From: "JCarew" 


 wrote in message
news:XUINh.21969$FD1.13338{at}trnddc05...
> I think this last bit bears repeating.

So does this

Pope Pius XII was concerned not only for his prime responsibility - the
spiritual welfare of Catholics - but his solicitude extended to all people.

In his own words to an official of Hungary:

"We are being beseeched in various quarters to do everything in our
power in order that, in this noble and chivalrous nation, the sufferings,
already so heavy, endured by a large number of unfortunate people, because
of their nationality or race, may not be extended and aggravated. As our
Father's heart cannot remain insensitive to these pressing supplications by
virtue of our ministry of charity which embraces all men, we address Your
Highness personally, appealing to your noble sentiments in full confidence
that you will do everything in your power that so many unfortunate people
may be spared other afflictions and other sorrows."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem:

"The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his
illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion which
form the very foundations of true civilization, are doing for us
unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history,
which is living proof of divine Providence in this world."
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Jeno Levai, the foremost scholar of the Holocaust in Hungary, said that
Pope Pius XII "did more than anyone else to halt the dreadful crime
and alleviate its consequences."

AND

"From that day on, acting in accordance with the instructions of the
Holy See and always in the name of Pius XII, the Nuncio never ceased from
intervening against the disposition concerning Jews, and the inhuman
character of the anti-Jewish Legislation."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Emilio Zolli, chief rabbi in Rome during the German occupation:

"no hero in all of history was more militant, more fought against,
none more heroic, than Pius XII."

Zolli was so moved by Pius XII's work that, when he became converted to
Catholicism after the war, he took the Pope's name as his baptismal name.
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On Christmas eve of 1941 and 1942, the New York Times praised Pius XII as a
"lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent."
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Albert Einstein noted that to prevent the Holocaust, "only the Church
stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the
truth."
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Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel (1949-52), writing during the war:

"The Holy See is lending its powerful help wherever it can, to
mitigate the fate of my persecuted coreligionists."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Moshe Sharett, Israel's first foreign minister and second prime minister,
upon meeting Pope Pius XII during the war:

"I told [the Pope] that my first duty was to thank him, and through
him, the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public, for all they had
done in various countries to save Jews, to save children, and Jews in
general. We are deeply grateful to the Catholic Church."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinchas E. Lapide, Historian & Israeli consul in Italy for a number of years:

"The Catholic Church saved more Jewish lives during the war than all
the other churches, religious institutions, and rescue organizations put
together. Its record stands in startling contrast to the achievements of
the International Red Cross and the Western Democracies....The Holy See,
the Nuncios and the entire Catholic Church saved some 860,000 Jews from
certain death."

[The latter figure has been recognized by the state of Israel with the
planting of 860,000 trees in remembrance of the efforts of the Vatican and
the Catholic Church.]

"When an armed force ruled well-nigh omnipotent, and morality was at
its lowest ebb, Pius XII commanded none of the former and could only appeal
to the latter, in confronting, with bare hands, the full might of evil. A
sounding protest, which might turn out to be self-thwarting - or quiet
piecemeal rescue?  Loud words or prudent deeds? The dilemma must have been
sheer agony, for whatever course he chose, horrible consequences were
inevitable. Unable to cure the sickness of an entire civilization, and
unwilling to bear the brunt of Hitler's fury, the Pope, unlike many far
mightier than he, alleviated, relieved, retrieved, appealed, petitioned and
saved as best he could by his own lights. Who, but a prophet or a martyr
could have done much more?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pope Pius XII, in fact, showed admirable prudence in his decisions to help
suffering souls. He was faced with the dilemma of protesting too much and
thereby increasing the persecutions of hostages and prisoners as he
actively worked to prevent more people from being incarcerated. The words
of Pope Pius XII reflect this:

"Every word that We addressed to the responsible authorities and every
one of Our public declarations had to be seriously weighed and considered
in the interest of the persecuted themselves in order to not make their
situation unwittingly even more difficult and unbearable."

Of course, the cynical anti-Christian who is against the Catholic Church
will not look at the prudence of the over-all picture. They will find some
isolated negative incidents and seek to blame the Church. When Jews are
incarcerated and killed they ignore those who are saved and immediately
blame the Church for not protesting enough. Yet, when the Church makes some
protests and evil men take it out on some who are imprisoned, others will
blame the Church for protesting too much, rather than putting the blame on
the evil men doing the actual persecuting!  A Jewish couple, and a Catholic
priest, both at one time in a concentration camp, can attest to this
dilemma which can never be avoided when dealing with an evil enemy:

Mr. & Mrs. Wolfsson of Berlin, a Jewish couple who, after being in
prison and concentration camps, took shelter in a German convent of nuns.
Pope Pius XII had an audience with them and arranged for them to escape to
Spain. Long afterwards the Wolfssons declared:

"None of us wanted the Pope to take an open stand. We were all
fugitives, and fugitives do not wish to be pointed at. The Gestapo would
have become more excited and would have intensified its inquisitions. If
the Pope had protested, Rome would have become the center of
attention....We all shared this opinion and this is still our conviction
today."

   A former inmate of Dachau, Mgr. Jean Bernard, who later became Bishop of
Luxembourg, said:

"The detained priests trembled every time news reached us of some
protest by a religious authority, but particularly by the Vatican. We all
had the impression that our warders made us atone heavily for the fury
these protests evoked....whenever the way we were treated became more
brutal, the Protestant pastors among the prisoners used to vent their
indignation on the Catholic priests: 'Again your big naive Pope and those
simpletons, your bishops, are shooting their mouths off...why don't they
get the idea once and for all, and shut up. They play the heroes and we
have to pay the bill.'"

>
> Susan
>
>
> On 25-Mar-2007, r{at}somis.org (.R L Measures) wrote:
>
> > In article ,
> > bm1{at}nonespam.com wrote:
>
>
> > them from
> > Hitler".  To do
> > > > more would have brought the anger of Hitler more so down on the
Jews.
> > >
> > > This is nonsense. If he did not do all that he could, he is complicit
> > > with the nazis. Polish peasants risked everything they had to shelter
> > > one or two Jews or a family. Many, many other ordinary people did as
> > > well, including priests and nuns, at great personal risk. They are
among
> > >
> > > the righteous gentiles, many of whom are recognized and honored for
what
> > >
> > > they did. I do not see Pius XII among those, and there is a reason. He
> > > did not do what he could, he took no risks, and he was silent on the
> > > subject.
> > >
> > ??  Pius XII deserves credit for creating the Vatican bank in 1943 to
act
> > as a depository for the 50-tons or so of gold the Nazis confiscated from
> > Jewish families they gassed, and for issuing Vatican passports to war
> > criminals Adolph Eichmann, the Kommandant of the Auschwitz death
factory,
> > and to Dr. Joseph Mengele.  These passports enabled these two to escape
to
> > Argentina after the war.

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