The Vatican on Thursday
presented the imminent opening of its archives on Pius XII, the
wartime pope accused by some of not speaking out against the
Holocaust and not doing enough to save Jews.
"The Church is not afraid of history, but faces the
assessment of historians with the certainty that the nature of
its actions will be understood," said archivist and chief
librarian Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonca ahead of the March
2 event.
"By placing at the disposal of historians this 'corpus' of
documents", he added, "the Church is following a line of lay
sharing with historians without ideological, faith-based or
national preclusions.
"All are welcome".
Msgr Tolentino said the Church's archivists had worked hard
to "dispell the smoke" surrounding Pius's wartime record.
Critics have claimed Pius did not do enough to stop the mass
extermination of six million Jews.
The Vatican says Pius, who has been placed on the path to
sainthood but whose case has stalled in the absence of a miracle
to his credit, was working quietly behind the scenes
through the war to protect Jews.
"The Church is not afraid of history," Pope Francis said last
year during an audience with officials from the Vatican Secret
Archive.
"On the contrary, She loves it, and would like to love it
more and better, as God does.
"So, with the same trust of my predecessors, I open and
entrust to researchers this documentary heritage."
Last March 2 was the 80th anniversary of Pius XII's election
to the helm of the Catholic Church.
He was pope from 1939 to 1958.
"The hope is that now that clarity can be achieved on the
role Pius XII had in the period of the Second World War," Ruth
Dureghello, the president of Rome's Jewish Community, told ANSA.
"Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until 2020.
"Better late than never. It's good news from which we hope to
obtain clarity about that period of history and the role of the
pope".
Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Centre welcomed the
pope's announcement last year that the archives would be opened
on March 2 this year.
"Yad Vashem commends the Vatican's decision to open the Pius
XII Archives, covering the years 1939-1958," a statement read.
"For years, Yad Vashem has called for the opening of these
archives, which will enable objective and open research as well
as comprehensive discourse on issues related to the conduct of
the Vatican in particular, and the Catholic Church in general,
during the Holocaust.
"Yad Vashem expects that researchers will be granted full
access to all documents stored in the archives".
Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said the archives were
unlikely to change the change the Jewish community's opinion of
Pius XII.
"We have no doubts about what happened," Di Segni said.
"Our judgement on the historical events is not changing.
"Sensational things would have to come out to disprove
objective historic data.
"We would like to know what documents will be made available.
"Will it be everything or just a part? We hope that the
Vatican makes everything accessible".
Pope Francis once said that criticism of Pius XII for
allegedly not speaking out against the Holocaust "gives
me a rash".
Francis admitted that Pius "made mistakes" but stressed
that his actions should be seen "in the context of the times".
The Vatican has been building evidence of how Pius
helped Jews in Italy - although many Jewish organisations will
still not accept the argument that he kept silent on the
Shoah for fear of provoking the Nazis into even greater
savagery.
Father Peter Gumpel, the so-called 'postulator' of Pius's
cause for beatification, said recently a newly discovered
document from Pius urged Rome nuns to shelter whoever was being
''persecuted''.
Gumpel said the document - together with a similar one
sent to then bishop of Assisi, Monsignor Giuseppe Nicolini -
proved that Pius did all he could to help Jews during the
Nazi occupation of Italy.
The accusations by critics that he did nothing to
prevent the infamous round-up of 1,022 Jews in the Rome
Ghetto on October 16,1943 was ''an absolute falsehood,''
Gumpel said.
The Vatican has long insisted that Pius in fact helped save
Jews and partisans by sheltering them at the Vatican and inside
monasteries.
''The representation of Pius XII as indifferent towards
the victims of the Nazis...or even as 'Hitler's Pope' (the
title of a recent book) is outrageous and historically
unsustainable,'' former Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone said a few years ago.
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