In your very fine March 21 editorial “The Vatican and the Holocaust,” reference is made to the perceived reticence of Pope Pius XII. This “reticence” was not always the opinion of the Jewish community.
On Christmas Day, 1941, the New York Times, praising Pius XII’s Christmas Message, said in an editorial, “The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas.”
A similar observation was made in the Times’ editorial on Pius’ 1942 Christmas message. “This Christmas,” it stated, “more than ever he is a lonely voice crying out of the silence of a continent.”
When Pius XII died in 1958, Golda Meir, later to be prime minister of Israel, issued a statement that said: “When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral issues above the tumult of daily conflict.” (Above information from “Pius XII and the Holocaust,” Catholic League for Civil Rights, 1988.)
Public opinion changed after publication of “The Deputy” by Rolf Hochhuth in 1963. The book and play, which made unfounded accusations, unfortunately poisoned the atmosphere.
