Vatican Documents Show Secret Back Channel between Pope Pius XII and Adolf Hitler

Jun 7, 2022 | A series of recently opened Vatican archives are shedding new light on the relationship between Pope Pius XII and Adolf Hitler as he led Nazi Germany during World War II. A new book takes a deeper look at these revelations. Historian David Kertzer, author of “The Pope At War: The Secret History of Pope Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler,” joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.

Letter Found in Vatican Archives Confirms Church Was Told About Death Camps

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The newly discovered letter, written by a German Jesuit to Pope Pius XII’s personal secretary, suggests that the pope knew of Hitler’s atrocities but chose to remain silent.

Pope Pius XII blessing the crowds in front of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome in 1947. The pope’s recently opened archives have been the subject of research to learn about his response to Hitler and Nazism. | Bettmann, via Getty Images
A letter found among the private papers of Pope Pius XII suggests that the Holy See was told in 1942 that up to 6,000 people, “above all Poles and Jews,” were being killed in furnaces every day at Belzec, a Nazi death camp in Poland.

Though news of the atrocities being perpetrated by Hitler was already reaching Pope Pius XII’s ears, this information was especially important because it came from a trusted church source based in Germany, said Giovanni Coco, a Vatican archivist who discovered the letter. The source was “in the heart of the enemy territory,” Mr. Coco said on Saturday.

The document, which was made public this weekend by the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera, adds to the evidence that some scholars say shows Pius knew about the Holocaust as it happened. Some scholars say Pius did not want to confront or offend Hitler because he feared Communism, believed that the Axis powers would win the war and wanted to avoid alienating millions of German and Nazi-sympathizing Catholics.

Other historians insist that Pius XII remained silent publicly because he was surreptitiously arranging for — or at least allowing — local Catholics to aid and save Jews from the Nazis, and he also feared that the Nazis might come after Catholics. » | Elisabetta Povoledo, Reporting from Rome | Saturday,, September 16, 2023

The Vatican and the Third Reich: An Unholy Alliance

Jun 8, 2023 | In the midst of WWII, Catholics looked to the pope to guide them. Hitler had already begun secretly launching his plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe. Secretly, that is, to most- except Pope Pius XII. The pope remained silent whilst the rest of the world awaited any kind of grand gesture or speech condemning Hitler’s atrocities.

He chose to keep quiet in the face of the crimes committed by the Nazis throughout Europe, crimes that even took place below the Pope’s own windows, like the 1943 liquidation of the Jewish Ghetto in Rome, to which the pope made no official reaction.

At first glance, Nazism and Catholicism are diametrically opposed. The Vatican even seems an institution beyond all suspicion. The Church, however, faced in turn with the rise of Nazism, the Second World War and the extermination of Jews, will play an ambiguous – at times unholy – role. Several men of the Church, priests and bishops, being fervent admirers of Hitler, even fell into complicity…

Director: JULIETTE DESBOIS

What Did the Pope Know about the Holocaust? | DW Documentary

The Vatican opened once-secret records on Pope Pius XII on March 2020. This gave researchers a brand new insight into the Catholic Church during the Nazi era. What did the Pope know about the Holocaust?

Pius XII, born Eugenio Pacelli, is one of the most controversial figures in recent church history. New archive material sheds light on his career and politics. As ambassador of the Holy See in Germany and Cardinal Secretary of State of the Vatican, Pacelli witnessed Hitler’s rise to power. He was elected Pope in 1939, just months before the start of World War II. But what role did he play during the Holocaust? Many accuse him of shirking his responsibilities; of complicit silence while minorities were murdered, especially the Jewish.

Just days after the archives opened, church historian Hubert Wolf discovered a document describing the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. Pope Pius XII read the paper on 27 September 1942, but its contents were never published. Nor were the notes in the margins by members of the Secretariat of State. But the Vatican claimed for decades that nothing was kept from the public.

Defenders of Pius XII say he acted in secret to save the lives of many Jews. Thousands were hidden in church institutions, and the Roman Curia helped them to escape abroad. But the credibility of the Roman Curia during the Holocaust is now at stake, with many still unanswered questions. Why did Pius XII not join the Allies’ protest in December 1942 against the extermination of the Jews?

