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English name=Pius XII| image=| birth_name=Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli| term_start= March 2 , 1939 | term_end= October 9 , 1958 | predecessor= Pius XI | successor= John XXIII | birth_date= March 2 , 1876 | birthplace= Rome , Italy | dead=dead| death_date= October 9 , 1958 | deathplace= Castel Gandolfo , Italy | }} Pope Pius XII (, 1876 – October 9 , 1958 ), reigned as the 260th Pope , the head of the Roman Catholic Church , and Sovereign of Vatican City State from March 2 , 1939 until his death. His leadership of the Catholic Church during World War II and The Holocaust , remains the subject of continued historical controversy. Before his Coronation As Pope , Pacelli served as a Priest , Papal Nuncio , Cardinal , and Cardinal Secretary Of State , in which role he worked to conclude treaties with other nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Germany . Pius is one of few Popes in recent history to exercise his Papal Infallibility by issuing an Apostolic Constitution , '' Munificentissimus Deus '', which defines '' Ex Cathedra '' the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary . He also promulgated Forty-six Encyclicals , including '' Humani Generis '', which retains continued relevance to the Church's position of Evolution . He also decisively eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals with the Great Consistory . Pope Pius XII is generally regarded as the last true Pope by most Sedevacantists . There is also an ongoing movement to Canonize him.
Early life See Also: Early life of Pope Pius XII Pacelli, who was of noble birth, was a grandson of Marcantonio Pacelli, founder of the Vatican's newspaper, '' L'Osservatore Romano '', a nephew of Ernesto Pacelli, a key financial advisor to Pope Leo XII (1823–29), and a son of Filippo Pacelli, dean of the Vatican lawyers. His brother, Francesco Pacelli, became a highly regarded attorney, and was created a Marchese by Pius XII. His devoted biographer Sister Margherita Marchione has provided a lengthy and flattering account of his boyhood and teenage years.Sr. Margherita Marchione, ''Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace'' (Paulist Press, 2000). ISBN 080913912X Church career Priesthood In 1894, at the age of 18, he entered the Capranica Seminary to begin study for the priesthood and enrolled at the Gregorian University. He was ordained a Priest on Easter Sunday, April 2 , 1899 by Bishop Francesco Paolo Cassetta. From 1904 until 1916, Fr. Pacelli assisted Cardinal Gasparri in his codification of Canon Law . Pope Benedict XV (1914–22) appointed Fr. Pacelli as Apostolic Nuncio to Bavaria in April 1917, and consecrated him Bishop on May 13 1917 .L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, 12/19 August 1998, page 9 This was the very day of the first Marian Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal , notable as Pacelli had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary. Papal nuncio Eugenio Pacelli served the Holy See largely as a diplomat and his role within the Church was largely centered on diplomatic negotiation with Germany . He was the Papal Nuncio in Bavaria from 1917, to Germany from June 1920 and to Prussia from 1925. On the night of the Beer Hall Putsch , Franz Matt , the only member of the German Cabinet not present at the ''Bürgerbräu Keller'', was having dinner with Pacelli and Michael Cardinal Von Faulhaber . During the 1920s and 1930s Cardinal Pacelli succeeded in negotiating Concordat s with Bavaria , Prussia and Baden , but failed in regard to Germany . One of his associates was the German priest Ludwig Kaas , who was known for his expertise Ludwig Volk ''Das Reichskonkordat vom 20. Juli 1933'' ISBN 3 7867 0383 3. in Church-state relations and politically active in the Centre Party . Cardinal and Cardinal Secretary of State Pacelli was created a Cardinal on 16 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI . Within a few months, on 7 February 1930 , Pius XI appointed Pacelli Cardinal Secretary Of State . In 1935, Cardinal Pacelli was named as the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church. During the 1930s Cardinal Pacelli negotiated Concordat s with Baden , Austria and Germany . He also made many diplomatic visits throughout Europe and the Americas, including an extensive visit to the United States in 1936. As Cardinal Secretary of State, Pius signed Concordat s with many non- Communist states in an attempt to gain recognition for the four-year-old Vatican State, including concordats with Italy (1929), Prussia (1929), Baden (1932), Austria (1933), Germany (1933), Yugoslavia (1935) and Portugal (1940). Such concordats allowed the Catholic Church to organize youth groups, make ecclesiastical appointments, run schools, hospitals, and charities, or even conduct religious services. They also ensured that Canon Law would be recognized within some spheres (e.g., church decrees of Nullity in the area of Marriage ). Historians have argued that Pacelli, as Cardinal Secretary of State, disuaded in Berlin . Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1136. Pacelli was the first Cardinal Secretary of State to be elected Pope since Clement IX in 1667. Catholic Forum. Pope Pius XII . The Reichskonkordat See Also: Reichskonkordat on July 20 , 1933 in Rome. From left to right: German Vice-Chancellor Franz Von Papen , Cardinal Giuseppe Pizzardo , Cardinal Secretary of State Pacelli, Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani , and German ambassador Rudolf Buttmann .]] The Reichskonkordat , signed on July 20 , 1933 , between Germany and the Holy See remains the most controversial of Pacelli's concordats. Most historians consider the Reichskonkordat an important step toward the international acceptance of Hitler's Nazi regime, Berenbaum, Michael, The World Must Know, p. 40. along with the Four-Power Pact signed in June 1933. Guenter Lewy , political scientist and author of ''The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany'', wrote: ::"There is general agreement that the Concordat increased substantially the prestige of Hitler's regime around the world. As Cardinal Faulhaber put it in a sermon delivered in 1937: "At a time when the heads of the major nations in the world faced the new Germany with cool reserve and considerable suspicion, the Catholic Church, the greatest moral power on earth, through the Concordat expressed its confidence in the new German government. This was a deed of immeasurable significance for the reputation of the new government abroad." A national concordat with Germany was one of Pacelli's main objectives as Secretary of State — historian Klaus Scholder called it his "great goal". As Nuncio during the 1920s he had made unsuccessful attempts to obtain German agreement for such a treaty, and between 1930 and 1933 he attempted to initiate negotiations with representatives of successive German governments. Ludwig Volk ''Das Reichskonkordat vom 20. Juli 1933'' ISBN 3 7867 0383 3. Klaus Scholder "The Churches and the Third Reich" volume 1: especially part 1 chap 10 'Concordat Policy and the Lateran Treaties (1930-33); part 2 chap 2 "The Capitulation of Catholicism" (February-March 1933) The importance of the concordat policy to Pacelli, to the point that it dominated his thinking on German matters, is exemplified in Heinrich Brüning 's account of their meeting on 8th August 1931 (Brüning, leader of the Catholic German Centre Party , was Reich Chancellor between 29th March 1930 and 30th May 1932.) According to Brüning's memoirs Pacelli suggested that he disband the Centre Party's governing coalition with the Social Democrats and "form a government of the right simply for the sake of a Reich concordat, and in doing so make it a condition that a concordat be concluded immediately." Brüning refused to do so, replying that Pacelli "mistook the political situation in Germany and, above all, the true character of the Nazis." Heinrich Brüning ''Memoiren'', English translation as quoted in Scholder pp.152-3 After the Nazis gained even more seats in the July 1932 elections—with 230 of 608 seats they were the largest party in the Reichstag—Pacelli again advised the Centre Party to work with the Nazis in a coalition, despite the official condemnation of Nazism by the German bishops at the time. Pacelli viewed the Nazis as an anti-Communist party of Christian principles. He told Bavarian envoy Ritter: "it is to be hoped and desired that, like the Centre Party and the Bavarian Peoples' Party, so too the other parties which stand on Christian principles and which now also include the National Socialist party, now the strongest party in the Reichstag, will use every means to hold off the cultural Bolshevizing of Germany, which is on the march behind the Communist Party." report by von Ritter, Bavarian envoy to the Vatican, to the Bavarian ''Land'' government, as quoted in Scholder p.157 According to Klaus Scholder, a Reichskonkordat was impossible prior to the rise of the Nazis because the Catholic parties in the Weimar Republic could not overcome protestant and socialist opposition. Scholder pp.160-1 According to Vice-Chancellor Franz Von Papen , the new German cabinet began to talk about a