New Evidence Says Pius XII Helped Jews
A ZENIT DAILY DISPATCH
New Evidence Says Pius XII Helped Jews
Foundation to Publish 2,300 Pages of Documents
NEW YORK, 15 JUNE 2009 (ZENIT)
A foundation that promotes interreligious dialogue announced that it has more than 2,300 pages of original documents illustrating Pope Pius XII's efforts to help Jews in the face of Nazism.
Gary Krupp, president of the New York-based Pave the Way Foundation, affirmed this today in a statement to ZENIT, and stated that the documents from the years 1940-1945 will be made available to the public for research.
The president, himself a Jew, reported that these papers, found through the organization's private research, give "strong support to the argument that Pope Pius XII — Eugenio Pacelli — worked diligently to save Jews from Nazi tyranny."
As a part of a private research project, the foundation found the documents in a monastery in Avellino, Italy. The foundation's statement noted the possibility that "many more vital documents could be found in larger dioceses, if researchers simply took the time to look."
Krupp continued: "Since presumed history has been the justification for hatred, vendettas and wars throughout civilized human existence, aren't the historians charged with a moral and vital responsibility to get the story straight? People are killed every day because of historical vendettas.
"A personal disappointment resulting from our research was the realization that we all have been let down by many who represent themselves as historians.
"These individuals, with private agendas, have simply failed to research the evidence of this era properly and have remained silent when the absurd fanatics manipulate the truth."
If our foundation, he said, as "amateur fact finders, can uncover so much information, how is it that the so-called historians and academic institutions have allowed the 46-year-old assessment of Pius XII to continue unchallenged, impacting the opinions and relationships of over one billion people?"
Finding the truth
The foundation will offer these documents for worldwide historical study on its Web site.
The statement acknowledged a "universal academic response" to "reserve judgment of Pacelli until the Vatican opens the un-catalogued section of full papacy of Pius XII."
It added, "The result of this academic negligence has negatively impacted the opinions and relationships of over one billion people."
The foundation also reported its findings from research on some of the Vatican Secret Archives documents.
It noted the discovery of "many examples of the direct actions and of the pastoral ministry of Eugenio Pacelli to save Jews from Nazi tyranny" as well as "documented proof" of his "direct intercession to protect the Jews of Palestine from the Ottoman Turks in 1917 and his encouraging the idea of the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine in 1925."
The statement observed that "universal" gratitude to Pius XII was "radically changed" five years after his death, through a fictional play by Rolf Hochhuth called "The Deputy."
The foundation reported the "confirmed testimony that this play was part of a KGB plot called 'seat 12,' which was strategically planned to destroy the reputation of the Catholic Church."
This research, the foundation stated, supports the "undeniable conclusion" that "Pope Pius XII was a true hero" of World War II.
It concluded: "Quite possibly he saved more Jews than all of the world's religious and political leaders combined. Moreover, in the true spirit of heroism, he did all this with the direct threat of German rifles leveled 200 yards beneath his very windows."
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On the Net:
Pave the Way Foundation: www.ptwf.org
This article has been selected from the ZENIT Daily Dispatch
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