Hitler’s Pope Helped Jews, Book Says

THE OBSERVER: Author uncovers evidence on Pius XII's wartime efforts to save Jewish refugees

Pius XII has long been vilified as "Hitler's pope", accused of failing publicly to condemn the genocide of Europe's Jews. Now a British author has unearthed extensive material that Vatican insiders believe will restore his reputation, revealing the part that he played in saving lives and opposing Nazism [sic]. Gordon Thomas, a Protestant, was given access to previously unpublished Vatican documents and tracked down victims, priests and others who had not told their stories before.

The Pope's Jews, which will be published next month, details how Pius gave his blessing to the establishment of safe houses in the Vatican and Europe's convents and monasteries. He oversaw a secret operation with code names and fake documents for priests who risked their lives to shelter Jews, some of whom were even made Vatican subjects. Vatican hopes secret files exonerate 'Hitler's pope' » | Dalya Alberge | Saturday, February 09, 2013

Redemption (for Now) of 'Hitler's Pope' as Vatican Opens Secret Archives
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A controversial wartime Pope accused by historians of being too compliant towards Hitler was praised by former Jewish prisoners for preventing their deportation to death camps, documents released from the Vatican's secret archives have revealed.

Pius XII, who was elected in 1939, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the Nazis' extermination of the Jews in Europe, including a round-up by the Gestapo of 2,000 Italian Jews in Rome's Ghetto area in 1943.

They were sent to concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and only a handful survived the war.

The Vatican has until now refused to release any documents from Pius's papacy, despite calls for them to be made available by Jewish groups and historians, who in the past have dubbed the Italian pontiff "Hitler's Pope" and accused him of being anti-Semitic.

But in an historic move, seven documents from the so-called "closed period" went on display this week in an exhibition of 100 historic items from the Vatican Secret Archives.

They suggested that the Pope showed more concern for the plight of Jews during the war than he is often credited with. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Friday, March 02, 2012

Pope May Have Helped Jews Escape
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: POPE PIUS XII, the controversial wartime pontiff, may have saved thousands of Jewish lives by secretly securing visas so they could escape Nazi Germany, a historian says.

Pope Pius, who was labelled ''Hitler's Pope'' because of his silence during the Holocaust, may have arranged the exodus of about 200,000 Jews from Germany just three weeks after Kristallnacht, when thousands of Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps.

The claim was made by Dr Michael Hesemann, a German historian carrying out research in the Vatican archives for the Pave the Way Foundation, a US inter-faith group.

He said that Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli - the future Pius XII - wrote to Catholic archbishops around the world to urge them to apply for visas for ''non-Aryan Catholics'' and Jewish converts to Christianity who wanted to leave Germany.

Elliot Hershberg, the chairman of the Pave the Way Foundation, said: ''We believe that many Jews who were successful in leaving Europe may not have had any idea that their visas and travel documents were obtained through these Vatican efforts.

''Everything we have found thus far seems to indicate the known negative perception of Pope Pius XII is wrong.'' >>> Simon Caldwell | Thursday, July 08, 2010

Come Clean on Pius XII
THE JERUSALEM POST: Pius is accused both by Jews and non-Jews of having betrayed the Jews during their darkest hours.

Pope Benedict XVI’s intention to elevate his World War II-era predecessor, Pope Pius XII, to sainthood has inexorably revived the polemic about whether Pius turned a blind eye to the Holocaust. In a transparent effort to calm the controversy it itself has recharged, the Vatican announced last week that it will soon make some of its WWII archives available on the Internet. The Holy See’s semi-official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, claimed this will “render service to the historic truth.”

But will it? Odds are that this will be a hi-tech rerun of what occurred in 1999. To counter British author John Cornwell’s book Hitler’s Pope, the Vatican appointed a panel – the International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission – to go over material kept zealously concealed from public scrutiny. Yet even this handpicked and specifically approved panel was denied full access. Only pre-1923 papers were made available. In reaction, the commission suspended its work in 2001, after producing no findings on the papacy during the Holocaust.

This time, too, it is already being indicated that of the 8,000 pages to be uploaded, none will directly relate to the wartime pope and that only in another five to six years will anything pertaining to Pius see light. Such promises for future lifting of secrecy have been made periodically over the years, and each time the target date is further postponed. >>> JPost Editorial | Saturday, February 20, 2010

Catholic Scholars Ask Pope Benedict XVI to Slow Pius XII's Path to Sainthood
THE TELEGRAPH: Catholic scholars from around the world have "implored" Pope Benedict XVI not to make a controversial wartime pontiff a saint before opening up to scrutiny secret Vatican archives.

