what was the Catholic Church's role during the Jewish Holocaust?

Question

I would just like to know what the Roman Catholic church
had to do with the Jewish Holocaust.
The TRUE story is not clear to me.

thank you for your answers

Yes, I know about all the killings of Catholics and such but I want to know about the rumors of that the Catholic Church was pro-Nazi and about how they weren't and they actually help save a great amount of Jews.
I'd like for this confusion to be cleared out.

it saddens me to see that there exists people who are not willing to learn about the Roman Catholic religion with an open mind to truly understand it's teachings.

Answer 1

The Catholic Church was far from being pro-NAZI. That is one of the reasons why the NAZI's were so anti-Catholic. Pope Pius XII possibly did the most of any single person to save lives of Jews. I believe it's been estimated to something like 700,000.

The link below is a good source on Pope Pius XII and the Holocost.

Answer 2

The reason why some accuse the Catholic church of being pro-nazi is because there wasn't really any official condemnation of the Nazi's during the War. This was because the Church didn't want to give any excuse to Hitler to further incite his hatred against the Jews and Catholics.

Secretly, however, the Church did help hide and save thousands of Jews even at the cost of the lives of Catholic clergy. After the war the Chief Jewish Rabbi of Rome, Rabbi Zolli, converted to Catholicism.

This is what Albert Einstein, a Jew, had to say about the Catholic Church's role during the War...

"...Only the Catholic Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly." - Albert Einstein, quoted in Time Magazine (1940)

Answer 3

On an individual level, there were some amazingly brave people who helped hide Jewish people, and especially Jewish children.

On a collective level, the Catholic Church didn't do much at all. But then, neither did Britain nor America, both of which knew full well that millions of Jews, and non Jews, were being tortured and murdered in the death camps.

If every non Jew had helped, we would not have lost 6,000,000 Jews.

At the Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, there are special areas for Righteous Gentiles, where respect is paid to those gentiles who put their own lives on the line to help Jews escape.

Answer 4

Pope Pius XII took direct and indirect measures to save Jews from the Nazi death machine.

At the start of World War II, Pope Pius XII’s first encyclical was so anti-Hitler that the Royal Air Force and the French air force dropped 88,000 copies of it over Germany. Here is a link to the Summi Pontificatus: Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the Unity of Human Society, October 20, 1939: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html

Unfortunately the Soviet Union and others had been trying to convince the world that the Catholic Church was pro-Nazi since the death of Pope Pius in 1958. Here are some sources:
+ The KGB campaign against Pius XII: http://www.the-tidings.com/2007/021607/difference.htm
+ Pius XII and the Jews: http://web.archive.org/web/20010919100700/http://www.weeklystandard.com/magazine/mag_6_23_01/dalin_bkart_6_23_01.asp
+ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/ww2jews.html

See also "The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews From the Nazis" by Rabbi David G. Dalin which has compiled further overwhelming proof of Pope Pius XII"s friendship for the Jews beginning long before he became pope.

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

The Catholic Church's relations with Judaism and with the Jewish people down through the centuries has been complicated. During the 1980s and 1990s Pope John Paul II apologized for the unChristian behavior on the part of many Catholics toward Jews throughout history. Pope John Paul had been a University student and then a seminary student in Poland during the war. Among his best friends was a Jewish fellow student. The two men remained close throughout their lives.

The official Church appraisal of the Holocaust, where it was known of, was that it was a crime against humanity. Pope Pius did support behind-the-scenes efforts to protect and shelter Jews who were being hunted by the Nazis, and many Catholic families, as well as priests, monks, and sisters risked their lives to assist Jewish refugees. Shortly after the war, Albert Einstein, the Jewish physicist, remarked that the efforts of Catholics on behalf of Jews during the Holocaust had been tremendously helpful.

Unfortunately many Catholics, as private individuals, particularly in France, Austria, and Poland, as well as many non-Catholic Christians, particularly in Germany, behaved very differently during this horrific period. A number of Catholic individuals were quite complicit in the Holocaust, or even actively supported it. I would argue that their unChristian behavior in cooperating with the Nazis was not the result of their religious beliefs, but the result of either their own hardness of heart, or their woeful lack of understanding of the Gospel message, or both.

