The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #147391   Message #3426312
Posted By: Steve Shaw
26-Oct-12 - 07:32 AM
Thread Name: BS: Alternative to Science??
Subject: RE: BS: Alternative to Science??
Evidence? Google "Pius XII and the Roman razzia":

According to Phayer, there is no doubt that "Pius XII knew of the plan to murder Roman Jews".[5] Pius XII's under-secretaries of state Giovanni Montini and Domenico Tardini first learned of the planned deporations in mid-September 1943.[6] Specifically, the Vatican learned of a "telegram from Berlin instructing the SS in Rome to seize the city's Jews" several weeks before the razzia began.[7]
By October, "various members of the German military and diplomatic corps" were attempting to prevent the planned deportation of Rome's Jews.[7] Ernst von Weizsäcker took over from bishop Alois Hudal the task of compiling a comprehensive list of the properties of the pope in Rome and sending hundreds of "letters of protection" to those properties, guaranteeing them extraterritorial status.[7] However, von Weizsäcker delegated the task of actually warning the Roman Jewry to his assistant Albrecht von Kassel, who encountered great difficulty due to the prevailing opinion, generated by former Fascist Jews Dante Almansi and Ugo Foa, that there was "no cause for alarm".[8] In any case, according to Phayer, "Pope Pius gave them no warning".[8] In the end, very few Jews "availed themselves of opportunities to hide" before October 16.[8] Contrary to many non-contemporary accounts, historian Susan Zuccotti finds no evidence that "the populations of convents and monasteries surged before the fateful day".[8]


Father Père Marie-Benoît
According to Zuccotti, not only did Pius XII not aid the efforts of Father Père Marie-Benoît (later honored as Righteous among the Nations for his efforts to save Jews), he actively discouraged his work.[9] Father Benoît was called to Rome in June 1943, where he had no success in enlisting the aid of the pontiff to help Jews escape Italian-occupied France.[10] With respect to Benoît's actions during the razzia, Zuccotti writes, "far from claiming receipt of material aid from Vatican officials, Benedetto never even wrote that they encouraged him".[11] For example, Msgr. Angelo dell'Acqua, an official in the Vatican Secretariat of State, wrote on November 20, 1943 that he had repeatedly told Benoît to "use the maximum prudence", lamenting that Benoît had "not wished to listen to the humble advice given to him".[11] Vatican officials actively attempted to "subdue" the efforts of Benoît and others, cautioning them against even meeting with Jews, with "whom it would be better to speak less".[11] When Benoît asked Monitini for a letter of recommendation he needed to provide false documents to Jews, "he received little but a reprimand".[12]


Evidence? Google "Ratlines WW2":

According to Phayer, Pius XII "preferred to see fascist war criminals on board ships sailing to the New World rather than seeing them rotting in POW camps in zonal Germany".[7] Unlike the Vatican emigration operation in Italy, centered on Vatican City, the ratlines of Spain, although "fostered by the Vatican" were relatively independent of the hierarchy of the Vatican Emigration Bureau.[8]