Pius XII & the Holocaust
CORRESPONDENCE To the Editors Medium is the message John O'Malley's recent article "Interpreting Vatican II: Version Two" (March 9) is wise, measured, faithful, and has a panoramic clarity...
...Robert Lockwood and John Jay Hughes both suggest I put great store by The Deputy...
...In May 1955 the Israeli government flew their entire Philharmonic Orchestra to Rome to play for the pope as an expression of gratitude for his help during the Holocaust...
...you're doing a wonderful job...
...It is good to know that in this matter the pope cannot be inconsistent...
...cleanses us from past sins and preserves us from future sins," and that the "Eucharist strengthens our charity...
...Phayer's book and Zuccotti's, by judicious argument, show why not...
...Before Hochhuth there was minimal criticism of Pius XII...
...EDWARD J. BAYER Randallstown, Md...
...eleanor p. merrick Medford, N.J...
...Phayer and Zucotti both use the same double standard: read all the evidence favorable to Pius XII in the worst light and subject it to the strictest test, but read unfavorable evidence in the best light and subject it to no test...
...The year was 1964, and I was what some now call a stay-at-home wife and mother...
...Second, is Bayer really comforted by the pope's final position that a husband, when he desires his wife sexually (okay, let's say only sexually, or really sexually) as the pope so attractively puts it, for the "mere satisfaction of the sexual need of the body"—is committing adultery in the heart...
...This sacrament was not always a part of the church...
...Earlier in the talk the pope notes that it is a narrow interpretation of Jesus' words based only on a couple's civil status...
...But I do embrace most of the reforms of the Vatican II, which emphasize a more collegial, dialogical, ecumenical church—one that teaches the truth in love, one that is a respectful listener and, therefore, one that has respect for conscience...
...To comment first on Monsignor Maniscalco's letter: of course Pius XII was concerned for the Jews and their fate, and he abominated the Nazis...
...A play may have significant faults but still have great effect...
...How can Johnson possibly see this as declaring that a husband cannot be guilty of lust in his heart toward his own wife...
...For Hughes to disregard this truth casts some doubt on the value of his "over three decades" of evaluation...
...But those views in themselves are not enough...
...thereafter there was a great deal...
...This surprises me...
...One would think from current media that it is a proven fact that Pope (Continued on page 4) 1 CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 4) Cohen seems to put great store in Rolf Hochhuth's play, The Deputy...
...His response is still etched in my memory: "Stay home in your kitchen, mother...
...Both writers attack Pius XII for doing little or nothing to rescue Roman Jews in October 1943...
...Popes & Jews I appreciate the series of articles [January 26, March 9] regarding the popes, the Jews, and anti-Semitism...
...After their betrayal of him, and their cowardice, Jesus does not come to them with "tough love" demands or requirements for repentance...
...Nowhere did he say, "Go in privacy to a friend, confess your sins, and they will be forgiven...
...Cohen's contention that the Jewish criticism of Pius XII was pent up until Rolf Hochhuth's play The Deputy "opened the floodgates" in 1963 is pure fantasy...
...They deal thoroughly with the argument that any action or declaration against Hitler by Pius would have had dire consequences, and Zuccotti in particular evaluates the evidence that Pius was responsible for saving the lives of Jews...
...CORRESPONDENCE To the Editors Medium is the message John O'Malley's recent article "Interpreting Vatican II: Version Two" (March 9) is wise, measured, faithful, and has a panoramic clarity that is born of meticulous respect for detail and nuance...
...I'm sure Johnson has heard of "literary forms...
...Pope not convicted Richard Cohen's review [March 9] of Michael Phayer's The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965 and Susan Zucotti's Under His Very Windows might more justly be titled "Pius XII: Not Convicted" rather than "Not Vindicated," especially in the present media atmosphere...
...ROBERT P. LOCKWOOD New York, N.Y...
...richard cohen John Paul II misread I was astounded by Luke Timothy Johnson's incredible misinterpretation ["A Disembodied 'Theology of the Body,'" January 26] of the two talks the pope gave successively in 1980 on October 1 and 8. Johnson claims that in the first talk, the Holy Father "declares that a husband cannot be guilty of 'lust in the heart' for his wife, but a week later he...states confidently that even a husband can sin in this fashion...
...Both Phayer's book and other recent studies have made Pius's position very clear...
...Is it my suggestion that moral discernment in the church ought to pay attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of adult, and sexually active, Christians...