concordat "immediately after 30 January, 1933," the day that Hitler was appointed Chancellor of the coaltiion government.letter from Papen to von Bergen, translation as quoted in Scholder p.245. Centre Party chairman Ludwig Kaas (a priest and associate of Pacelli) agreed to support the Enabling Act , which required a constitutional amendment and gave Hitler dictatorial powers, in exchange for a Reich concordat with the Vatican. Scholder p.241 letter from Kaas to von Bergen, German ambassador to the Vatican, translation as quoted in Scholder p.247 One of Hitler's key conditions for agreeing the concordat had been the dissolution of the Centre Party, which occurred on 6th July.Toland & Atkin, or Volk (op. cit.) Shortly before signing the Reichskonkordat, Germany signed similar agreements with the major Protestant churches in Germany. Papacy Election and Coronation Following the death of Pius XI, the conclave was faced with electing either a "pastoral" candidate or a diplomat. In the light of the turbulent political state of Europe and the role of Germany in these crises, they elected Cardinal Pacelli, on 2 March 1939 , his 63rd birthday. Michael F. Feldkamp ''Pius XII. und Deutschland'' ISBN 3 525 34026 5. Pacelli took the name of Pius XII. He was the first Secretary of State to become Pope since Pope Clement IX (1667–69) in 1667. Pius XII's Papal Coronation was the grandest in over a hundred years. After the election, Nazi media complained about the "prejudiced hostility and incurable lack of comprehension" shown by the Holy See. The morning after Pius XII's election, the Berlin Morgenpost reported: "The election of Cardinal Pacelli is not accepted with favor in Germany because he was always opposed to Nazism and practically determined the policies of the Vatican under his predecessor." Das Schwarze Korps , the official publication of the elite Nazi Schutzstaffel (better known by the initials 'SS"), said: "As nuncio and secretary of state, Eugenio Pacelli had little understanding of us; little hope is placed in him. We do not believe that as Pius XII he will follow a different path." Great Consistory Only twice in his pontificate did Pius XII hold a Consistory to create new cardinals, a decided contrast to Pius XI, who had done so seventeen times in seventeen years on the papal throne. The first occasion has been known as the "Great Consistory", of February 1946; it was the largest in the history of the Church up to that time, and brought an end to over five hundred years of Italians constituting a majority of the College. By his appointments then and in 1953 he substantially reduced the proportion of cardinals who belonged to the Roman Curia . Canonizations and Beatifications During his reign, Pius XII canonized eight saints, including Pope Pius X , Saint Casimir , Mother Cabrini , Catherine Labouré , Saint Louis De Montfort , Maria Goretti , Dominic Savio , and Andrzej Bobola , and beatified five people. He consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart Of Mary in 1942. Apostolic Constitutions Pius is one of few Popes in recent history to exercise his Papal Infallibility by issuing an Apostolic Constitution , '' Munificentissimus Deus '', which defines '' Ex Cathedra '' the Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven , on November 1 1950 . His other apostolic constitutions are '' Sponsa Christi '' (November 21, 1950), '' Bis Saeculari Die '' (September 27, 1948), and '' Provida Mater Ecclesia '' (February 2, 1947). Encyclicals See Also: Encyclicals of Pope Pius XII '' Humani Generis '', promulgated in 1950, was critical of the theory of Evolution and evolutionary biologists who "imprudently and indiscreetly hold that evolution...explains the origin of all things". Although the encyclical reiterated that Catholics were free to form their own opinions, it held that "in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter—for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God." ''Humani Generis'' . 1950. Pope John Paul II would revisit the question of evolution, taking a much softer line. He declared that "truth cannot contradict truth" and expressed hope that coming to terms with science would all the Church to create a new and "correct interpretation of inspired word." Conversely, Pius was an energetic proponent of the theory of the Big Bang . As he told the Pontifical Academy Of Sciences in 1951: :"...it would seem that present-day science, with one sweep back across the centuries, has succeeded in bearing witness to the august instant of the primordial Fiat Lux there be Light , when along with matter, there burst forth from nothing a sea of light and radiation, and the elements split and churned and formed into millions of galaxies." The Vatican's View of Evolution: The Story of Two Popes . Doug Linder. 