If Continental Europe had a hero of human rights against Adolf Hitler in the early 1940s, it was Pope Pius XII. It would be difficult to find another leader who spoke against the Nazis' racist policies so clearly while living within a few hundred yards of the Gestapo.
Yet one intentionally slanderous book, "Hitler's Pope," made its author rich in 1999 by poisoning the memory of this brave man. The controversy has returned, as Pope Benedict XVI considers naming Pius XII a saint.
For a little perspective, I suggest everyone interested go to a library and look up The New York Times microfilm for what Pius XII said publicly on the Christmases of 1941 and 1942.
There was a reason the Nazis called him "the Jews' pope."
Frank Warner
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