Several months ago, I was having lunch with my very dear friends, Susan, Barbara and her husband Peter. I announced that my new book, Did Pope Pius XII Help the Jews?, would soon be released by Paulist Press. All agreed that this book would be controversial. Our conversation then centered around World War II and the Holocaust.

Immediately, I was asked: "How can one explain the charity and love that inspired so many Christians to hide Jews and other refugees from the Nazis and Fascists during this period?" My answer was: "Love of God and love of neighbor is fundamental to our beliefs. These people were following the teachings of the Church. Many times those seeking refuge were strangers. To protect and assist them meant that the lives of entire Christian families would be endangered. These families were detained and sent to concentration camps with the Jews found hidden in their homes."

One cannot adequately describe the sufferings of the Jews. In 1943, Paolo Revoltella was seven years old when Jews in Venice had to go into hiding. His entire family was sent to Fossoli and then to Germany. The elderly grandparents died on the way. His mother and sister were sent to the gas chambers in Bergen-Belsen. Lello and his brother Angelo were deported to Birkenau. Lello survived and was sent to a concentration camp in Poland. Later he was transferred to Eastern Prussia where he was freed by the Russians. Soon after, he died from tuberculosis.

Adolf Hitler's hostility toward the Catholic Church was well known. On May 31, 1937, the following appeared in the Swiss newspaper Basler Nationalzeitlung: "One thing is clear: the Third Reich does not desire a modus vivendi with the Catholic Church, but rather its destruction with lies and dishonor, in order to make room for a German Church in which the German race will be glorified."

In a letter to the editor of La Repubblica (April 27, 1986), Ines Gistron wrote: "Monsignor O'Flaherty placed me and my Jewish friend in a pensione run by Canadian nuns at Monteverde (Rome). We were given false IDs. We lived with elderly women and young ladies, completely separated from the nuns in the cloister. After the Nazis began searching for Jews, the pensione was so filled that the Holy Father ordered the cloistered areas to be opened in order to provide for more refugees. I gave my room to a woman with two children and went to live in a very small cell. ....It has been said that Pius XII did not speak out against the Nazi crimes. On the other hand, we know about his actions. Because of his prudence, did he not succeed in saving many lives, including mine?"

Indeed, Pius XII's strategy was to save as many lives as possible. He did this quietly and thus many possible victims of both the Nazis and the Fascists were saved. To fully understand this extraordinary phenomenon, it is necessary to understand the chain of command in the Catholic Church.

To understand the position of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust, one must learn how authority in the church functions. This is clearly explained in Zenit's February 28, 2007 article "Cardinal Bertone: Diplomacy Serves Humanity." It is a report on a recent meeting entitled, "Diplomatic Representations of the Holy See: History, Research and Present Importance." It was held at Rome's Luigi Sturzo Institute on Thursday, February 22nd. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, explained that the Holy See doesn't seek its own interests, but rather the true good of the human person. Today the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with 177 countries and participates in 33 intergovernmental organizations and groups. It has 101 apostolic nuncios in nunciatures and two apostolic nuncios at the disposition of the Vatican secretariat of state and the president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Vatican diplomacy "contributes with its own means to dialogue and collaboration with the civil community and its authorities, which must serve the integral good of the person, who is at the same time citizen and member of the Christian community," noted Cardinal Bertone. "Pontifical diplomacy acts in this sense in the numerous countries that accept a pontifical representation and in the Areopagus of international organizations and meetings," he added.

With regard to International organizations, the Holy See has permanent observers to the U.N.; Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in Paris; the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, in Rome; the Council of Europe; the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna; and the World Tourism Organization, in Rome. Cardinal Bertone stated: "The interests that the Church and the Holy See pursue are not for their own advantages but seek only the true good of man and of humanity, because they know, as St. Irenaeus reminds us, that 'the living man is the glory of God.'" The Church also carries out "its mission of teaching, sanctification and guidance of those who are baptized," the secretary of state said. It promotes everywhere "the right to religious liberty which allows each person to freely seek and find the one who is source of life."

No group of individuals is as well-organized as the members of the Catholic Church. To fully understand how the Church functions, it is necessary to review the history of Vatican City, the smallest state in the world. Situated on the right side of the Tiber River, it occupies 108.7 acres. In 1870 the Kingdom of Italy seized all Vatican possessions which had constituted the papal temporal domain. On February 11, 1929, the Holy See and the then Kingdom of Italy signed the Lateran Pacts and the independent authority of the Vatican was recognized.

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, is the sovereign of Vatican City. Its government is administered by a Pontifical Commission. The Cardinals assist the Pontiff collegially when they are called together to deal with questions of major importance. They do so individually when they assist him in the daily care of the universal Church by means of the different offices. They are divided into three ranks: Cardinal-Bishops, Cardinal-Priests, Cardinal-Deacons. Besides the College of Cardinals, the Pontiff is assisted by departments called "dicasteries" of the Roman Curia. The Bishops, Patriarchs, and Archbishops are united with the Pontiff in the governance of the Church and are responsible for the teaching, sanctification, and governance of the particular Sees assigned to them. The organizational structure consists of Provinces, Archdioceses, Dioceses, Eparchies, as well as Military Archdioceses, and Eastern-Rite jurisdictions immediately subject to the Holy See in Rome. An Apostolic Nuncio represents His Holiness in each country. An Archbishop is the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.