2004 '' Divino Afflante Spiritu '', published in 1953, encouraged Christian theologans to revisit original versions of the Bible in Greek and Latin . Noting improvements in Archeology , the encyclical reversed Pope Leo XIII's '' Providentissimus Deus '' (1893), which had only advocated going back to the original texts to resolve ambiguity in the Latin Vulgate . ''Divino Afflante Spiritu'' . 1953. World War II in Berlin , Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo, celebrating New Years with Adolf Hitler ( January 1 , 1935 ). Pius was the Cardinal Secretary Of State at the time.]] Pius XII's pontificate began on the eve of the Second World War . During the war, the Pope followed a policy of neutrality mirroring that of Pope Benedict XV during the First World War . On 18 January , 1940 , after over 15,000 Polish civilians had been killed, the Pius said in a radio broadcast, "The horror and inexcusable excesses committed on a helpless and a homeless people have been established by the unimpeachable testimony of eye-witnesses."Gilbert, Martin, The Second World War, p. 40. After the Nazis invaded the small nations of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium during 1940, Pius XII sent expressions of sympathy to the Queen of the Netherlands, the King of Belgium, and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. When the Italian Fascist dictator Mussolini learned of the warnings and the telegrams of sympathy, he took them as a personal affront and had his ambassador to the Vatican file an official protest, charging that Pius XII had taken sides against Italy's ally Germany. In any case, Mussolini's foreign minister claimed that Pius XII was "ready to let himself be deported to a concentration camp, rather than do anything against his conscience" Dalin, David G. ''The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis''. Regnery Publishing. Washington, 2005. ISBN 0-89526-034-4. p. 76.. In April 1941 Pius XII granted a private audience to Croatian fascist ''poglavnik'' (Führer) and war criminal memo on the subject described him as "the greatest moral coward of our age".Mark Aarons and John Loftus ''Unholy Trinity'' pp.71-2 In 1941, Pius XII reinterpreted '' Divini Redemptoris '', an Encyclical of Pope Pius XI , which forbade Catholics to help Communists , to not apply to the Soviet Union . This reinterpretation assuaged American Catholics who had previously opposed Lend-Lease arrangements with the Soviet Union.Mary Ball Martinez. 1993. "Pope Pius XII and the Second World War". ''Journal of Historical Review''. v. 13. In March 1942, Pius XII established diplomatic relations with the Japanese Empire . In May 1942, Kazimierz Papée, Polish ambassador to the Vatican, complained that Pius had failed to condemn the recent wave of atrocities in Poland; when Cardinal Secretary of State Maglione replied that the Vatican could not document individual atrocities, Papée declared, "when something becomes notorious, proof is not required."Report by the Polish Ambassador to the Holy See on the Situation in German-occupied Poland, Memorandum No. 79, May 29, 1942, Myron Taylor Papers, NARA. Pius XII's famous Christmas broadcast delivered December 24, 1942—which at 26 pages and over 5000 words took more than 45 minutes to deliver—remains a "lightning rod" in debates about Pope Pius XII during the war, particularly the Holocaust.Rittner and Roth, 2002, p. 4. The majority of the speech spoke generally about human rights and civil society; at the very end of the speech, Pius seems to turn to current events, albeit not specifically, referring to "all who during the war have lost their Fatherland and who, although personally blameless, have simply on account of their nationality and origin, been killed or reduced to utter distinction." Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1137. As the war was approaching its end in 1945, the Pope advocated a lenient policy by the Allied leaders for the vanquished in an effort to prevent what he perceived to be the mistakes made at the end of World War I . The Holocaust In March 1939, Pius obtained 3,000 visas for European Jews who had been Baptized and Converted to Catholicism to go to Brazil , although two-thirds of these were later revoked for "improper conduct" (i.e. continuing to practice Judaism). Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1136. In April 1939, Pius lifted the ban on Action Française in France , a virulently Anti-semitic and Anti-communist organization.Friedländer, Saul, 1997, ''Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution'', New York: HarperCollins, p. 223. In the spring of 1940, Pius declined to act when Chief Rabbi of Palestine , Isaac Herzog, asked Cardinal Secretary Of State Luigi Maglione to intercede on behalf of Spanish and Lithuanian Jews facing deporation to Germany.Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1136. In 1941 Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of Vienna informed Pius of Jewish deportations in Vienna.Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1137. Later that year, when asked by French Marshal Henri Philippe Petain if the Vatican objected to anti-Jewish laws, Pius responded that the church condemned racism, but would not comment on specific rules.Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1137. Similarly, when Petain's puppet government adopted the "Jewish statutes," the Vichy ambassador to the Vatican, Leon Berard, was told that the legislation did not conflict with Catholic teachings.Perl, William, The Holocaust Conspiracy, p. 200. Valerio Valeri, the Nuncio to France was "embarrassed" when he learned of this publicly from PetainPhayer, 2000, p. 5. and personally checked the information with Cardinal Secretary of State MaglioneMichael R. Marrus and Robert O. Paxton, 1981, ''Vichy France and the Jews'', New York: Basic Books, p. 202. who confirmed the Vatican's position.Delpech, ''Les Eglises et la Persecution raciale'', p. 267. In September 1941 Pius objected to a Slovakian Jewish CodeJohn F. Morley, 1980, ''Vatican Diplomacy and the Jews during the Holocaust, 1939-1943'', New York: KTAV, p. 75., which, unlike the earlier Vichy codes, prohibitted intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews.Phayer, 2000, p.5 In October 1941 Harold Tittman, a U.S. delegate to the Vatican, asked the Pope to condemn the atrocities against Jews; Pius replied that the Vatican wished to remain "neutral,"Perl, William, The Holocaust Conspiracy, p. 206. reiterating the neutrality policy which Pius invoked as early as September 1940.Perl, William, The Holocaust Conspiracy, p. 200. In 1942, the Slovakian Charge D'affaires , told Pius that Slovakian Jews were being sent to death camps.Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1137. In August 1942, by which time it has been estimated than 200,000 Ukrainian Jews had been killed, in response to a letter from Andrej Septyckyj, Pius advised Septyckyj to "bear adversity with serene patience" (a quote from Psalms ).Hilberg, Raul, Perpetrators Victims Bystanders, p. 267. On 18 September 1942 , Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini (who would later become Pope Paul VI ), wrote to Pius, "the massacres of the Jews reach frightening proportions and forms."Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1137. Later that month, when Myron Taylor , U.S. representative to the Vatican, warned Pius that silence on the Holocaust would hurt the Vatican's "moral prestigue"—a warning which was echoed simultaneously by representatives from Great Britain, Brazil, Uruguay, Belgium, and PolandPhayer, 2000, p. 27-28.— the Cardinal Secretary Of State replied that the "rumors" about crimes committed against Jews could not be verified.Israel Pocket Library, Holocaust, p. 133; Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1137. In December 1942, when Tittman Cardinal Secretary Of State Maglione if the Pius would issue a proclamation simialar to the Allied declaration "''German Policy of Extermination of the Jewish Race''," Maglione replied that the Vatican was "unable to denounce publicly particular atrocities."Hilberg, Raul, The Destruction of the European Jews, p. 315. In late 1942, when it became clear that an allied victory over the Nazis was inevitable, Pius XII advised German and Hungarian bishops that speaking out against the massacre of the Jews would be politically advantageous.Israel Pocket Library, Holocaust, p. 136. On April 7 , 1943 , Cardinal Tardini , one of Pius’s closest advisors, told Pius that it would be politically advantageous after the war to take steps to help Slovakian Jews. Actes et documents du Saint Sie`ge relatifs a` la Seconde Guerre mondiale / e´d. par Pierre Blet, Angelo Martini, Burkhart Schneider. 