Notes on Pope Pius XII and Other Resistors

Pius XII and Controversy

• Gino Pachelle (Pius XII): Controversial figure during World War II.
• Accusations of collaboration with Hitler.
• The lecture aims to provide information for the audience to form their own opinion.

Actions During WWII

• Refused to leave the Vatican during the war, despite the risk of Allied bombings due to Italy's alliance with Hitler and Mussolini.
• Established soup kitchens and opened the Vatican lands to refugees, which is considered a positive action.
• After bombings, he ministered to the wounded and dying in the streets, against Vatican protocol.
• Believed the war was wrong, which is considered a positive aspect.

Pius XII and the Shoah (Holocaust)

• Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust: the killing of 6,000,000 Jews.
• Criticized for remaining silent during the Holocaust; many felt he should have condemned the Nazi's actions.
• Accusations of antisemitism or cowardice due to his silence.
• Despite criticisms, the Church saved approximately 800,000 Jews in Europe and over 30,000 in Italy.
• After the war, Pius XII said he feared speaking out would lead to more deaths of Jews and Catholics in Italy.

Actions to Save Jews

• 400,000 Jews saved in Vatican homes.
• The Vatican sent relief supplies to destroyed towns in Italy.
• Over 15,000 Jews were hidden in the Pope's summer residence (the Pope's summer house).
• Ordered chalices (gold-lined) melted down to pay ransom to Nazis to save Jews from concentration camps.
• Ordered members of the diplomatic corps to help Jews get to safety using their diplomatic immunity.

Cardinal Roncalli (Later Pope John XXIII)

• Forged 5,000 fake baptismal certificates for Jewish babies in Bulgaria, claiming they were Catholic to save them from the Nazis.
• This was a lie but considered justified by some to protect Jewish children.

Other Resistors

Person 1

• Refused to join the Nazi army and was beheaded for his stance.

Irena Sendler

• Polish nurse in Warsaw who foresaw the Nazis' plan to kill Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
• Smuggled 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto by convincing their parents to give them up.
• She smuggled babies out in a grocer's wagon with a false bottom, drugging them to keep them quiet.
• For older children, she led them through the sewer system to escape the ghetto.
• Maintained a network of people who took in the rescued children, risking their lives.
• Kept records of the children's identities on slips of paper buried in a jar under an apple tree to reunite them with their families after the war.
• Was tortured but escaped with the help of friends who bribed Nazi guards and hid until the end of the war.
• Her story was rediscovered by students doing a project, highlighting her heroism.

Father Maxwell Kolbe

• Catholic priest who wrote against the Nazis in his newsletter.
• Arrested and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he ministered to other prisoners.
• When a prisoner was chosen to die in reprisal for an escape, Father Kolbe volunteered to take his place.
• He was canonized as Saint Kolbe for giving his life for another person.

The White Rose

• A group consisting of a brother, a sister, and the brother's friend who resisted the Nazis.
• They copied and distributed anti-Nazi pamphlets, leaving them in public places like college campuses.
• They were eventually caught, put on trial, and hanged for their resistance.

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (John XXIII)

• Elected pope at the age of 76 in 1958 and served until 1963.
• Called the Second Vatican Council ( Vatican II ), the first council in 500 years since the Council of Trent.
• Council of Trent: This council happened in the 1500s.
• Aimed to update the Church through a process called "Aggiornamento" (updating).
• John XXIII chose the name John the Twenty Third. This was unexpected by some because there was an antipope (during the Great Papal Schism) named John XXIII, but he considered that man illegitimate.