...Both authors overlook the testimony of numerous witnesses, some still living, that the pope repeatedly ordered Jewish rescue efforts—orally and in documents, which, for good reason, were quickly destroyed by their recipients...
...Avenue of forgiveness If I remember correctly from my sacramental theology courses years ago, the basis for the sacrament of reconciliation is Jesus' coming to the Apostles after the Resurrection and saying, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19...
...to logic...
...The Catechism notes that "the Eucharist...
...I'm certain Phayer would be embarrassed by the comparison...
...I now attend communal penance services...
...nevertheless, good grounds for doubt remain as to whether this reasoning takes into account all the aspects of revelation as well as the theology of the body...
...Is sheer sexual desire for one's spouse sinful...
...Is it my appeal to a deeper appreciation for the ambiguities at the heart of human sexual identity and activity...
...Pius considered Communism the greater evil because he saw it as a complete philosophy— something which he did not believe Nazism ever was...
...In 1945, the World Jewish Congress donated $20,000 to Vatican charities, "in recognition of the work of the Holy See in rescuing Jews from Facist and Nazi persecution...
...Pius XII was never "Hitler's Pope," but his pontificate was a tragedy for the church, and the world...
...First, Bayer may be correct that Pope John Paul II argued dialectically, but he goes too far when he suggests that one should have spotted here the use of a technical literary form...
...The Jewish biographer of Winston Churchill, Sir Martin Gilbert, writes that "the pope himself gave his personal order...
...He left me in no doubt that Pius was not anti-Semitic and that he detested Hitler—the Nazis were, Pius wrote, "false prophets with the pride of Lucifer...
...We should also remember that private confession was not always part of the Roman rite either, but was the result of monastic practices in fourth- and fifth-century England, Scotland, and Ireland...
...tony DisTEFANO Alexandria, Va...
...but how could matters have been worse...
...Phayer and Zucotti both make much of the argument that there is no documentary evidence linking the pope to efforts to save the Jews...
...I clearly missed the full weight of the surrounding paragraphs that indicated that the pope would revisit a matter that, by his own argument, "has all the characteristics of objective correctness and accuracy" (October 1,1980...
...It's about time that the Catholic church acknowledge its role in being less than strident in its opposition to Nazism and related ills...
...Even John Cornwell, author of Hitler's Pope, dismissed The Deputy as "historical fiction based on scant documentation...
...The reviewer replies: It is always worrying when people disagree with you by taking issue with an argument you never proposed...
...What is at issue is whether he acted in the best way to save Jews and deal with Hitler...
...The writer is director of research for The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights...
...In 1999 I spent several days talking with Peter Gumpel, the Jesuit in charge of the case for Pius XIFs beatification...
...Surprisingly enough, Johnson's error seems to be in his failure to recognize a "literary form" used for centuries: present your opponant's case as effectively as you can, then show its weaknesses...
...JOHN JAY HUGHES Saint Louis, Mo...
...Confessing to Christ In response to the article "Empty Confessionals" (February 23), I am puzzled as to why anyone should stay away from confession because of a growing sense of collective sin...
...When we pray "Lord, have mercy," "forgive us as...we forgive...
...His error here is just a hint of the shallowness of much of the rest of his critique...
...The author replies: Now that Edward Bayer has explicated the pope's text, I can see that I misreported when I said that he contradicted himself when he presented an argument one week against the possibility of a man committing adultery in his heart against his own wife, and then argued the next week that in fact a man could lust adulterously after his wife...
...As a liberal Catholic, I must confess that I did not recognize my beliefs in Hitchcock's analysis of "religious liberals...
...Last confession I have a confession to make...
...Those other liberals I heartily applaud Commonweal for continuing the discussion of Vatican II and the papacy of John Paul II ("Interpreting Vatican II...
...and this living charity wipes away venial sins...
...He must be referring to those other liberals...
...As the British journalist Bernard Levin wrote after seeing the 19 play, "The charge is that he failed to excommunicate or anathematize Hitler, failed to denounce his slaughter of the Jews, failed to order his church to pray for the martyred, failed even to tear up the Concordat...
...The final question: Am I missing something...
...Lockwood finds no evidence in Michael Phayer's book that Pius XII was sympathetic to Germany and intensely anti-Communist...
...Phayer convincingly deals with the old argument that any explicit attack on Nazism by Pius would have had damaging consequences—and this includes the case of the Dutch clergy, and the reprisals following their denunciation of Hitler...