Pope Benedict XVI has a political as well as a spiritual role to play in human affairs. As head of the Vatican City State, he receives ambassadors from almost every country in the world. Each year he invites those ambassadors to hear his assessment of the "state of the world," politically and diplomatically. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church is tightly structured. It is concerned with all topics involving morals, beliefs and social actions down to the local parish level. Because of this structure and the communications processes within the Church, doctrine is translated into local directives. Failure to follow directives is dealt with forcefully. It would be far from historical practice to conceive of an organized effort by bishops and cardinals to disobey Pope Pius XII's directives during World War II that the Church open its doors and seek to protect those in harms way, including but not limited to Jews. For Church leaders to do so, they would have had to openly defy the Pontiff's dictates, a practice which is well outside historical reality.

The Pope's ministry is awesome and arduous. He has a team working with him to carry out his ministry. Through them he keeps in touch with more than 3,000 dioceses, a million nuns and priests, and nearly a billion faithful. The administrative apparatus of the Roman Curia dates back to the early Church. At the time of the Reformation, a reform of the Curia was implemented by Pope Sixtus V in 1588. Four hundred years later, Pope John Paul II reorganized the Curia's structure and procedures in light of the Second Vatican Council. He continued the reforms of Pope Paul VI and set down precise guidelines. He directed the Curia to respect the authority of bishops in their dioceses, foster the communion of bishops with the Pope, and show itself to be at the service of the local churches. In no way should the Curia block or restrict personal contact between the pope and the bishops. The Curia never acts on its own and wields its authority in the pope's name.

The secretariat of state coordinates the work of the Roman Curia-congregations, pontifical councils, tribunals, administrative offices. However, each one is directly responsible to the Holy Father and carry out his will. It is divided into First and Second Sections: General Affairs and Relations with States.

An archbishop, called the "Substitute," administers the First Section. Its task is "to expedite the daily service of the Supreme Pontiff." It is divided up on a linguistic basis with eight departments: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish. Its personnel deal with matters such as secret dipolmatic codes, relations with other dicasteries, international Catholic organizations, protocol questions, official publications, statistics and papal honors. It is also responsible for supervising more that 200 papal diplomats around the world. The Pope's representative in a country is an archbishop and is called a nuncio. If diplomatic relations are lacking, he is called an apostolic delegate. They reinforce and sustain episcopal authority and watch that civil authorities do not try to subordinate a national hierarchy to state interests or curtail its communication with the Vatican.

The Second Section, Relations with States, deals primarily with the Holy See's relations with governments: diplomatic relations, political matters and contacts with internaitonal organizations. In particular situations, which require delicate negotiations with civil authorities, it also overseas the nomination of bishops and the erection of new dioceses. An archbishop, known as the Vatican's "foreign minister, implements the Pope's policies in the international arena.

The cardinal secretary of state is the pope's righthand man. He is not limited to the five-year term of office as the heads of dicasteries.He may be compared to a prime minister. He represents the Holy See in international affairs, receives heads of state and ambassadors, and accompanies the Holy Father on his trips. He supervises both internal Church affairs and the Vatican's relations with states and international organizations.

The Pope's aims are: Religious Liberty, Ethical vision, Human dignity, Justice and Peace. His collaborators draft documents, send representatives to conferences and deal with ambassadors sent to Rome. By carrying out the activities assigned to it by the Pope, the secretariat of state gives cconcrete shape to the ministry that Christ entrusted to the Successor of Peter.

Briefly, at all times and under all circumstances, each of the above-mentioned divisions of the structure of the hierarchy in the Catholic Church, is subject directly to the Pontiff. It is because of this direct connection with the Pope that Catholics were able to save the lives of 860,000 Jews during the Holocaust of World War II.

No one can deny the historical record which shows that Pope Pius XII, through his world-wide network of apostolic delegates, was able to save the lives of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. While some individuals, including Jews, betrayed their Jewish friends, the Pope's so-called "silence" saved lives. He feared that by publicly condemning Hitler, many more lives would have been destroyed. He did all he could to avoid reprisals against Jews and Catholics. As the spiritual leader of all, including 40 million German Catholics, he could not endanger them. It is foolish to think that the assistance given Jews, in the Vatican and in Rome alone, would have been successful without his knowledge and protection. Not only did he provide money, ships, and food, but he placed his radio, his diplomacy, his convents, at the disposal of the refugees. What would survivors have preferred-words or actions? Would the Nazis and the Fascists have tolerated the charitable work of the Catholic Church during World War II? If he had publicly condemned Hitler or Mussolini, would thousands of Jews have survived? He was a prudent Pope who saved Jews and other refugees from extermination.

Pope Pius XII's role and actions have been misinterpreted. One must remember that, after war began in 1939, it was impossible for a papal message to be heard or read in Germany. Mussolini repeatedly threatened to close Vatican radio's transmitters on the grounds that critical statements about Italy's allies were in breach of the Lateran Treaty. Knowing this, the Vatican radio messages had to be very carefully worded. The Nazis were determined to prevent papal messages from being read or heard in Germany. Meanwhile the Vatican gave every possible support and assistance to Bishops (later Cardinals) von Preysing and von Galen, both implacable enemies of the Nazis who spoke out courageously. Indeed, Galen's writings inspired the White Rose Movement which repeatedly denounced the anti-Semitism of the regime. Pius XII's correspondence with the German bishops fills one of the twelve volumes of Actes et Documents du Saint-Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale.

