Earlier this month another cache of “recently uncovered” documents was
“discovered.” Zenit published an article describing the latest Pave The Way “discovery.” Regular readers may be tiring of what is a
regular pattern of behaviour on the part of PTW. Announcements trumpeting new material from
archives are part of PTW’s modus operandi and receive uncritical attention from
conservative Catholic organisations, such as Zenit, which has close ties to the Legionaries of Christ, and sometimes from the mainstream media who see an opportunity for a
“scoop”. So what is it with this latest
“scoop”? It is really very simple. Take a document out of context and you can
make it say more or less whatever you like.
Put a context around a document and the result may not be what one would
like, but it is more likely to be accurate history.
Does this latest "discovery" prove Pacelli to be in favour of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and thus acting contrary to Benedict XV and Pius XI's statements? Based on my reading of the texts, I think the answer is "no". And then there is the document found in ADSS 11 which makes for very disturbing reading. If Pacelli was disposed to supporting a Jewish homeland in 1917 and 1925, he had changed his mind by 1944.
The article from Zenit with my comments inserted in red:
DOCUMENTS:
PIUS XII FAVORED A JEWISH HOMELAND IN PALESTINE
Foundation Continues to Unearth Testimony That Pius Was in No Way 'Hitler's Pope' No serious historian asserts this. To keep using the epitaph “Hitler’s Pope” is now a distraction and appears to be a tool used by apologists to mask their inability and unwillingness to recognise that the truth about Pacelli is to be found in via media, through serious critical and contextual scholarship.
NEW YORK, MARCH 8, 2012 (Zenit.org).-
An organization researching the history of Pius XII's relationship with the
Jews says that a series of documents recently uncovered show a pattern of
direct actions by Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope) that culminated
in the establishment of the modern State of Israel. This is simply historically
inaccurate. To suggest that Pius XII’s
actions as nuncio to Germany
The New York-based Pave the Way
Foundation explained that in 1917, Archbishop Eugenio Pacelli met with Nahum
Sokolow, president of the World Zionist organization and arranged for Sokolow
to meet with Pope Benedict XV to discuss a Jewish Homeland. In a passionate
report, Sokolow wrote of his audience on May 12, 1917:
“I was first of all received by Msgr.
Eugenio Pacelli, Secretary for Extraordinary Affairs, and had a few days later
a long conference with Cardinal Secretary of State Gasparri. Both meetings were
extraordinarily friendly and positive. I don’t tend towards credulity or
exaggerations and still I can’t avoid to stress that this revealed an
extraordinary amount of friendship: to grant a Jew and representative of
Zionism with such a promptness a private audience which took so long and was of
such a warmth and took place with all assurance of sympathy, both for the Jews
in general and for Zionism in special, proves that we don’t need to expect any
obstacles which can’t be overcome from the side of the Vatican. The Pope asked
me, ‘Pacelli told me about your mission; do you want to tell me any more
details?’" (File A 18/25 in the Main Archive of Yad Vashem)
A statement from Pave the Way further noted:
On November 15, 1917, Nuncio Pacelli acted on a urgent request for his
intervention from the Jewish community of Switzerland
The citation is accurate. However, there is need for context. Pacelli was Secretary of the Congregation for
Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, the Vatican equivalent of the Foreign
Office and responsible for overseeing the Vatican’s relations with sovereign
states, monitoring the work of papal representatives and keeping the Secretary
of State, Cardinal Gasparri informed and “up to speed”. His role was not one of creating, but
executing policy.
In 1916 Benedict XV had made a plea for the
protection of Armenian Christians undergoing appalling persecution at the hands
of the Turkish government. He had also
written a letter in February 1916 that was published in the Jesuit journal, Civilta
Cattolica, where he denounced any form of persecution against Jews. What made this published letter so
interesting was that it appeared in Civilta, a journal that was more
used to publishing viciously anti-Jewish material.
Nahum Sokolow, (1859-1936), secretary
general of the World Zionist Congress, visited Rome
to ask for papal support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine Palestine Palestine
Pacelli met with Sokolow again on Feb. 15,
1925, and arranged another meeting with Cardinal Pietro Gasparri on the subject
of a Jewish homeland in Palestine Germany
PTWF learned of the existence of one very
interesting document, still unpublished, which may show Pius XII’s attitude
about a Jewish homeland. In 1944, Pius XII opposed the general feeling of his
Secretary of State, when he responded to Monsignor Domenico Tardini’s written
warning against helping the Jews establish a homeland. Pius XII wrote by hand,
“The Jews need a land of their own.” This document is in the closed section of
the Vatican Library and will not be available until the archives are fully
open. How can PTW make a statement about a document that has not
been released? It is at this point that
I direct the reader to an earlier post I made on ADSS 11.333 where the 1944 negative attitude towards a Jewish state was made very clear by the Vatican to Winston Churchill
The foundation explained that researchers
have also uncovered the 1946 speech Pius XII delivered to a delegation of Arabs
who came to Rome to dissuade the Pope from
endorsing a Jewish homeland in Palestine
“Uncovered” is something of a
misnomer. The delegation was received on
3 August 1946 and the account can be found in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (the
official Vatican commentary) for 1946 from page 322.
