Scholars say history of Pope Pius XII and Holocaust is unclear

Published: 2005-05-03

ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- Two historians who have studied Pope Pius XII's World War II record said May 2 that what the pope knew or thought about the Holocaust remains obscure and one of the problems is how to get back into a mental framework of that time in an objective way. "Pius XII has assumed symbolic importance" in a debate between his supporters and detractors, but "this debate has become politicized," said Michael R. Marrus, a professor of Holocaust studies at the University of Toronto and the author of several books on the Holocaust. "I think it is a false debate." To understand Pope Pius and the Vatican in relation to World War II and the Holocaust, "you have to see shades of gray," said Jesuit Father Gerald P. Fogarty, a professor of religious studies and history at the University of Virginia, who is currently working on a book on the Vatican and the United States during the war. Marrus was one of three Jewish members and Father Fogarty one of three Catholics on an international historical commission formed in 1999 to examine the role of the Vatican in the war and the Holocaust. They were the featured speakers at a two-hour dialogue at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Arlington.

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