Condemnations of Pius XII undermine the historical record of the terrible suffering endured by the Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. The consequences of the actions of the Dutch bishops by reading the Pope's message were devastating for Dutch Jews and Jewish born converts and their descendants. The Pope knew that similar statements from Rome would have even more devastating results. Would any more lives have been saved had Pius XII given the Germans an excuse to destroy altogether any possibility of the Pope continuing his quiet diplomacy and actions? To the contrary, there are innumerable expressions of gratitude by Jews who thanked and honored Pope Pius XII that would fill an entire volume. Pope Pius XII used every means to save Jewish lives- distributing false baptismal certificates, obtaining visas for Jews to enter other countries, opening doors of convents and monasteries to hide Jews and other victims of the Nazis and Fascists. Why has the historical truth been ignored?

Recently Sir Martin Gilbert was interviewed by Andrea Tornielli for the Italian newspaper Il Giornale. His statements are significant: "As a Jewish historian, I have felt the need to fully recognize the help given by Catholics to Jews during the Second World War.... Priests and bishops saved Jews wherever they were threatened, including Poland, France and Italy.... The Nazis recognized the fact that Pope Pius XII directed his representatives to save the persecuted Jews by opening the doors of Catholic institutions. They considered Pope Pius XII an enemy of Germany." The point Martin Gilbert made about the kidnapping of the Pope was that it would have had disastrous consequences for Catholics throughout the area under German rule. While Pius XII was saving the Jews "in silence," some Jewish leaders, interested in a Jewish state, did little or nothing to save their Jewish brethren. The pope felt that if he spoke out about the Jewish killings specifically, the situation would only grow worse. Harold Tittmann in his memoirs stated: "Personally, I cannot help but feel that the Holy Father chose the better path by not speaking out and thereby saved many lives. Who can say what the Nazis would have done in their ruthless furor had they been further inflamed by public denunciations coming from the Holy See? "

With instructions and directives to the hierarchy to care for all victims of the Nazis, Pope Pius XII manifested his concern for the Jews, the prisoners of war, the homeless and displaced persons. There are thousands of documents contained in wartime archives, attesting to the enormous work conducted by Church officials, at Pope Pius XII's behest, to as-suage some part of the suffering brought on by history's bloodiest war. Under the Pope's direction, Church officials together with the clergy and laity labored diligently to save victims of the Nazi ideology everywhere and encouraged a greater mutual understanding between Christians and Jews. To overcome the evils brought on by war, as well as a greater devotion to the sanctity of individual human lives, he gave instructions for Catholics throughout the world to help all who were in need, regardless of nationality or religious denomination.

World War II began six months after Pius XII was elected on March 2, 1939. Throughout this period, fear of reprisals was an element in Vatican diplomatic policy. But Pope Pius XII was not fearful. For thirteen years Eugenio Pacelli had been in Germany as Papal Nuncio and was outspoken against the Nazis. In 1939, he even placed the Church in jeopardy when the German generals asked him to relay to England the news of a plot to overthrow Hitler. He decided to go along with them and took a great risk.

He condemned the persecution of people based on their race, was in contact with the anti-Nazi Resistance, approved a plot to assassinate Hitler, and defended minorities. He vigorously protested the deportation of Jews and ordered his nuncios to intervene. He authorized Vatican Radio and L'Osservatore Romano to publicly condemn Nazi atrocities. During the Nazi occupation of Rome, from September 1943 to June 1944, Pius XII made strong protests against the Nazi seizure of Rome's Jews, and took decisive action to protect them. It suffices to mention the extraordinary tributes the Jewish community offered Pius XII for saving Jews and fighting anti-Semitism. How can anyone say the Pope was on the side of Hitler and the Nazis when Hitler called him "the mouthpiece of the Jewish was criminals?" Why would Hitler want to kidnap the Pope if he had been on his side? Pius XII was not anti-Semitic. He was prudent and did all he could to save Jews and others Hitler wanted to kill.

In his letter of April 30, 1943, to Bishop (later Cardinal) von Preysing of Berlin, Pius XII stated: "...In spite of good reasons for Our open intervention, there are others equally good for avoiding greater evils by not interfering. Our experience in 1942, when We allowed the free publication of certain Pontifical documents addressed to the Faithful, justifies this attitude." On June 2, 1943, Pius XII addressed the dilemma of the extermination of the Jews in a communication to the Sacred College of Cardinals. He called attention to "the anxious entreaties of all those who, because of their nationality or their race are being subjected to overwhelming trials and, sometimes, through no fault of their own, are doomed to extermination. ...Every word We address to the competent authority on this subject, and all Our public utterances, have to be carefully weighed and measured by Us in the interests of the victims themselves, lest, contrary to Our intentions, We make their situation worse and harder to bear."

According to Jewish historian Michael Tagliacozzo, documents clearly prove that, in the early hours of the morning of October 16, 1943, Pius XII was informed of the round-up of the Jews in Rome and he immediately had German Ambassador von Weizsäcker called and ordered State Secretary Luigi Maglione to energetically protest the Jews' arrest, asking that similar actions be stopped. If this did not happen, the Pope would denounce it publicly. In addition, by his initiative he had a letter of protest sent through Bishop Alois Hudal to the military commander in Rome, General Rainer Stahel, requesting that the persecution of Jews cease immediately. As a result of these protests, the operation providing for two days of arrests and deportations was interrupted at 2 p.m. the same day. Instead of the 9,000 Jews Hitler requested, 1,259 were arrested. After meticulous examination of documents and other papers of identification, the following day over 200 were released. In fact, those who were arrested later on were betrayed by Nazi collaborators. Moreover, after this manhunt, the Germans did not capture any more Roman Jews. Many were hidden in Vatican buildings where searching and looting were forbidden. They were protected by Nazi General Stahel's "off limits" placards in German and in Italian.

