Jewish groups say WWII pope falls far short of sainthood

WASHINGTON -- Jewish groups are stepping up their criticism of Pope Pius XII's role during the Holocaust as the Vatican continues to consider the World War II-era pontiff for sainthood.

Documents recently released by Jewish groups show that Pius' representative warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt against the creation of a state for the "Hebrew Race" in Palestine and said he had no complaints about the Nazi occupation of Rome.

The documents raise new questions about a pope widely criticized by Jews for his failure to speak out against Nazi atrocities during World War II. The discovery also comes as Jewish groups continue to pressure the Vatican to open its archives for a full examination of its actions during the war.

In one document found by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Vatican representative sought to make clear to the Roosevelt administration that the pope's help in rescuing 4,000 Slovakian Jews and transporting them to Palestine should not be taken as a sign that he favored setting up a Jewish homeland there.

"It is true that at one time Palestine was inhabited by the Hebrew Race, but there is no axiom in history to substantiate the necessity of a people returning to a country they left nineteen centuries before," the apostolic delegate to Washington Archbishop A.G. Cicognani wrote in a June 22, 1943, letter to Ambassador Myron Taylor, Roosevelt's special envoy to the Vatican.

The letter continues: "If a Hebrew home is desired, it would not be too difficult to find a more fitting territory than Palestine. With an increase in the Jewish population there, grave, new international problems would arise. Catholics the world over would be aroused. The Holy See would be saddened and justly so, by such a move."

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Wiesenthal Center, said the pronouncement by the Vatican was particularly troubling because it came at the height of the Holocaust.

He contrasted the pope's "unequivocal and blunt" opposition to the creation of a Jewish state with his silence on the persecution of Jews.

"If only he had spoken with such clarity when it came to rescuing European Jewry," Hier said.

"What's critical for Jews to remember," he added, "is that when the chips were down and when the Jews were dying, the pope didn't hesitate to write to Roosevelt to tell them that we shouldn't recognize a Jewish majority in Palestine."

Eugene Fischer, associate director for ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the letter provided no new information and that it is consistent with the Vatican's longstanding policy "against the idea that the Jewish homeland exclusively be a homeland solely for the Jews."

He said Hier was trying to create a "myth" that Pius opposed Zionism outright when in fact he played an important role in saving the Jews of Rome and in giving tacit approval to Latin American Catholic countries which voted in support of creating the state of Israel.

"If one looks at the whole historic record, one might consider putting up a statue of Pius XII along with the founders of Israel," Fischer said, adding, "He was a very influential, quiet voice" behind the creation of the Jewish state.

Dismissing Fischer's remarks as "preposterous," Hier said, "When Pius finally recognized that the state of Israel would become a reality, he jumped on the bandwagon. In 1943, when there was no state of Israel and Jews were fighting for their physical existence, the pope was nowhere to be found."

Although Hier acknowledged the pope's role in saving some 8,000 Jews in Rome by allowing them to hide in monasteries toward the end of the war, he said, "By the time he lifted a hand for the Jews of Rome, the majority of the 6 million Jews were already murdered."