PopeWatch: Pius XII

PopeWatch applauds the decision of the Pope to  open to scholars the Vatican Archives as to the reign of Pope Pius XII:

“The shocking revelations that many media think they will find on those now accessible shelves will not emerge,” said the 96-year-old German Jesuit priest. “All the ‘fake news’ will be debunked around the alleged silence of Pius XII in the drama of the Shoah.”

The opening of the archives, which has made public as of Monday all unpublished material on the pontificate of Pius XII from 1939 to 1958, is of great interest to historians, and some 60 scholars from around the world were present for the event.

One of the most important results of the opening of the files, Gumpel said, will be “the confirmation that nothing has been hidden” regarding Pius XII and there is no “smoking gun” that many would love to find.

The opening of the archives on March 2 is not coincidental, the priest said, because 81 years ago, on March 2, 1939, Eugenio Pacelli was elected pope at the age of 64 and took the name of Pius XII, the Jesuit recounted.

“His secretary, the Jesuit father Robert Leiber, confirmed to me that the pope used much of his personal fortune to help the Jews,” Father Gumpel said. “Sir Martin Gilbert has also shown through his essays that Pius most likely saved more than 100,000 Jews in the world, paying for many journeys of hope from Germany to Portugal or Brazil out of his own pocket.”

Father Peter Gumpel, SJ is the postulator of the sainthood cause of Pope Pius XII.  He and his family went underground during the War and helped Jews fleeing from the Third Reich.  A great historian, Father Gumpel has written countless articles setting the record straight as to the hero Pope Pius XII.  Go here to read an article where he took on the congealed mendacity that is Hitler’s Pope by John Cornwell.