The Pope Pius XII Controversy

A Review-Article by Kenneth D. Whitehead.

From The Political Science Reviewer at the Catholic League website.

Thanks to the Catholic League for making this article, and many others, available on the Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust section of its website:

One of the most remarkable of phenomena in recent years has been the revival of the controversy over the role of Pope Pius XII during the Second World War, and, specifically, over that pontiff's stance with regard to Hitler's effort to exterminate the Jews. First played out over thirty years ago, beginning during the 1960s, the controversy centered on the question of whether Pius XII was culpably "silent" and passive in the face of one of the most monstrous crimes in human history--when his voice as a moral leader and his action as head of the worldwide Catholic Church might possibly have prevented, or at least have seriously hindered--so it is argued--the Nazis in their ghastly plans to implement what they so chillingly called the Final Solution (Endlösung) to a long and widely perceived "Jewish Problem" in Europe.

The controversy over Pope Pius XII has not only been rekindled. It has been extended to include other modern popes and, indeed, the Catholic Church herself as "anti-Semitic." An unusual number of books and articles has continued to fuel this controversy. Ten of the most recent books on the subject have been selected for evaluation in this review-article....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 12/04/02 05:48:46 PM
Categorized as Religious.