In a letter to the Pope, the scholars said that making Pius XII a saint could do grave damage to relations between the Catholic Church and Jews and that he had become a de facto "symbol of Christian anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism".

Jewish groups have long claimed that Pius turned a blind eye to the Holocaust, but this is thought to be the first time that a group of Catholic theologians have issued such a strongly worded appeal to the Pope.

They endorsed demands made by Jewish groups that Vatican archives covering Pius's papacy, from 1939 to 1958, must be opened up before the Church decides whether his predecessor is worthy of being made a saint. They are believed to contain details of his efforts to save Jews from the Holocaust.

The Vatican recently said that there were so many files for its archivists to trawl through that the archives will not be made available until 2015.

The 18 Catholic scholars from Australia, Germany and the United States used the word "implore" twice in the letter, saying that if Pius was made a saint before the historical record was cleared up, it could irreparably harm Catholic-Jewish relations.

"Holy Father, we implore you, acting on your wisdom as a renowned scholar, professor and teacher, to be patient with the cause of Pius XII," the scholars wrote in their letter. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Le pape Benoît XVI en visite à la synagogue de Rome
LE MONDE: Vingt-quatre ans après la visite historique qu'y avait effectuée son prédécesseur Jean Paul II, le pape Benoît XVI doit se rendre, dimanche 17 janvier, à la synagogue de Rome. La visite, prévue de longue date, intervient un mois après que Benoît XVI eut, une nouvelle fois, soulevé la colère d'une partie de la communauté juive mondiale en proclamant, le 19 décembre, les "vertus héroïques" du pape Pie XII. Cette étape a ouvert la voie à la possible béatification de ce pape controversé pour son attitude envers les juifs durant la seconde guerre mondiale.

La relance du processus de béatification, qui avait pris de court le monde catholique, avait été suspendue afin de ne pas envenimer les relations entre le Vatican et le monde juif mises à mal en janvier 2009 par la levée de l'excommunication d'un évêque négationniste, Richard Williamson. L'annonce de décembre a durant quelques jours laissé planer le doute sur la venue du pape à la synagogue. Le président des rabbins italiens a décidé de boycotter l'événement.

"Nous devons dire à la communauté juive ce que Pie XII a fait en faveur des juifs pendant la seconde guerre mondiale et qui n'est pas assez connu", a de son côté défendu le cardinal Walter Kasper, chargé au Vatican des relations avec les juifs. "Pie XII a suivi la volonté de Dieu telle qu'il la comprenait à cette époque, nous ne pouvons le juger avec la mentalité d'aujourd'hui." >>> Stéphanie Le Bars | Samedi 16 Janvier 2010

Jewish Leaders Confront Pope Over Vatican's Holocaust 'Silence'
THE TELEGRAPH: A Jewish leader told the Pope on Sunday that his controversial wartime predecessor, Pius XII, should have protested more forcefully against Jews being sent to the "ovens of Auschwitz".

Pius's "silence" at a time when hundreds of thousands of Jews were being rounded up across Europe and despatched to death camps was still hurtful, Riccardo Pacifici, the president of Rome's Jewish community, said as Pope Benedict XVI visited the city's synagogue for the first time.

The criticism was one of the bluntest comments made in public by a Jewish leader to a pope.

"The silence of Pius XII before the Shoah (Holocaust) still hurts because something should have been done," Mr Pacifici told the pontiff during an address to the synagogue, which lies in an area of central Rome still known as the Ghetto, where Jews were confined for centuries on the orders of the Vatican.

"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 Vatican had hoped that the synagogue visit would rebuild bridges with the Jewish world, after the German-born Benedict dismayed Jews by rehabilitating a Holocaust-denying British renegade bishop a year ago, and by advancing Pius further along the path to sainthood by recognising his "heroic virtues" last month.

The fact that Benedict is German and served during the war in the Hitler Youth – albeit against his will – makes Jewish sensitivities all the more acute.

The Vatican claims that Pius, who was Pope from 1939 to 1958, worked behind the scenes to save Jews and allowed thousands of refugees to hide in church institutions.

The Roman Catholic Church insists that he feared that criticising Hitler more strongly would have provoked even more severe persecution of the Jews. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Sunday, January 17, 2010

Controversial Pope Moves Closer to Sainthood
TIMES ONLINE: The controversial wartime pope accused of failing to openly condemn the Holocaust has moved a step closer to sainthood, the Vatican has confirmed.

Pope Pius XII will be declared venerable after the current pontiff Pope Benedict XVI approved a "heroic virtues decree", the first of three stages before canonisation.

