century when continental Europe was overrun by
the nazis, Pope Pius XII stood out as a beacon of Light and
Hope whose personal efforts not only spared Rome the
worst ravages of war, but also saved as many as 800,000
innocent lives – more than can be credited to any other
single person of the Second World War.
The Pacelli Family, to which Pius XII was born, belonged
to the Papal nobility and had served the Holy See as
lawyers for several generations. Pius’ early education was
at a regular state sponsored, or “public” school, rather than
a minor seminary, as was the case with so many priests of
his generation in Italy. Ordained in 1899 after completing
his theological studies at the Gregorian University, he was
quickly assigned to the Vatican Secretariat of State where
he would remain until elevated to the papacy. Pius rose
through the ranks of the Secretariat, serving as Nuncio to
Bavaria at the end of the First World War, where he
acquired fluency in the German language. Pius XI
appointed him as Secretary of State, and together with the
German Bishop Michael von Faulhaber, he wrote the text
of Pius XI’s encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, condemning
nazism. After the death of Pius XI, Pacelli was elected
Pope, the first Roman in over 200 years to be so elected.
Pope Pius XII has often been accused of being silent
about the plight of the Jews during World War II. Some
accuse him of being utterly indifferent as Jews in Rome
were rounded up, supposedly under his very windows.
Nothing could be further from the truth. As early as 1940
The New York Times reported the Pope as coming to the
defense of the Jews in Germany and Poland during a
stormy interview with the nazi foreign minister, Joachim von
Ribbentrop. Even before that both the Vatican Radio and
L’Osservatore Romano denounced the atrocities the nazis
were committing in Poland against both Jews and
Catholics. In his Christmas addresses of 1941 and 1942
the Holy Father reiterated these themes over the Vatican
Radio. Again, The New York Times stated of the pope that
he “left no doubt that nazi aims are reconcilable with his
own conception of a Christian peace.”
In addition, on Pius XII’s instructions the Vatican threw
open its doors to hide Jews and others fleeing the nazis.
Cloistered convents, which had never allowed men inside
the cloister, took in Jewish men, women and children.
Although the Vatican enjoyed the precarious protection of
extra-territoriality, this was not true of the Convents,
Monasteries and other religious institutions, which hid Jews
on the pope’s instruction. They did so at great risk.
Because of these actions undertaken at the pope’s
command, as many as 800 thousand Jewish lives were
saved. The Grand Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, with his wife
and daughter, converted to Catholicism after the war’s end.
He took as his baptismal name “Eugenio,” the baptismal
name of Pius XII. In the early 1950’s he was offered a
million dollars to renounce his conversion, but he
indignantly refused.