An important witness to the role of Pius XII in wartime Italy is Rabbi Israel Zolli, Chief Rabbi of Rome during the Nazi occupation and persecution of Jews. A biblical scholar whose courage and integrity cannot be challenged, Rabbi Zolli was hidden in the Vatican. He was an eye-witness of the deportation of Rome's Jews by the Gestapo in 1943. He was converted to Catholicism and took the name Eugenio in Baptism in honor of Pius XII. In his book, Antisemitismo, he states: "World Jewry owes a great debt of gratitude to Pius XII for his repeated and pressing appeals for justice on behalf of the Jews and, when these did not prevail, for his strong protests against evil laws and procedures." Zolli, who found shelter in the Vatican during the war also stated: "No hero in all of history was more militant, more fought against, none more heroic than Pius XII in pursuing the work of true charity!...and this on behalf of all the suffering children of God."

Zolli devoted an entire chapter in his 1954 memoirs, Before the Dawn. Writing about the German occupation of Rome, he praised the Pope's leadership: "...The people of Rome loathed the Nazis and had intense pity for the Jews. They willingly assisted in the evacuation of the Jewish population into remote villages, where they were protected by Christian families.... The Holy Father sent by hand a letter to the bishops instructing them to lift the enclosure from convents and monasteries, so that they could hide the Jews. I know of one convent where the sisters slept in the basement, giving up their beds to Jewish refugees. In face of this charity, the fate of so many of the persecuted is especially tragic."

Pius XII was interested in everyone. Not only was he a scholar, a diplomat, but he devoted his time with soldiers, prisoners of war, and all who approached him. He was a person who radiated an interior peace and a spiritual beauty that inspired everyone. He was an exceptional and saintly individual--a symbol of mercy, of hope and of love, during a period in history full of lies, desperation and hatred. Throughout his life, he was endowed with great sensitivity and a spirit of brotherhood. His goodness and spiritual strength impressed everyone. Early on, when Jews in Italy were banned from universities, Pius XII gave them positions in the Vatican and located positions in other countries for them. Participants during a papal audience recognized his intelligence and his extraordinary capacity to understand the sufferings and the dangers of people everywhere.

Pope Pius XII's heroic life and extraordinary virtues shine forth through his example and through his writings that laid a solid foundation for a renewed vitality of the Catholic Church during the Second Vatican Council. No one can deny these very important ecclesiastical documents that contradict those who, for lack of courage to attack the Church itself, have denigrated him and spread false attacks against him.

Pope Pius XII had served as the papal nuncio in Munich and Berlin. After the war, when the Communists in Russia began calumniating Pius XII in their paper, Izvestia, Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen responded immediately in the New York Times. The KGB wanted to depict the Pontiff as an anti-Semite who had encouraged Hitler's Holocaust. Recently Lieutenant General Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc, explains this issue in his book, Red Horizons, which has been republished in 27 countries. Here he acknowledges that he was at the center of Moscow's foreign-intelligence wars and was caught up in a deliberate Kremlin effort to smear the Vatican, by portraying Pope Pius XII as a coldhearted Nazi sympathizer.

In article 3 of his encyclical, "Mystici Corporis" (June 29, 1943), Pius XII stated: "We do not deny (and rather, from a heart filled with gratitude to God, we admit) that even in our turblent times there are many who, though outside the fold of Jesus Christ, look to the Church as the only haven of salvation. But we are also aware that the Church of God not only is despised and hated maliciously by those who shut their eyes to the light of Christian wisdom and miserably return to the teachings, customs, and practices of ancient paganism, but also is ignored and neglected, and even at times looked upon as irksome by many Christians who are allured by specious error or caught in the meshes of the world's corruption...."

In article 94: "...to our profound grief we see at times the deformed, the insane, and those suffering from hereditary disease deprived of their lives, as though they were a useless burden to Society. And this procedure is hailed by some as a manifestation of human progress, and as something that is entirely in accordance with the common good. Yet who that is possessed of sound judgment does not recognize that this not only violates the natural and the divine law written in the heart of every man, but that it outrages the noblest instincts of humanity?"

Finally, article 96 speaks of the dignity of all mankind: "While our heart overflows with the sweetness of the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, we extol with him the length, and the breadth, and the height, and the depth of the charity of Christ, which neither diversity of race or customs can diminish, nor trackless wastes of the ocean weaken, nor wars, whether just or unjust, destroy."

Although Pius XII begged the Allies to spare Rome and the Vatican, he did not succeed. The magazine, Ecclesia, records his charity during the bombing of Rome, when American bombers dropped tons of explosives on July 19, 1943. As Bishop of Rome, he hastened to console and comfort his people. When he learned that the Tiburtina section was bombed, hundreds were buried under the ruins, dead or injured, and the Church of San Lorenzo destroyed, he sent his secretary to withdraw all his personal funds from the bank, ordered his chauffeur to accompany him without the official escort, and hastened to the area. His white cassock was stained with the blood of those to whom he administered the Last Rites.

Again, on August 13, 1943, when the Allies bombed Rome near Appia Nuova and Tusculana, the Pope rushed to the area and, as he distributed funds, he blessed and consoled his flock. A mother shoved her dead child into the Pope's arms while he tried to console her. Others begged for help, as he administered the Last Rites and comforted the injured. Among the victims was a little girl lying on a stretcher, cold and immobile. Kneeling beside her, the Pope touched the child and spoke to her. At the sound of his consoling voice, the child opened her eyes, got up and walked away.

On November 5, 1943, when bombs fell not only on the Vatican and Rome, but also on the pope's apartment in Castelgandolfo, windows of the cupola of St. Peter's were shattered, the Governatorato building, the laboratory for mosaics, the Vatican railroad station, and the Church of Santa Marta were damaged.

