but nearly 80% of the 12,000 roman jews survived. large percentage of jews in rome survive, in large part because of the actions of many of the religious houses. the debate around that is was there a central order to do this? did pius xii remain silent during the actual round up, but secretly issue an order that as many jews should be hidden as possible? and we ve never found an order from pius xii to shelter and hide italian jews. and there were even some cases where he was displeased because it put that particular religious order or religious house at risk. despite more than 70 years of retrospect, the pontiff cat of pius xii is still veiled in mystery. who was he? and does he deserve to be called a saint?
failure. the crux of the debate lies on pope pius the 12th. who was he? and why did he make the decisions he did? there are those who see in his reluctance to identify the suffering of jews in particular. the time in germany as a people diplomat is critical to his formation, his thinking about germans and germany and would could argue thinking about jus. he describes meeting with jewish officials who he describes as dirty come pmunists with slante eyes. we can see his negative stereo types about jus ews in his writs and i m not convinced it ever exited his thinking. the whole of pius the 12th
roman jews survive. a large percentage of jews in rome survive in large part because of the actions of many of these religious houses. the debate around that is, was there a central order to do this? did pius xii remain silent during the actual roundup but secretly issue an order that as many jews should be hidden as possible? and we have never found an order from pius xii to shelter and hide italian jews. and there were even some cases where he was displeased because it put that particular religious order or house at risk. despite more than 70 years of retrospect, the pontificate is still veiled in mystery. who was he? and does he deserve to be called
despite pius xii public neutrality, hitler s march towards world domination reaches the pope s doorstep. in september of 1943, hitler invades rome. it was a situation where the pope thought that they had an operating agreement, did not think this was going to happen, but about 2000 jews were rounded up. the day of the round up, the pope says he doesn t want to have to come out and condemn explicitly nazi behavior. it s obviously a veiled threat to do precisely that, but he says he doesn t want to do it. so, the threat of a public condemnation is dangled which tells us he and his men understand the power and the value of the pope s words. and repeatedly consistently, even as people are being rounded up, he declines to utter that clear word.
of state eugeneio bocelli. the prime ates of the catholic church wrote to bocelli and said, we need to be clear this is nazi terrorism against jews. can you make a statement? and bocelli writes back saying, well, it s a difficult issue and what we need to do is just issue a statement of general love and concern and mercy for all in a universal way. in january 1939, hitler makes a bone chilling speech threatening the annihilation of the jewish race in europe. more men, women and children are sent to concentration camps. despite the vatican s neutrality treaties, pope pius xi can no