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Handout #275 |
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The silence of Pius XII? |
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Here are some texts in which Pius XII referred
to genocide. Subsequently they were thought to be not sufficiently explicit.
Christmas broadcast, 24 December 1942 Humanity owes this desire (for a return to peace) to the hundreds of thousands of people who, for no fault of their part but simply because of their nationality or ethnic origin, have been condemned to death or progressive extinction. Letter to Mgr von Preysing, Bishop of Berlin, 30 April 1943 We have to the pastors where they work the task of estimating whether and to what degree caution must be exercised, despite reasons for intervening, in order to avoid greater evils. The declarations of bishops run the risk of leading to reprisals and pressures, and other circumstances must be taken into account, arising perhaps from the length and the psychology of the war. That is one of the reasons why we ourselves are restrained in our declarations. Allocutions to the Sacred College (the Cardinals), 2 June 1943 Our heart responds with deep and attentive concern to the prayers of those who turn to us with an attitude of anxious entreaty, tormented as they are because of their nationality or their race by great misfortunes, by the most searing and severe sufferings, and delivered over, for no fault of their own, to measures of extermination. You will not expect us to describe here even some what we have attempted to accomplish in order to diminish their suffering, to mitigate their moral and legal situation, to defend their inalienable religious rights and to meet their distress and their needs. Every word on our part addressed in this connection to the relevant authorities, every public reference on our part has to be seriously weighed and measured, in the interest of those who suffer, so that despite us their situation is not made even more serious and intolerable. |