An article entitled "Testimonial of Gratitude to the Pontiff" (Israel, XXXII, No. 13, January 9, 1947) stated that the Associazione fra i Romani had taken "the initiative to manifest the gratitude of the people of Rome toward the Pontiff for the material and moral assistance and for all the work done to protect the Jews. The Associazione will place a plaque in the Basilica of San Lorenzo Outside the Walls in memory of the Pope's visits to this area destroyed by Allied bombings on July 19 and August 13, 1943. There will also be a mometary gift for charitable works toward the needy in Rome. Those who wish to show their appreciation for the protection and assistance received during this anti-Jewish persecution may join the General Committee, the Catholic Leaders, the Grand Rabbi of Rome Professor Prato, and the President of the Community Vitale Milano. Jews who wish to participate in this Testimonial should send their name and donation to the Office of the Rabbi or to the Secretariat of the Community. Names of participants and their donation will be placed in an album and offered to the Pontiff."

During World War II and in the following years, Pope Pius XII was considered universally as having contributed significantly to saving Jewish lives from the Nazi attempt to eliminate the Jewish people from the soil of Europe. In recent years, some Jewish organizations have objected strongly to the statement that the Pope personally or through his representatives had contributed to saving hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives. They claim he did not do enough. Yet, they cannot deny that he did more than all the world leaders combined. Although no final and definitive appraisal of Pope Pius XII's pontificate has been reached, one cannot leave unchallenged the emotional and unconfirmed presentation of Pius XII as one who failed to respond adequately to the challenges of his time. The Pope was loved and respected. Of those mourning his death in 1958, Jews-who credited Pius XII with being one of their greatest defenders and benefactors in their hour of greatest need-stood in the forefront.

At this point I was asked why I was so interested in this topic. I answered that only in 1995, did I learn that according to a list compiled in 1963, by Italian historian Renzo DeFelice, Jewish refugees were hidden in 155 Catholic institutions in Rome. Mentioned are three convents and schools belonging to the Religious Teachers Filippini, where 114 Jews were saved.

Inspired by all the Popes I met during the past 50 years, my motivation and interest in Pope Pius XII was undoubtedly the recollection of a meeting with him in 1957. I was 17-years-old when he became Pope on March 2, 1939. I was a young nun and like most Catholics of my generation, I revered the new Pope whom everyone described as the "Pope of Peace." My first trip to Italy was in May 1957, as a Columbia University Garibaldi Scholar. Upon my arrival in Rome, accompanied by his niece, Elena Pacelli, I had the opportunity to meet Pius XII in the Basilica of St. Peter. His piercing eyes penetrated my soul as we chatted informally. We spoke about my research on the poet Clemente Rebora, about our Sisters in the USA, about my family. I still see this tall, dignified, and ascetic figure, along with his brilliant glance, his loving smile, and animated gestures. He had a magnetic personality full of intelligence and nobility of spirit.

I recall that, from our motherhouse in the USA, the Religious Teachers Filippini responded to Pius XII's appeal for assistance and helped the poor in Italy during World War II. In 1994, as a delegate in Rome for a General Chapter, I interviewed our Sisters who saved 114 Jews hidden in our convents for about one year. This was the beginning of my interest in the period of the Holocaust and Pius XII's efforts to save the persecuted Jews. I tell this story in my book, Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy (Paulist Press, 1997).

Cesare Carnevale, an eyewitness of the Allied bombings in Rome, wrote to me: "Pius XII was the Pope of my youth. I still recall the impression I had looking at this saintly figure in white with arms outstretched in prayer as everyone turned to him during the bombings of Rome. . . . But I also have a very personal memory. During the 1950s, I was a young Salesian priest in Grottaferrata and worked with the youth of the area. We had a sports field but no equipment for the youngsters. So I turned directly to His Holiness and asked him to help me obtain sports equipment. Within a few days I received a large box with everything needed for a successful program: shirts, pants, shoes, footballs, soccer balls, etc."

This letter reminded me that Mother Ninetta Jonata, provincial superior of the Religious Teachers of Saint Lucy Filippini in Morristwon, New Jersy, received a letter (June 18, 1947) from the Vatican secretary of state, requesting "footballs" (soccer balls) to help children adjust in the aftermath of the war. He also acknowledged cases of supplies that had arrived from the United States: "29 cases on the ship City of Athens; 60 cases on the Exiria; 90 cases on the Waimea." This charitable work continued for many years. On March 26, 1951, in his own hand, Pius XII wrote: "We desire to express to you, beloved daughter, Our lively appreciation of the truly charitable spirit which animated you and those associated with you in the generous donation of relief supplies which you have forwarded to the Vatican. It is always a source of consolation to us to be reminded, through charitable acts such as yours, that Our children in America share Our great concern for the plight of those unfortunate souls who are living in circumstances of wretchedness and misery."

During and after the war, in consonance with the pope's wishes, not only did the Reli-gious Teachers Filippini in the United States visit the sequestered Italian prisoners of war and internees, but they shipped tons of cases of medicine and clothing to the Vatican to help care for the needy. This charity continued over twenty years. When it was no longer possible, I crossed the Atlantic on the Michelangelo and arrived in Naples toward the end of May 1966, with the last cases of clothing and medicines prepared for the pope's poor.