To be declared venerable, a church investigation has to conclude that the person in question lived a life of exemplary holiness and heroic virtue. There must be nothing in the dead person’s writings that enables these characteristics to be challenged. >>> Simon Alford | Saturday, December 19, 2009

Pope Pius XII, the wartime pope. Photo: Google Images
Britain Knew about Extermination of Jews, Vatican Claims
THE TELEGRAPH: The Vatican's official newspaper has accused Britain and the United States of having detailed knowledge of Hitler's plans to exterminate the Jews but of failing to do anything to halt the Final Solution.

L'Osservatore Romano said the British and American governments ignored, downplayed or even suppressed intelligence reports about the Nazis' extermination plans.

They could have bombed Nazi concentration camps and the railways that supplied them but instead chose not to, the newspaper claimed.

It quoted from the diary of Henry Morgenthau Jr., the wartime US secretary of the treasury, who described London's alleged indifference to the plight of the Jews as "a Satanic combination of British chill and diplomatic double talk, cold and correct and adding up to a sentence of death".

British and American inaction was in contrast to the efforts made by the wartime Pope, Pius XII, who tried to save as many Jews as he could through clandestine means, L'Osservatore claimed in a lengthy article titled "Silence and omissions at the time of the Shoah (Holocaust)".

The editorial is the Vatican's latest effort to rehabilitate the reputation of Pope Pius, whose reluctance to denounce the Nazis publicly prompted accusations of anti-Semitism and earned him the title "Hitler's Pope".

L'Osservatore dismissed such claims as a "radically false" characterisation of the pontiff's wartime record.

It quoted Morgenthau as saying that as early as Aug 1942, the US government "knew that the Nazis were planning to exterminate all the Jews of Europe".

In his diary, Morgenthau cited a telegram dated Aug 24, 1942, and passed on to the US State Department, that relayed a report of Hitler's plan to kill between 3.5 million and four million Jews, possibly using cyanide poison.

L'Osservatore, which is regarded as the semi-official mouthpiece of the Holy See, reproduced a copy of the telegram.

American officials had "dodged their grim responsibility, procrastinated when concrete rescue schemes were placed before them, and even suppressed information about atrocities," Morgenthau wrote.

When the US government was finally convinced to try to rescue European Jews who had not already been sent to concentration camps, the British baulked, the editorial said.

It cited a British Foreign Office cable that warned of "the difficulties of disposing of any considerable number of Jews should they be rescued from enemy occupied territory" and advised against allocating money for the project.

While the British and Americans prevaricated, Pius was engaged in "the only plausible and practical form of defence of the Jews and other persecuted people" by arranging for them to be hidden in monasteries, convents and other Catholic Church institutions, the newspaper claimed.

L'Osservatore said that although the Nazis rounded up and deported from Rome more than 2,000 Jews, another 10,000 were saved.

Marking the 50th anniversary of Pius' death last year, Pope Benedict XVI described him as a great pontiff who worked "secretly and silently" during the war to "save the greatest number of Jews possible". >>> Simon Caldwell and Nick Squires in Rome | Monday, August 17, 2009

Vatican Planned to Move to Portugal If Nazis Captured Wartime Pope
Pope Pius XII. Photo: GoogleImages
THE TELEGRAPH: Secret plans were drawn up by the Vatican to elect a new Pope and flee to a friendly country should Hitler have carried out his threat to kidnap the wartime Pontiff, it was claimed yesterday.

Pope Pius XII told senior bishops that should he be arrested by the Nazis, his resignation would become effective immediately, paving the way for a successor, according to documents in the Vatican's Secret Archives.

The bishops would then be expected to flee to a safe country – probably neutral Portugal – where they would re-establish the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and appoint a new Pontiff.

That Hitler considered kidnapping the Pope has been documented before, but this is the first time that details have emerged of the Vatican's strategy should the Nazis carry out the plan.

"Pius said 'if they want to arrest me they will have to drag me from the Vatican'," said Peter Gumpel, the German Jesuit priest who is in charge of researching whether Pius should be made a saint, and therefore has access to secret Vatican archives.

Pius, who was Pope throughout the war, told his advisers "the person who would leave the [Vatican] under these conditions would not be Pius XII but Eugenio Pacelli" – his name before he was elected Pontiff – thus giving permission for a new Pope to be elected.

"It would have been disastrous if the Church had been left without an authoritative leader," said Father Gumpel.

