Lothar Koenig News Today

Former popes passivity during Nazi Germanys extermination of millions of European Jews will be debated at Rome conference

The Vatican may have saved thousands of Jews during the wartime papacy of Pius XII but the late pope's silence on genocide will be debated this week during an international conference.The Vatican has defended Pius XII, saying he saved many Jews by having them hidden in religious institutions and that his silence was born out of a wish to avoid aggravating their situation.

  (JTA) — A newly uncovered letter provides the strongest evidence yet that Pope Pius XII knew about the Nazi extermination of the Jews as it was happening, the latest in a series of recent discoveries that have transformed the debate over the Catholic Church’s conduct during the Holocaust.  The letter was sent by Rev. […]

Newly discovered correspondence suggests that World War II-era Pope Pius XII had detailed information from a trusted German Jesuit that up to 6,000 Jews

It is likely to further fuel the debate about Pius legacy and his now-stalled beatification campaign.

Giovanni Coco, a researcher and archivist in the Vatican’s Apostolic Archives, reported on the discovery of a December 1942 letter from a German Jesuit to Pope Pius XII’s secretary.

The letter, to be published in a forthcoming book, “undercuts” the Vatican’s suggestion that it hadn’t been able to verify Nazi atrocities at the time.The post ‘Detailed information’ about Holocaust

Europe News: A letter found among the private papers of Pope Pius XII suggests that the Holy See was told in 1942 that up to 6,000 people, "above all Poles and Jew

Pope Pius XII had detailed information that up to 6,000 Jews and Poles were being gassed each day in German-occupied Poland.

It is likely to further fuel the debate about Pius legacy and his now-stalled beatification campaign.