When the Nazis occupied Rome, our Sisters joined Pope Pius XII's humanitarian efforts. They welcomed Jews persecuted by the Nazis into three large convents in Rome: Via Caboto, Via delle Fornaci, and Via Botteghe Oscure. But there were also other smaller convents: Monte Mario, Cave, Gubbio, and others throughout Italy. Pius XII gave directives to open the doors of all convents and monasteries for the Jews to hide from the Nazis and Fascists. Most of these Jews remained hidden during the Nazi occupation of Rome. Their thanks to the Religious Teachers Filippini was expressed by the gift of a five-foot statue of the Madonna, which still stands on the fourth floor in the corridor of Via delle Botteghe Oscure.

Recently, after my appeal for information from survivors of the Holocaust, I received a letter (July 27, 2006) from San Diego, California. John F. Armstrong wrote: "In 1944, during World War II, I was a member of the 63rd Signal Battalion United States Army, No. 32200956, and I needed to recuperate. I was sent to the Rome Rest Camp following the Anzio Beach Head campaign in Italy. While there, I learned that the Vatican was issuing citizenship papers to Jews in order to save them from the Nazis. I hope this may be of some value to document the efforts of the Pope to help Jewish people...."

Not only were citizenship papers issued to Jews, but visas were obtained for 400 Jews to be accepted in Santo Domingo, and for 800 Jews to travel to the USA. Also false baptismal papers were distributed throughout Europe at the direction of Pius XII. Throughout these years no wonder there were threats to kidnap the Pope, to bring him to Germany, and to sack the Vatican. Pius XII's goodness and spirituality deeply impressed those who knew him. In a recently-aired interview, Los Angeles radio host Bill Handel mentioned that in 2002, he allowed his father, a Jew, to report that he was saved by the Vatican during World War II. A few weeks ago, I received a letter from California confirming this statement about the interview.

Historian and Holocaust survivor, Michael Tagliacozzo, wrote a letter to the daily newspaper "Davàr" (Tel Aviv, April 23, 1985) which states: "Little known is the precious help of the Holy See. On the recommendation of Pius XII the religious of every order did their best to save Jews. In great numbers, especially the elderly, women and children were welcomed in the convents that opened their doors offering refuge and assistance. Children in orphanges were sent to monasteries. Even in the Vatican, almost under the Pope's windows, Jews found refuge hiding from the clutches of the Gestapo. The figures show that about five thousand were hiding in ecclesiastical institutions (4238 in convents, parishes and other institutions, while 477 were living in the extraterritorial buildings protected by the Holy See."

Some historians claim there are no witnesses who can testify that, at the direction of Pius XII, efforts were made to save Jews. This is not true. A newly-discovered Holocaust diary reveals the drastic steps taken by the Pope and the Catholic Church to save the lives of Jews and others being hunted down by the Nazis. It is an unpublished Journal of an Augustinian nun in the convent of Santi Quattro Coronati in Rome and will be published by the magazine 30Days. But according to this document, Pius XII instructed the mother superior to allow those fleeing from the Germans to enter the cloistered convent and remain as long as necessary. Not only does the Augustinian author provide details, but she explains that the pope wished to save "the children as well as Jews" and ordered that monasteries and enclosures should be opened to protect those persecuted. She admits she prepared false identity papers for all her guests. "Unfortunately," the nun writes, "with the coming of the Germans in September, the war against the Jews-whom they wish to exterminate with the most barbarous atrocities-included young Italians and political activists who were tortured and subjected to the most horrible sufferings. ...We adhered to the wishes of the Holy Father. "

Another document destroys the thesis that there is no evidence of a papal directive to Church institutions to shelter Jews. It was written on September 26, 2000: "I, Sister Domenica Mitaritonna, declare under oath that during the period of the war 1942-1943, I was living at 16 Via Caboto, Rome, and assisted two or three Jewish families who sought refuge in our convent. They were welcomed with immense hospitality by the Superior who had been solicited by the Vatican to help them. With joy we received the Jews and tried to make their stay, living in the little theater of our school, less painful. Another Sister and I took turns near a window each evening for fear that the Germans would arrive. One night, German soldiers stopped their truck near our school. We were frightened and spread the word. The Jews were rushed to the trap door beneath the stage to hide. When a shoemaker who lived near us told them it was an elementary school, the soldiers departed. The Jews were saved." In fact, the Religious Teachers Filippini of Via Caboto received official recognition from the Jewish Community of Rome "recalling how they risked their lives to save Jews from nazi-fascist atrocities."

Memories of Mother Teresa Saccucci, superior general of the Religious Teachers Filippini, include her interview with the author of La Chiesa e la Guerra (1944). I learned that the Sisters helped the Holy Father in the Information Office of the Vatican secretariat of state. Mother Teresa recalled: "For this work in the Information Office, I had des-ignated five or six Sisters with typewriters. But every day there were other young women and children of the school who wanted to work for the Holy Father and answer the letters of prisoners of war and the needy. I did all I could to satisfy the Pope's wishes."

Largely through diplomacy rather than confrontation, Pope Pius XII saved thousands of Jewish lives. He knew that more explicit public condemnations would have provoked brutal reprisals against the very people he was trying to help. He directed all the convents, monasteries and churches to open their doors and hide Jews who otherwise would have been sent by the SS to the extermination camp in Auschwitz. As followers of Saint Lucy Filippini, the Sisters dedicated themselves to this task. Obviously, the work had to be kept secret. In Crusade of Charity: Pius XII and POWs (Paulist Press, 2006), I describe the extraordinary accomplishments of the Vatican Information Office.