It is not for me to judge God's disposition of other peoples' souls, but I can tell you, as a Catholic, that of all the people I would not want to be on the Judgement Day, I would not want to be a Catholic who had connived in the Holocaust. Whoa, that would be bad.


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According to the December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine on page 38, Einstein said:

"Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, [looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that them had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed .their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks... Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly."

Answer 6

There were millions of Catholics killed during the Holocaust, too... as well as many other ethnic and religious groups. The Holocaust wasn't only about the Jews.

Answer 7

Many Polish people helped Jews get away by ability of hiding them of their homes, gave them nutrients, took them out of ghettos, and so on. in case you look up the Yad Vashem's record of the Righteous between the countries, a lot of those women and adult adult males people have been Catholics. i'm valuable you will locate background memories on them. a properly well-known occasion is Irena Sendler. She became a Catholic social worker who smuggled Jewish toddlers out of their ghetto and saved 2500 toddlers from the Nazis. you could look her up on any website to locate coaching approximately her. on the subject of Pope Pius, there are a number of documents announcing that he hid Jews interior the Vatican and helped them get away the rustic by way of Vatican risk-free routes. Many believed him to be quiet with reference to the Nazis to evade confrontations between them and the Church, yet I disagree. Hitler became murdering Catholics as properly as Jews. He hated the Catholics yet he looked as though it may hate the Jews much greater, that's ridiculous as he had Jewish blood...who will ever comprehend that disgusting pig?

Answer 8

Very interesting question! The Catholic Church's role was defined by indifference, inaction, non-resistance. The Church's role led to John Paul II apologizing a few years ago regarding what he called the Catholic Church sins against the Jewish people. The pope was cited as saying:
"Let us pray that, in recalling the sufferings endured by the people of Israel throughout history, Christians will acknowledge the sins committed by not a few of their number against the people of the covenant and the blessings, and in this way purify their hearts."
The Pope admitted Christians did not offer due resistance to racial antisemitism and exhibited a general indifference that paved the way for crimes or even some becoming criminals themselves. Many 'Christian' nations failed to welcome as many refugees as they could have.
The Pope also admitted the Church 'did not show enough resistance in times when nationalist egoism was overtaking the values of the Bible''

This article summarizes the Catholic church role and the reason for the apology:
The Roman Catholic Church formally apologized Monday for failing to take more decisive action in challenging the Nazi regime during World War II to stop the extermination of more than 6 million Jews.

But in a long-awaited document on the church's role in the Holocaust, the Vatican defended Pope Pius XII, who headed the church during the war, from accusations that he turned a blind eye to the systematic killing of Jews. Some critics say Pius was motivated by church religious prejudices dating from the death of Jesus Christ.

Pope John Paul II, in a preface to the landmark publication entitled "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah," expressed hope that the historic declaration of repentance by the Vatican about Catholic shortcomings in dealing with the Holocaust "will indeed help to heal the wounds of past misunderstandings and injustices."

First reactions from Jewish leaders in Israel and the United States were mixed.

More than any of his predecessors, John Paul has made reconciliation with the Jewish people a priority of his papacy. During his 20-year tenure as leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics, he has become the first pope to visit concentration camp sites and to preach in a synagogue. He pushed the Vatican to open diplomatic relations with Israel in 1993 and hopes to celebrate the millennium with leaders of Jewish and Islamic faiths in an extravaganza of monotheistic religions on Mount Sinai.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V118/N13/bvatican.13w.html

Answer 9

Perhaps as we see here everyday, the Papa thought that after he "Married Adolph Politically" that he could "Change him" just like we see in questions posted here! Didn't work & Many Ethnicities paid the Ultimate Price for the Papas' Actions / or Lack there of!!! The RCC turned a "Blind Eye" to Adolph hoping he wouldn't come after them & their Treasures next! After all the RCC "Mindset" was that the Jews Killed Christ which just shows their Ignorance! The RCC is & always has been about itself, Period!!! John

Answer 10

it was questionable to say the least...