7th april 1943 In January 1943, Pius would again refuse to publicly denounce the Nazi violence against Jews, following requests from Wladislaw Raczkiewicz, president of the Polish government-in-exile, and Bishop Konrad von Preysing of Berlin .Israel Pocket Library, Holocaust, p. 134. On September 26 , 1943 , following the Nazi invasion of Italy, Nazi officials gave Jewish leaders in Rome 36 hours to produce 50 kilograms of gold (or the equivalent in dollars or sterling) threatening to take 300 hostages. In his memoir, then Chief Rabbi of Rome, recounts that he was selected to go to the Vatican and seek help.Eugenio Zolli. ''Before the Dawn''. Reissued in 1997 as ''Why I Became a Catholic''. The Vatican offered to loan 15 kilos, but the offer proved unnecessary when the Jews received an extension.Israel Pocket Library, Holocaust, p. 133. Soon afterwards, when deportations from Italy were imminent, 477 Jews were hidden in the Vatican itself and another 4,238 were protected in Roman monasteries and convents.Gilbert, Martin, The Holocaust, p. 623. On October 28 , 1943 , Weizsacker, the German Ambassador to the Vatican, telegrammed Berlin that the pope "has not allowed himself to be carried away making any demonstrative statements against the deportation of the Jews." Berel Lang. [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_4_50/ai_82469822/pg_2 "Not Enough" vs. "Plenty": Which did Pius XII do? . ''Judaism''. Fall 2001. In March 1944, through the Papal Nuncio in Budapest , Angelo Rotta, urged the Hungarian government to moderate its treatment of the Jews.Gutman, Israel, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1138. These protests, along with others from the King of Sweden, the International Red Cross, the United States and Britain led to the the cessation of deportations on 8 July , 1944 .Gilbert, Martin, The Holocaust, p. 701. Also in 1944, Pius appealed to 13 Latin American governments to accept "emergency passports", although it also took the intervention of the U.S. State Department for those countries to honor the documents.Perl, William, The Holocaust Conspiracy, p. 176. When the church transferred 6,000 Jewish children in Bulgaria to Palestine, Cardinal Secretary Of State Maglione reiterated that the Pope was not a supporter of Zionism .Gutman, Israel. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, p. 1138. ''The Deputy'' See Also: The Deputy In 1963, Pius XII's role during World War II became a source of controversy with the publication of Rolf Hochhuth 's controversial drama ''Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel'' (''The Deputy, a Christian tragedy''), which portrayed Pope Pius XII as a hypocrite who remained silent about the Holocaust . Books such as Dr. Joseph Lichten's, ''A Question of Judgment'' (1963), written in response to ''The Deputy'', defended Pius XII's actions during the war. Lichten labelled any criticism of the Pope's actions during World War II was "a stupefying paradox" and said, "no one who reads the record of Pius XII's actions on behalf of Jews can subscribe to Hochhuth's accusation." ''Hitler's Pope'' See Also: Hitler's Pope In 1999, John Cornwell's '' Hitler's Pope '' criticized Pius for not doing enough to speak out against the Holocaust. Cornwell argues that Pius's entire career as the nuncio to Germany, Cardinal Secretary of State, and Pope was characterized by a desire to increase and centralize the power of the Papacy, and that he subordinated opposition the Nazis to that goal. He further argues that Pius was Anti-Semitic and that this stance prevented him from caring about the European Jews. Cornwell concluded, "Pacelli's failure to respond to the enormity of the Holocaust was more than a personal failure, it was a failure of the papal office itself and the prevailing culture of Catholicism." Cornwell's work has received much praise and criticism. Much praise of Cornwell centered around his admission that he was a practicizing Catholic who had attempted to absolve Pius with his work.Jose M. Sanchez. 2002. ''Pius XII and the Holocaust: Understanding the Controversy''. Catholilc University of America Press: Washington, D.C. He also has a number of critics. For example, Woodward stated in his review that "errors of fact and ignorance of context appear on almost every page."Kenneth L. Woodward. ''Newsweek''. September 27, 1999. ICJHC See Also: International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission In 1999, in an attempt to address some of this controversy, the Vatican appointed the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission (ICJHC), a group comprised of three Jewish and three Catholic scholars to investigate the role of the Church during the Holocaust. In 2001, the ICJHC issued its preliminary finding, raising a number of questions about the way the Vatican dealt with the Holocaust, titled " The Vatican and the Holocaust: A Preliminary Report." 