In the archives of the Religious Teachers Filippini, Via Botteghe Oscure, there is a journal entry dated June 5, 1944: "Today began the exodus of the Jewish refugees. Over 60 women and children occupied the area designated for students, and also several rooms in the convent." The June 8, 1944 notation records that, following Vatican directives, these Sisters sponsored the "opening of a soup kitchen where the Sisters served meals to all refugees." They assisted Pius XII as he cared for innocent civilians and racial groups targeted by Nazi persecution.

Jewish historian Sir Martin Gilbert offers an extraordinary chapter on Pope Pius XII in his book, Never Again: The History of the Holocaust. Largely through diplomacy rather than confrontation, the pope saved thousands of Jewish lives. He knew that more explicit public condemnations would have continued to provoke brutal reprisals against the very people he was trying to help. He directed all the convents, monasteries and churches to open their doors and hide Jews who otherwise would have been sent by the SS to the extermination camp in Auschwitz. As a moral leader and a diplomat forced to limit his words, he privately took action and, despite insurmountable obstacles, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews from the gas chambers.

Speaking at a conference to mark the publication of the Italian translation of Gilbert's book, The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust (Henry Holt & Company, 2003), Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, strongly defended Pope Pius XII against critics who charge that the Pontiff failed to protect Jews during the Holocaust (January 25, 2007): "Research done by independent historians confirm that Pope Pius XII took extraordinary steps to save Jewish lives." With reference to the Church's intervention, Cardinal Bertone pointed out: "It is clear that Pope Pacelli was not about silence but about intelligent and strategic speaking, as demonstrated in the 1942 Christmas radio message which infuriated Hitler. The proofs are in the Vatican archives...."

Kenneth L. Woodward wrote in Newsweek: "No one person, Hitler excepted, was responsible for the Holocaust. And no one person, Pius XII included, could have prevented it. In choosing diplomacy over protest, Pius XII had his priorities straight. It's time to lay off this pope." It is irresponsible to deprive future generations of the contemporary assessments and judgments that together comprise part of the historical record of the Holocaust era. British historian Sir Martin Gilbert stated: "So the test for Pacelli was when the Gestapo came to Rome in 1943 to round up Jews. And the Catholic Church, on his direct authority, immediately dispersed as many Jews as they could." Never Again: The History of the Holocaust contains an extraordinary chapter on Pope Pius XII whose protection of refugees and victims of persecution was one of the finest examples of Christian charity. His book, The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust (Henry Holt & Company, 2003) was translated into Italian (I Giusti, gli eroi sconosciuti dell'Olocausto, Città Nuova, 2007).

On January 25, 2007, speaking at a conference to mark its publication, Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, strongly defended Pope Pius XII against critics who charge that the Pontiff failed to protect Jews during the Holocaust: "Research done by independent historians confirm that Pope Pius XII took extraordinary steps to save Jewish lives." With reference to the Church's intervention, Cardinal Bertone pointed out: "It is clear that Pope Pacelli was not about silence but about intelligent and strategic speaking, as demonstrated in the 1942 Christmas radio message which infuriated Hitler. The proofs are in the Vatican archives...."

Interviewed by Andrea Tornielli for the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, Sir Martin Gilbert's statements, are significant: "As a Jewish historian, I have felt the need to fully recognize the help given by Catholics to Jews during the Second World War.... Priests and bishops saved Jews wherever they were threatened, including Poland, France and Italy.... The Nazis recognized the fact that Pope Pius XII directed his representatives to save the persecuted Jews by opening the doors of Catholic institutions. They considered Pope Pius XII an enemy of Germany." The point the author made about the kidnapping of the Pope was that it would have had disastrous consequences for Catholics throughout the area under German rule.

In the prologue of Jenö Levai's book, Pius XII Was Not Silent, Dr. Robert W. Kempner, Deputy Chief, U. S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, compared those who defame Pius XII with revisionists who deny the full reality of the Holocaust. According to Kempner, "Every propaganda move of the Catholic Church against Hitler's Reich would have been not only 'provoking suicide'...but would have hastened the execution of still more Jews and priests." The Holocaust was the evil consequence of a demonic mind, that of Adolf Hitler, who planned to dominate the world, destroy Christianity, and foster a new Godless religion.

The Vatican was a neutral State. As its sovereign, Pius XII could not and did not take a public stand against the Nazis, Fascists, or Allies. He was the spiritual leader of Catholics throughout the world. When he learned about the plight of the Jews and other victims, it was for fear of worsening their condition that he did not issue a public condemnation of the Holocaust. However, he succeeded in mobilizing all the forces of the Church and extended his charity to all war victims, without distinction of nationality, race, or religion. In fact, he refused to leave the Vatican and was prepared to face captivity or death at the hands of the Nazis. Pius XII stated: " .... Whatever happens, I will not leave Rome voluntarily. My place is here and I will fight to the end for the Christian commandments of humanity and peace.

By 1943, Catholic rescuers in Europe, and especially in Italy, already knew of the extreme danger all Jews were in; moreover, the Pope's protests to the German authorities became well-known shortly after they were made. There was no need to take the matter further and risk a savage Nazi backlash that would have destroyed the delicate rescue activities. At the time of the Nazi raid, Roman Jews took refuge in Catholic institutions and were given aid and protection by Pius XII who was able to save most of them through his representatives. As Monsignor John Patrick-Caroll-Abbing, a Catholic rescuer in Rome, stated: "The protests were public knowledge as soon as they occurred. I know that Vatican officials and nuns and ordinary Catholics were spreading the word. Everyone was saying, The Pope has intervened for the Jews-and we emulated him. He was our leader." ["The Pope Gave Me Direct Orders to Rescue Jews," (Inside the Vatican magazine, August-September, 2001, p. 10)]. That Pius XII's personal actions and support for persecuted Jews were public knowledge at the time-thus undercutting the need for any "flaming, explicit, public" statement from the Holy See-is proven by many sources.

