Sweden honors former Vatican diplomat who saved Jews in Hungary

Published: 2004-10-01

ROME (CNS) -- A 97-year-old Vatican diplomat was awarded a Swedish prize for helping to save thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Archbishop Gennaro Verolino, who served as a diplomat in Hungary during the war, received the first "Per Anger Prize" during a ceremony Oct. 1 in Rome. In bestowing the prize, which includes a cash award of about $27,500, the Swedish government called the archbishop "one of the unsung heroes of Budapest in 1944." Archbishop Verolino, who lives in Rome, retired from the Vatican diplomatic service in 1963. He later was head of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology for many years. A statement by the Living History Forum, which administers the prize, said that as a 38-year-old secretary in the apostolic nunciature in Budapest, then-Father Verolino went to great efforts to provide Jews with protective papers.

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