause only Christ is sinless – John 8:46, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 7:26, 1 Peter 1:19, 2:22, 1 John 3:5 We all need a Saviour to save us from our sins … Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:46-47, 1:77, 7:48-50, 19:10, Acts 5:31, 1 Timothy 1:15, 4:10 Because we are all sinners – John 8:7, Romans 3:4-23, 5:12, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Galatians 3:22, Ephesians 2:1-5, Colossinas 2:13, Hebrews 2:9, 1 John 1:8-10, 5:19. May God forgive us all. Sincere peace and health.
renald williams
Jan 18th 2010, 15:10
Old sins die hard... Piju XI bejn 1926-29: sejjah lil Mussolini il-bniedem mibghut minn Alla; u iffirma konkordat mieghu t-Trattat tal-Lateran, biex iggwadanja territorju u flus. Hitler sar kancillier bl-ghajnuna tal-ajjutant tal-Papa: il-mexxej tal-partit Zentrum Party; Von Papen (1933). Il-Papa Piju XII; meta kien ghadu kardinal Eugenio Pacelli (20 ta’ Lulju 1933), iffirma f’Berlin konkordat ma' Hitler. Is-Slovakkija bdiet titmexxa mill-Qassis Tiso. Kien l-ewwel mexxej li baghat il-Lhud gewwa Auschwitz. Wara l-gwerra Tiso kien imtella’ l-qorti. Piju XII pprotesta u sejjahlu martri tar-religjon. Piju XII u l-Isqof ta’ Zagreb Stepinac, kienu issapportjaw ill-Kroat Ante Pavelic (1941-1945). Il-motto ta’ Pavelic kien: noqtlu terz tal-Lhud, nibghatu t-terz l-iehor f’kampijiet tal-koncentrament u l-ahhar terz iridu jsiru bilfors Kristjani. Nqatlu eluf ta' Lhud bl-ghajnuna ta' Qassisin. Il-Qassis Filipovitch kien il-kap tal-kamp ta’ koncentrament ta’ Jasenovac. Deheb li nsteraq mill-vittmi spicca fil-bank tal-Vatikan, kif ammetta l-Qassis Luciano Guerra (1976). Fl-1959 Ante Pavlic miet fi Spanja, wara li kien ircieva barka specjali minghand il-Papa Gwanni XXIII. L-Isqof Stepinac intbaghat il-habs bhala kriminal tal-gwerra. Piju XII skomunika lil dawk kollha li xehdu fil-qorti. God forgive us all. Peace and health to all.
renald williams
Jan 18th 2010, 13:26
Old sins die hard...
Xi Kristjani kienu jkeccu l-Lhud mix-xoghol, u ma jaghtuhomx kura medika.
San Gwanni Krisostmu u San Ambrogg kitbu li ghandna noboghdu l-Lhud, ghax mhumiex umani, izda demonji nkarnati u s-sinagoga fejn jitolbu hi burdell tal-prostituti.
Fis-seklu tnax: Papa Ewgenju III; u San Bernard ta’ Clairvaux, (1146), ippersegwitaw u massakraw il-Lhud.
Fit-tieni u t-tielet Koncilji Lateran, (1139) u (1179), zdiedu aktar ligijiet kontra l-Lhud.
Fi Treves, fis-seklu 13; 39 Lhudi, li ma ridux isiru Kristjani gew moghtija mill-Isqof tal-post biex jinqatlu mill-Krucjati.
Fi Strassburg, (1349), 2000 Lhudi nharqu hajjin fi 36 siegha, minn Qassisin Kristjani.
Papa Pawlu IV (17 ta’ Lulju 1555), qal li l-Lhud ghandhom jigu ttrattati ta’ skjavi. L-Lhud ghandhom jghixu go ghetto u bil-lejl jissakru. Jridu jilbsu kappel isfar.
Taht Girgor VIII, Piju VII, Ljun XII, Piju VIII, Girgor XVI u Piju IX (1846-1878) komplew il-pregudizzji kontra l-Lhud.
Sa zmien Piju XII, il-Lhud kollha tad-dinja kien jissemmew bhala l-Perfidi Ebrej, il-Lhud li qatlu lil Kristu. Isqfijiet Kristjani ammettew li dak iz-zmien jekk kont titma’ Lhudi bil-guh, wara kont trid tmur tqerr.
Sa l-1970; il-Kristjani ma kienux jithallew izuru Jad Vashem, tifkira tas-sitt miljun Lhudi maqtula fl-Olokawst.
God forgive us all. Peace and health .
A. Muscat
Jan 18th 2010, 13:07
With my full firmness and conviction and without compromise I equally stand foursquare with both the victims of the Holocausts and the victims of the victims of the Shoah. I sincerely hope justice may eventually take place and the Palestinians who have been occupied, beleaguered, apartheid and systemically annihilated for six decades will live side by side with the Jews. In two separate sovereign satiates. Injustice and occupation are the conditions for terrorism.
Joseph Huber
Jan 18th 2010, 11:58
So, with all the positive suggestions floated by both sides during the Pope's visit to the Synagogue of Rome (not to mention the reiterated declarations of reciprocal respect), for journalists, the most important point which made headline news was Mr Pacifici's comment about Pius XII!! Speculative journalism of the basest kind at its best!!!!