On October 18, 1943, just two days after the Nazi round-up of Rome's Jews, a first-hand observer, Madame de Wyss, wrote in her Roman diary that "the Jews have implored help from the pope, and that Pius XII has asked the German Ambassador Weizsäker to stop this ill-treatment and violence." De Wyss emphasizes that the one institution, led by Pius XII, which stood firm against the Nazis in Rome was the Church: "The population is half crazy: young men and their families look desperately for hiding places, get them, then look for better ones. Everybody is in a cold sweat, in haste and in despair. Terror-struck, homeless men (hardly one between the ages of eighteen and fifty lives in his own house) ask everyone possible for help. The Germans seem to have given new assurances to the Vatican: large placards on doors of convents and churches, strictly prohibit entry to German officers and men. Papal territories and properties have to be left alone. Up to now this has been observed, and consequently convents and seminaries have become the sought after hide-outs." And on October 24: "Jews are still persecuted, though less...because, it is said, the pope intervened in their behalf" (Rome Under the Nazi Terror (London: Robert Hale, 1945, pp. 144-145 and 150).

The Jewish Chronicle in London reported soon after the Nazi round-up: "The Vatican has made strong representations to the German Government and the German High Command in Italy against the persecution of the Jews in Nazi occupied Italy."("Jewish Hostages in Rome: Vatican Protests," October 29, 1943). As for leaving Vatican City, to try to stop the train carrying the 1,000 Jews to Auschwitz, had Pius XII left the Vatican, the Nazis never would have allowed him to get anywhere near that train, much less prevent the deportation. We know, from the testimony of several German officers, that the Nazis had orders to kidnap Pius and take hold of Vatican City-which was barely surviving, under heavy German surveillance, because of its diplomatic immunity-on the pretext of "restoring order," should any such vain papal act have occurred.

The Vatican just completed cataloging the documents on the papacy of Pius XI, and these documents are now available. So far, scholars have found nothing that would incriminate Pius XII, whose own papers consist of 6 million documents in 50,000 cases which will be available to scholars only after they are catalogued

At the general audience, on Wednesday, March 8, 2007, speaking to some 16,000 people gathered both in Paul VI Hall and St. Peter's Basilica, Benedict XVI dedicated his talk to Pope St. Clement of Rome, the third successor of Peter.

He explained the context of Clement's letter about severe divisions in the Church of Corinth: "The Church of Rome sent the Corinthians a very important letter to reconcile them in peace to renew their faith and to announce the tradition, a tradition they had so newly received from the apostles."

Benedict XVI noted that Clement's letter is a first exercise of a Primate of Rome after the death of St. Peter. He added that the letter "opened to the Bishop of Rome the possibility for vast intervention on the identity of the Church and its mission."

St. Clement's letter clarifies the distinction between hierarchy and laity. "The clear distinction between the 'lay people' and the hierarchy does not mean, in any way, a contraposition but only the organic connection of a body, of an organism with different functions," Benedict XVI explained. "In fact, the Church is not a place for confusion and anarchy, where someone can do whatever he wants at any time; each one in this organism with an articulated structure practices his ministry according to the vocation received.

Benedict XVI concluded: "As pertains to the heads of the communities, Clement specifies clearly the doctrine of apostolic succession.... The laws that regulate this derive from God himself in an ultimate analysis. The Father sent Jesus Christ, who in turn sent the apostles. These then sent out the first heads of the communities, and established that they would be followed by worthy men....The Church is above all a gift of God and not a creature of ours...and therefore this sacramental structure not only guarantees the common order but also the precedence of the gift of God that we all need."

The anti-Catholicism and negative propaganda prevalent in the media mislead many who do not understand the present controversy claiming "silence," "moral culpability," or "anti-Semitism." One of the evils that has enveloped the media in recent years is the fact that smear campaigns, mounted by misguided Jews and misinformed Catholics, are being used in what is really an intra-Catholic argument about the direction of the Church today. Books, articles and media reports have leveled sweeping attacks while clearly overlooking historical sources and factors.

If Pope Pius XII had denounced Adolf Hitler more explicitly, the Nazis would have responded with even more ferocity. Personally and through his representatives, Pius XII employed all the means at his disposal to save Jews and other refugees during World War II. As a moral leader and a diplomat forced to limit his words, he privately took action and, despite insurmountable obstacles, saved hundreds of thousands of Jews from the gas chambers.

Today the true story of the Catholic Church during World War II must be told in order to stop the calumnies against Pius XII and the magisterium of the Catholic Church. Leo Longanesi-a twentieth-century Italian journalist and publisher-was indignant over the anticlerical campaigns against the Church. One day he suggested to Pope Pius XII that a particular day be designated when all Italian newspapers in Italy would print the full story about the charitable works of the Church during World War II. The Pope declined. His response: "Only God must be testimony to what is done for our neighbor!" Indeed, it is time for Yad Vashem to acknowledge the truth, and to bestow the title, Righteous Among Nations, upon His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, one of the greatest benefactors of Jews in modern times.

Perhaps, with my friends Susan, Barbara and Peter, readers will be enlightened about the Catholic Church during the Holocaust. Our discussion concluded with the following statement: "In the name of justice, Catholics and Jews should join forces to promote the truth about Pope Pius XII." Therefore, we ask you to join us in asking Yad Vashem to bestow the title, Righteous Among Nations, upon His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, one of the greatest benefactors of Jews in modern times.