...They miss the point...
...John O'Malley has it exactly right about the way the Catholic church ought to function in the wake of Vatican II...
...Which of these reflects a theological or moral shallowness...
...Bayer says that my mistaken reportage on this point "is just a hint of the shallowness of much of the rest of his critique...
...And that was my last confession...
...we are acknowledging our sinfulness and need for God...
...Jesus apparently knew that, for most people, confessing to God in the privacy of their room would not be sufficient for them to remove their guilt...
...The pope says, "This interpretation of Christ's words seems to correspond...
...Pius's heroism As one who has been evaluating the literature about Pius XII and the Holocaust for over three decades, I must strongly dissent from Richard Cohen's laudatory review of the books by Michael Phayer and Susan Zucotti...
...He ends the first talk by saying that Christ "made the moral evaluation [of lust] depend above all on the personal dignity itself of the man and the woman...
...It is important to understand the relation of the Eucharist to forgiveness of sin...
...Doesn't he know they exist even outside biblical studies...
...What both the books under review show, carefully and without having taken up entrenched positions, is that Pius did not do enough in either respect...
...This has importance both when it is a question of persons who are not married—and perhaps even more—when they are spouses...
...I decided to ask a priest in the confessional how to make a so-called "good confession," given the circumstances of my life...
...It is the place for us to confess our personal transgressions against the environment, our personal acts or even thoughts involving racial or other prejudice, and other such misdeeds...
...NANCY SULLIVAN MURRAY Syracuse, N.Y...
...I do not think there is anything sinful or heretical about such beliefs...
...REV...
...Is it my queries concerning the logic of Humanae vitael Is it my suggestion that the universal prohibition of condoms may be morally unacceptable in the light of an aids pandemic affecting thousands if not millions of innocent people...
...Two brief comments, then a final question...
...His rhetoric embodies the style he identifies so wonderfully...
...to open the sanctuaries of the Vatican City to all Jews who could reach it...
...LUCILLE CASTRO Colts Neck, N.J...
...In fact, in the first talk the pope states straightforwardly the arguments favoring a position which he himself considers ill founded: that a husband cannot be guilty of lust towards his own wife...
...Is he pleased at the conclusion, "Man can commit this adultery in the heart also with regard to his own wife, if he treats her only as an object to satisfy instinct...
...With a flock of my own to care for, I had few opportunities to commit great or even interesting sins...
...There is, perhaps, no more important issue for Catholics than how the church defines itself, treats its believers, and relates to others in the new millennium...
...However, James Hitchcock is also right about the way the church sees itself in the modem world under Pope John Paul II: pretty much the same way it did before Vatican II...
...Reconciliation is not for the confession of social or collective sins...
...LUKE TIMOTHY JOHNSON...
...RABBI) DAVID Z. BEN-AMI Harrisburg, Pa...
...Holocaust deniers use the same argument, pointing out that there is no written evidence Hitler ever ordered the mass slaughter of the Jews...
...In confession we know that Christ is present in the priest, that it is Christ to whom we confess...
...Perhaps, however, in a different sense, most sin is collective through its effects on others, and some priests today give penances that will rectify or at least help to heal the rift resulting from the damage we may have done...
...REV...
...Could he tell me in what this shallowness consists...
...Is it my observation that in the pope's conferences women tend not to appear as sexual or moral agents...
...It is important to remember its roots: the reconciliation of those who had cut themselves off from the Christian community after baptism and wished to be reconciled with the community again...
...To summarize a complex chapter in the book: we can't know for sure...
...In other words, this logic is legalistic—and he rejects it...
...JOSEPH J. MCHUGH Minneapolis, Minn...
...During the war and afterward, Jewish leaders lavishly praised the wartime pontiff...
...She explicitly shows why Pius was thanked after the war by members of the Jewish community—and it was not because he went out of his way to save Jewish lives...
...The myth of Pius's "silence," endorsed by both authors, ignores the many denunciations of Nazi war crimes by Vatican Radio and L'Osservatore Romano, and the wartime judgment of all parties about the pope's own statements and actions...
...In the second talk, the pope expands on the reasons precisely for denying such a position...
...The papal action, which I do not find mentioned in the current'] 'accuse' style debates, saved more than four thousand lives...
...Hochhuth changed Pius's reputation, whether one likes the fact or not...
Vol. 128 • April 2001 • No. 7