"Pius wouldn't leave voluntarily. He had been invited repeatedly to go to Portugal or Spain or the United States but he felt he could not leave his diocese under these severe and tragic circumstances." Vatican documents, which still remain secret, are believed to show that Pius was aware of a plan formulated by Hitler in July 1943 to occupy the Vatican and arrest him and his senior cardinals. >>> By Nick Squires in Rome and Simon Caldwell | Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Israeli, Vatican Historians Meet to Discuss Wartime Pope
Photo of Pope Pius XII flanked by soldiers of the Third Reich courtesy of Google Images
HAARETZ: Israeli and Vatican historians met for the first time Sunday to discuss the current state of research into Pope Pius XII and his Holocaust-era conduct.

The gathering at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial signals a growing willingness of Israeli and Vatican officials to try to resolve one of their most sensitive disagreements - the pope's action or inaction during the Nazi genocide.

Most Jews believe Pope Pius XII was partly to blame for the scope of the Holocaust tragedy for failing to speak out publicly against the Nazi atrocities or attempting to mobilize Catholics in Germany and elsewhere to stop it.

The Vatican has struggled to defend its wartime pope as it pushes his sainthood cause, insisting that Pius spearheaded discreet diplomacy that saved thousands of Jews.

A symbol of the dispute is a caption of a photo of Pius at Yad Vashem's museum that says he did not protest the Nazi genocide of Jews and maintained a largely neutral position. The Vatican protests the wording. >>> Associated Press | Monday, March 9, 2009

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'Thank You St Francis': Defense of Pope Pius XII*

*This is not necessarily my own viewpoint; rather, it is the viewpoint of the creator of the video. These ideas, however, are interesting, and are worthy of further exploration, especially in view of the fact that Pope Benedict XVI seems to be preparing to make Pope Pius XII a saint. Maybe Pope Pius XII has been maligned for too long. History will show whether this is so, or not. - ©Mark

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Pope Benedict XVI Defends Pope Pius XII, the Wartime Pope
Photo of Pope Pius XII courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope has for the first time publicly defended the wartime record of Pope Pius XII, who for decades has been accused of failing to speak out against the Holocaust.

Pope Benedict XVI said new research showed that the former Pontiff “spared no effort” in trying to save Jews from extermination by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

Pope Pius XII has been condemned by some scholars and many Jewish groups for not speaking out more stridently against Nazism and the Final Solution.

His alleged ambivalence to the deportation and murder of Jews has been the subject of several books, including the 1999 Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pope Pius XII, by John Cornwell.

He is edging towards sainthood — a move strongly supported by the last Pope, John Paul II - despite accusations that he kept silent about the Holocaust, was anti-Semitic and was sympathetic to Nazi Germany because of his horror of communism.

“(Pius XII) spared no effort, wherever it was possible, to intervene (for Jews) directly or through instructions given to individuals or institutions in the Catholic Church,” Benedict XVI told a conference which presented new work on Pius ahead of the 50th anniversary of his death on October 9.

Pius XII, who was Pontiff from 1939 to 1958, had to work ”secretly and silently” to ”avert the worst and save the highest number of Jews possible,” Benedict XVI said, repeating assertions made by Vatican experts in the past. The Pope also said Pius XII was thanked by Jewish groups during and after the war for saving the lives of thousands of Jews. He cited a meeting the leader of the Roman Catholic Church had in the Vatican in November 1945 with 80 death camp survivors who ”thanked him personally for his generosity”. Pope Defends Wartime Predecessor >>> By Nick Squires in Rome | September 19, 2008

NZZ Online:
Papst Benedikt XII. verteidigt seinen Vorgänger Pius XII.: Gebet für baldige Seligsprechung >>> | 9. Oktober 2008

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL:
Pius XII Controversy Intensifies: Sainthood for the Holocaust Pope?: Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday fueled speculation that beatification may be on the horizon for Pope Pius XII, often criticized for not doing enough to combat the Holocaust. The Vatican has been working hard to improve Pius's popular image.

The process of beatification is usually a backroom deal, taking place inside the Vatican and well outside the public eye. But not this time. For months the Catholic Church has been sending signals that the beatification of Pope Pius XII, who headed the Catholic Church during World War II, may be imminent. Some historians and Jewish leaders, though, have been vociferous in their opposition to the move, arguing Pius XII did less than he should have to save the Jews from the Holocaust. >>> cgh -- with wire reports | October 10, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Italy)