1 Forms 47 questions. The Commission discovered documents making it clear that Pope was aware of widespread anti-Jewish persecution in 1941 and 1942, and they suspected that the Church may have been influenced in not helping Jewish immigration by the ''nuncio'' of Chile and the Papal representative to Bolivia, who complained about the "invasion of the Jews" to their countries, where they engaged in "dishonest dealings, violence, immorality, and even disrespect for religion." (Questions 7 and 12 of the ICJHC report) The ICJHC raised a list of 47 questions about the way the Church dealt with the Holocaust, requested documents that had not been publicly released in order to continue their work, and, not receiving permission, they disbanded in July of 2001, having never issued a final report. Dr. Michael Marrus, one of the three Jewish members of the Commission, said the commission "ran up against a brick wall.... It would have been really helpful to have had support from the Holy See on this issue."Melissa Radler. "Vatican Blocks Panel's Access to Holocaust Archives." ''The Jerusalem Post''. July 24, 2001. Other views Pinchas Lapide , the Israeli counsel in Milan in the 1960s, estimated that Pius "was instrumental in saving at least 700,000 but probably as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands." Historians have questioned these figures, and other praise from prominent Jewish leaders, including Golda Meir , at the time, as an attempt to secure Vatican recognition of the State Of Israel .Kevin Madigan. Judging Pius XII . ''Christian Century''. March 14, 2001. Shira Schoenberg of the Jewish Virtual Library alleges that "any intervention by Pius XII was based on practical advantage rather than moral inclination."Shira Schoenberg. Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust . ''Jewish Virtual Library''.2006. In 1998, .)'' These questions have also resurfaced of late because of the moves toward canonization of Pius XII. In addition to the promotion of his canonization, during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II (1978–2005), some Catholic and Jewish leaders, including Rome's Chief Rabbi (and Holocaust survivor) Elio Toaff, began discussing and promoting the cause of Pius XII to receive such posthumous recognition from Yad Vashem. During the war, the Pope was widely praised for making a principled stand. For example, Time Magazine credited Pius XII and the Catholic Church for "fighting totalitarianism more knowingly, devoutly, and authoritatively, and for a longer time, than any other organized power"Time. August 16, 1943. During and after the war, many Jews publicly thanked the Pope for his help. Post-World War II , is carried through St. Peter's Basilica on a Sedia Gestatoria circa 1955.]] In 2005, '', the national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), called for an immediate freeze on Pius's beatification process until the relevant Vatican Secret Archives and baptismal records were opened. Foxman, a holocaust survivor who was baptized by his Polish nanny during the war, had undergone a similar experience when his parents had to fight a protracted custody battle after the war.Anti-Defamation League. ADL to Vatican: Open Baptismal Records and Put Pius Beatification on Hold . January 13, 2005. After the war, Pius also became an outspoken advocate of clemency and forgiveness for all, including Nazi war criminals. He also applied pressure through his U.S. Nuncio to commute the sentences of Germans convicted by the occupational authorities. The Vatican also asked for a blanket pardon for all those who had received death sentences.CUA, 37/133 #112. Death and legacy Pius was dogged with ill health later in life, largely due to a Charlatan , Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi , who posed as a medical doctor and won Pius's trust. Pius even made him an honorary member of the Pontifical Academy Of Sciences . His treatments for Pius gave the Holy Father chronic Hiccup s and rotting teeth. Papal Preservation . Steven Palmer. YB News. June 2005. Pius died on October 9 , 1958 in Castel Gandolfo , the papal summer residence. Galeazzi-Lisi gained admittance as the pope lay dying and took photographs of Pius which he sold to magazines, forcing him to resign as head of the Vatican medical services in the wake of massive public protests. When Pius died, Galeazzi-Lisi assumed the role of Pius' 2005 . The Italian Medical Council expelled Galeazzi-Lisi for "infamous conduct" but the High Court of the Italian Central Health Commission reversed the decision. The Pope's Doctor . Alan McElwain. ''Annals Australia''. July 1989. References Additional reading
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