“Accipio in Crucem!” (I accept the Cross), said Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli on March 2, 1939, His 63rd birthday, as He ascended to the role of the 260th successor of Saint Peter, becoming Pius XII. This solemn declaration was not solely a beginning of His papacy but also foreshadowed the relentless burden and sacrifice that would define it. His papacy faced a great challenge barely six months into His reign, as World War II erupted when German troops overran Poland. Lasting nearly six years, the war left a trail of devastation, claiming millions of casualties. Among the most horrific atrocities was the Holocaust, genocide of approximately six million Jews across German-occupied Europe at the hands of the Nazi Regime.
In the face of such horrors, Pius XII’s response remains one of history’s most contested debates. Some critics accuse Him of silence, claiming indifference in the genocide, suggesting that He purposefully ignored the atrocities. Some publications by various authors further solidified these claims—well-known works include Rolf Hochhuth’s 1963 play The Deputy and John Cornwell’s Hitler’s Pope in 1999, which portray Pius XII as a complicit figure in the face of Nazi atrocities. However, much historical evidence clearly shows that He played a crucial role in opposing totalitarian regimes. These accusations against Pius XII, which frame Him as Hitler’s Pope, are nothing but blatant slander–deliberate fabrications that distort His legacy and disregard the immense efforts He made to save thousands of Jewish lives.
Born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, Pius XII lived as an apostolic diplomat before His papacy, serving in various roles, including Apostolic Nuncio to Germany and Cardinal Secretary of State. During His time in Germany, among many other important works, Cardinal Pacelli concluded the Reichskonkordat (“Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich”), which aimed to protect the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany under the rising Nazi regime. As Cardinal Secretary of State, He played a central role in writing the 1937 encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, “With Burning Concern,” of Pope Pius XI, which condemned Nazi oppression, particularly the regime’s attacks on the Catholic Church and its violations of human dignity. When Pius XI predeceased in 1939, the Nazis strongly opposed the idea of Pacelli becoming His successor, for He was always opposed to Nazism.
The most widespread and egregious misconception regarding Pius XII during World War II is that His silence and indifference showed support for the Holocaust. If He had truly been indifferent and done nothing to save persecuted Jews, He would not have received the plaudits during and after the war from Jewish leaders and from Jewish scholars, such as historian Pinchas Lapide, who credited the pope with saving more than 860,000 Jewish lives.
It is true that the Vatican officially maintained a stance of neutrality and did not issue a church statement explicitly naming and denouncing the Nazis or Hitler. However, this apparent neutrality was, in reality, a carefully calculated strategy to save as many Jewish lives as possible. The Nazi regime had explicitly threatened that any public condemnation from the pope would result in brutal retaliation. Therefore, rather than risk worsening Nazi brutality with public condemnations, He worked behind the scenes to provide them with refuge.
Pius XII ordered that religious institutions offer refuge to Jews, even at great personal cost to those providing shelter. As a result, thousands of Jews were provided shelter, food, and clothing in 180 known locations, including Vatican City, churches, basilicas, Church offices, and parish houses. Moreover, many more found safety in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, as well as in other numerous private facilities. Pius XII personally ensured the well-being of Jewish children whose parents had been deported from Italy. His efforts were remarkable. It was determined that 80% of the Jews in Rome survived the Nazi occupation and only 8,000 Jews were deported from Italy by the Nazis—a significantly lower number than in other European countries. Furthermore, in June 1944, Pius XII sent a crucial telegram to Admiral Miklos Horthy, the ruler of Hungary, effectively halting the planned deportation of 800,000 Jews from that country. Pius XII had been criticizing the Nazis before and during His papacy. In fact, Hitler disliked Him so much that he even considered assassinating the Pope after Italy’s surrender. Given how strongly the Pope opposed the Nazis, how could he possibly have collaborated with them?
Then why do these false accusations against Pius XII persist? The answer lies in many fictional publications that are based on Soviet propaganda. Pius XII saw all totalitarian ideologies as threats to human dignity, religious freedom and moral values. Recognizing the dangers posed by communism, he strongly condemned its suppression of religious institutions and its assault on individual liberties. His unwavering moral stance against communism made Him a target of the Soviet Union’s Operation Seat 12, a disinformation campaign to discredit the moral authority of the Vatican. One notable misinformation campaign from Operation Seat 12 was the 1963 play The Deputy. Orchestrated by General Ivan Agayants, head of the disinformation department of KGB, the play’s research was based on forged documents by KGB agents. Additionally, the play’s producer, Erwin Piscator, was a committed Communist with deep ties to the Soviet Union and played a key role in bringing this disinformation to the stage. Influenced by this play, John Cornwell’s Hitler’s Pope similarly disregards historical facts, focusing instead solely on a biased perspective and interpretation that serves to undermine the Pope’s legacy. The accusations against Pius XII, therefore, essentially rooted from a deceitful work of fiction written over a decade after the war.
History undeniably testifies that Pius XII saved countless Jewish lives, yet the disregard for his efforts remains deeply regrettable. His example challenges the notion that heroism must always be loud or visible; instead, it can be strategic, quiet, and rooted in deep ethical conviction. Even in the face of war and the rising threat of communism, Pius XII stood firm in his convictions— rejecting violence while courageously working to preserve life and safeguard the Church: a true hero of World War II. As his motto reminds us, Opus Iustitiae Pax—peace is the work of justice.