"I don't want to say that Pius XII did not make any mistakes - I myself make many - but he has to be seen in the context of that era. For example, was it better for him not to speak out so that more Jews were not killed, or that he speak out?" Francis reportedly said, adding that the wartime pope’s critics "have dumped all kinds of things on poor Pius XII.”
Above: Pope Pius XII
Pope To Open Vatican WW2 Archives, Insists Wartime Pope Did Not Ignore Plight Of Jews
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Pope Francis strongly defend Pope Pius XII, who served as pope from 1939 to 1958, against post-war accusations that he did not do enough to try to save Jews in the Holocaust, Reuters reported.
In an interview published Friday in the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Francis reportedly said the opening of Vatican archives will show that Pius was not indifferent to Jewish suffering like some critics now claim.
Francis also used that interview to condemn anti-Semitism. He reportedly said it is a continuing problem that was primarily seen in right-wing European political parties. Francis also called Holocaust denial "madness."
Francis confirmed that he intends to open the Vatican archives wartime collection.
"They will shed a lot of light," the Pope said.
During and after the war, Pius was viewed by the Jewish community as a defender and protector of Jews who had saved almost the entire Rome Jewish community from the Nazis.
It was only in the years after Pius died in 1958 that some scholars began attacking Pius for his supposed timidity in the face of the Nazi persecution of Jews.
For decades, the Vatican has insisted that Pius worked behind the scenes and saved thousands of Jews. Pius did not speak out more forcefully, however, because he feared his words would have led to more Jews and Christians being killed by the Nazis.
Francis echoed that assertion in last week’s interview.
"I don't want to say that Pius XII did not make any mistakes - I myself make many - but he has to be seen in the context of that era. For example, was it better for him not to speak out so that more Jews were not killed, or that he speak out?" Francis reportedly said, adding that the wartime pope’s critics "have dumped all kinds of things on poor Pius XII.”
Francis said he sometimes "breaks out in an existential rash" when "everyone takes it out against the Church and Pius XII" and "forgets" the responsibility of the great wartime powers like the US and Britain to save Jews.
"Did you know that they knew perfectly the train network the Nazis used to take the Jews to concentration camps? They had photos. But they didn't bomb the train tracks. Why? It would be good if we could talk a little about everything," Francis reportedly said.
While some historians have argued those train lines should have been bombed, other historians note the allies were losing planes and airmen at such a high rate, and the lasting effects of the bombing of those train lines would have been so slight, that bombing them made no military or humanitarian sense.
Some Jewish groups have asked Francis, just as they have asked his recent predecessors, to freeze the process leading to sainthood for Pius until the Vatican’s World War Two era archives are opened.
That sainthood process is stalled.
But last month after returning to the Vatican after a visit to Israel, Francis said Pius’ canonization was stalled because he had not been credited with performing a miracle, a Church requirement for sainthood.