Pius XII ended the meeting leaving the Arab
delegation greatly disappointed by clearly stating, “As we also condemn several
times in the past, the persecution that fanatical anti-Semitism unleashed
against the Jewish people.”
According to research by the Raoul
Wallenberg Foundation, it was Pius XII who “paved the way” for the Catholic
Countries members of the United Nations to positively vote in favor of the
partitioning of Palestine in November 1947.
This is not what the Wallenburg foundation
says. They point out that it was the
efforts of Angelo Roncalli, later John XXIII, and the Vatican ’s Domenico Tardini that were
instrumental in helping to encourage the predominantly Catholic states of Latin America to vote in favour of partition. Selective mis-quoting of publicly available
material does PTW no favours. We
have uncovered news articles about the Vatican
encouraging Spain
I have deleted the last paragraph which
describes the supposed relationship between Pacelli and Guido Mendes and
Pacelli’s familiarity with orthodox Jewish life and practice.
Posts
Dear dr. 0'Shea:
ReplyDelete1) Are you saying that Roncalli and Tardini acted without Pope's approval?
Let's remember what Sneh writes:”How could I, Moshe Ben Shimon Klainboim, from the small village of Radzin, possibly reach the Pope?”
It seems that he met Roncalli and Tardini in order to 'reach the Pope'.
2) Do you remember Jerusalem Post article about Guido Mendes where we can read: "Mr. Mendes recalled that the Pope, meeting survivors of the concentration camps in Italy in 1945, had then predicted “soon you will have a Jewish state.”"?
Dear Domenico,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Am I saying that Tardini and Roncalli acted without papal approval? No. What I am saying is that from my reading of the manner of Pius XII's diplomacy, he would not have taken a public line on such a sensitive issue as the partition of Palestine. I believe he left the finer details of working around anti-Jewish feeling to his deputies, especially Tardini, not so much Roncalli who was still in France as nuncio. The change in papal diplomacy came about because of the Holocaust, hence the linking together of the reference from AAS and the pope's comments to Arab delegates. And as for Moshe ben Shimon Klainboim from Radzin meeting the pope, where there was a will there was always a way. Again, Vatican diplomacy had done a considerable shift from the position made clear in ADSS 11.333 in August 1944. From what I can see from Roncalli's point of view, the shift was long overdue and there are hints in ADSS and other sources that men such as Roncalli, who were "at the coalface" were frustrated at the seeming lack of response from Rome. The world of Vatican diplomacy was complex, and often the right hand did not know what the left was doing.
I have read articles about Guido Mendes and while there is nothing to say Pius did not have a close relationship with an Italian Jew, it is a long way to go without supported evidence that Pius participated in Shabbat dinners and had a working knowledge of Yiddishkeit. I think Mendes' articles are of a loyal and devoted friend who wanted to portray his friend in the best possible light.
As for the comment about a Jewish state soon, have another look at ADSS 11.333; Pius was not against the idea of a Jewish state per se, only a Jewish state in Palestine.
question complexe. Moshe Sneh engagea Alexandre Glasberg( pretre juif qui avait ouvert les yeux des chretiens qui etaient disposes,aux massacres en cours pendant la guerre a' Auschwitz et ailleurs) a' engager a' sa fois Roncalli, deja nuncio a' Paris (qui pendant la guerre come nuncio a' Istambul, en collaboration avec l'Agence juive en Palestine,avait aide' au sauvetage de beaucoup de juifs en Palestine), a' intervenir aupres de Pius XII. La reponse fut pratiquement positive et ils obtenirent que le Vatican influence les pays catholiques a' ne pas s'opposer a' la partition de la Palestine. Les articles de la "Civilta' Cattolica" inclusivement les paroles directes de Pius XII a' la veille et apres la creation de l'Etat d'Israel, montrent de nouveau l'ancienne opposition "theologique" a' une independance juive, retenue contraire a' la "foi" chretienne traditionelle.
ReplyDelete*Les Documents secrets du Vatican qui n'ont pas ete' publies dans les 11 volumes de ADV 1939-1945 n'arrivent pas a' cette epoque ,mais les Documents de la "Civilta' Cattolica" sont bien lisibles!! et ils sont aussi tres clairs