Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: articoli di Haaretz che sfuggono a Luca Logi

The archive holds the answers
By Martin Gilbert
Tags: Pope John Paul II, week's end
Four years ago, Pope John Paul II invited me to the Vatican to discuss
the proposed canonization of Pope Pius XII from a historical
perspective. After careful consideration, I decided I could not go. As
a Jew, I did not feel able to comment on whether or not a pope should
become a saint. That is an internal Roman Catholic theological issue,
entirely within the competence of the Church.
This does not mean that as a Jewish historian I do not have an opinion
on what the Pope did or did not do; indeed, I have written about it in
my book "The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust" (2002), in
which I discuss, for example, positive aspects of his activities in
Rome in October 1943.
Pope Benedict XVI asks that the public debate about the canonization
of Pius XII wait until he makes an official statement. As, however,
the Vatican has cited me as a supporter of Pius XII's candidacy on
this issue, I feel I should explain my view. It is this:
	Advertisement
If the Vatican feels today, as Pope John Paul II felt, that the Pope's
behavior during the Holocaust merits particular recognition, it should
send - as I have several times urged - to the Righteous Among the
Nations Department at Yad Vashem the notarized material - the evidence
in the Vatican archives - on which to base an application for him to
be made a Righteous Gentile.
To date more than 21,000 Righteous Gentiles, almost all of them
Christians, many of them Roman Catholics, have been recognized by Yad
Vashem, which - as I know from my own work in its archive - makes
extraordinary efforts to give honor where honor is due.
Yad Vashem's response to such a request with regard to Pius XII would
depend on the material the Vatican provided from its wartime archive.
At the moment only archival material up to 1939 is accessible to
scholars; for later material, they will have to wait until 2013.
Like many historians, Jewish and non-Jewish, including a distinguished
international panel initially welcomed by the Vatican, I have long
urged the Vatican to open its wartime archive. The British government
long ago opened its files with regard to Britain's response to the
Holocaust, and has accepted whatever the documentation reveals.
There are many historical episodes in which the evidence of the Pope's
positive involvement will be confirmed or negated by the documents in
the Vatican archives. One is the refuge given to 477 Jews in Vatican
City and its enclaves on the eve of the German roundup of Jews in Rome
in 1943. A further 4,238 Jews were saved when they were given
sanctuary in monasteries and convents throughout the city. Among those
in Rome at that time already recognized by Yad Vashem was Father
Pietro Palazzini, later a cardinal. Only the Vatican archives can
reveal what part the Pope himself played in these two acts of rescue,
which saved four-fifths of the Jews of Rome.
On December 17, 1942, the British, American and Soviet governments
issued a declaration denouncing the "bestial" Nazi crimes against the
Jews. When asked to support the declaration, the Pope declined. A week
later, in his annual Christmas message, he denounced racial crimes,
but did not mention the Jews by name. This has been held against him
ever since. But in Berlin, we now know, from the German records, Nazi
leaders felt that this papal message aligned the Pope with the Jews,
as their supporter and advocate. What is the truth? The Vatican
archives will show what the Pope intended: perhaps various drafts of
the message, and the Pope's comments on them, and his hopes for the
message.
When senior Roman Catholic Church leaders in Vichy France denounced
the deportation of Jews and urged their flocks to hide and save them,
did Pius initiate that, or support it? Only the Vatican archive holds
the answer.
When the papal nuncio in Budapest worked tirelessly in 1944 to help
save Jews from Arrow Cross massacre, did Pius XII initiate this act of
rescue, or support it? Only the Vatican archive holds the answer.
When - encouraged by Chaim Barlas of the Jewish Agency - the papal
nuncio in Istanbul, the future Pope John Paul II, successfully pressed
the Bulgarian king not to deport Jews to Germany, did Pius XII
initiate this act of rescue, or support it? Only the Vatican archive
holds the answer - for it contains the complete two-way correspondence
between the Vatican and its emissaries overseas.
Once we can see Pius XII's personal involvement, those who wish to see
him honored will be able to make a case, if indeed there is a case to
be made. At the moment, the evidence for the many historical episodes
in which he must have been involved, consulted or given advice to his
cardinals and senior clergy - each episode of crucial importance in
the Jewish story - is still locked away. As a historian whose instinct
is to credit people like Pius with a desire to help, even I cannot
predict what the archives will hold.
The Vatican should have confidence in the outcome, allow the world to
see the evidence, and let truth prevail. Surely the time to do so is
now.
Sir Martin Gilbert's book "The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the
Holocaust," which includes material on Pius XII, is published in
paperback by Holt (U.S.) and Doubleday (U.K.).
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1043780.html

 Christians, many of them Roman Catholics,
6000 dei quali polacchi, ma pare che si possa dire che un polacco è
ipso facto antisemita. La prossima volta i potenziali giusti ci
penseranno 2 volte prima di fare gli eroi....

 which saved four-fifths of the Jews of Rome.
mi basta questo
grazie
-- 
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy        e-mail: 
ll...@dada.it
   Home page: 
http://www.angelfire.com/ar/archivarius
                   (musicologia pratica)

 grazie
quindi dai per scontato che tutti gli ebrei nascosti negli edifici
cattolici di Roma avevano l'approvazione papale? Immagino che penserai
lo stesso delle centinaia di nazi nascosti dalla chiesa nel dopoguerra
in attesa dell'imbarco verso il Sud America, giusto? Scegli pure la
corda con cui impiccarti...

 Tags: Pope John Paul II, week's end
bell'articolo

 the Bulgarian king not to deport Jews to Germany
minchia che accuratezza, confondere Wojtila con Roncalli...