ISBN: 3952331473 9783952331477

Category: Unavailable

Page count: 76

A documentation released on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII, this work confronts the usual accusations that the Pope remained silent and passive vis-à-vis the annihilation of European Jewry during the Holocaust. Includes statements made by the Pope himself and by those who worked with him, regarding his assistance to Rome's Jews and financial support of emigrants all over the world, and emphasizes the Pope's "caritas". Mentions appeals against open intervention by the Pope, which would only have aggravated the situation, as well as his "Summi Pontificatus" against racism, his Christmas messages of 1941-42 in favor of the Jews, and a communiqué of October 1943 containing a special allusion to the situation of the Jews. Concludes that Pius XII did not avoid sacrifice in order to fulfill his task as head of the Catholic Church, according to his best knowledge and pure conscience.