Opinion of Pope Pius XII

[All Along The Watchtower]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII

[DC Al Fine]

He was in a tough situation and tried to walk a tightrope. I wish he had done more to protect the Jews, but I'm not super critical of him. Lean FF.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Seems like a HP from what I know of him.

[Indy Texas]

They called him "Hitler's Pope" for a reason.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

He was in a tough situation and tried to walk a tightrope. I wish he had done more to protect the Jews, but I'm not super critical of him. Lean FF.

Same here.  Theologically, he was an FF.  Although I agree that he should've done more to protect the Jews during the Holocaust.  I doubt he acted the way he did out of support for Hitler.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Decidedly mixed.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Controversial.

Vatican was in a very tough position during the war and I can understand his reluctance to speak out openly. I'm not sure if it would make any difference (like Hitler and the Nazis cared). It's possible they would even proceed with seizing the Vatican and establishing a puppet papacy. Pius wasn't a Nazi sympatizer, he probably did not fully understand what Nazism really was. Yet, lots of people did not fully comprehend too.

We really don't know what would happen. Pius' silence leaves some bad taste, but I can't judge him without being in his shoes. Certainly, he deserved credit for saving thousands thanks to discreet actions. However, Vatican aiding war criminals escaping justice after the war leaves even more bad taste.

Tragic figure.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Controversial.

Vatican was in a very tough position during the war and I can understand his reluctance to speak out openly. I'm not sure if it would make any difference (like Hitler and the Nazis cared). It's possible they would even proceed with seizing the Vatican and establishing a puppet papacy. Pius wasn't a Nazi sympatizer, he probably did not fully understand what Nazism really was. Yet, lots of people did not fully comprehend too.

We really don't know what would happen. Pius' silence leaves some bad taste, but I can't judge him without being in his shoes. Certainly, he deserved credit for saving thousands thanks to discreet actions. However, Vatican aiding war criminals escaping justice after the war leaves even more bad taste.

Tragic figure.

I would figure the Vatican was so chaotic after the war that Odessa was out of their crasps. Am I wrong on that, or was the Church organized to some degree during the post war days?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Controversial.

Vatican was in a very tough position during the war and I can understand his reluctance to speak out openly. I'm not sure if it would make any difference (like Hitler and the Nazis cared). It's possible they would even proceed with seizing the Vatican and establishing a puppet papacy. Pius wasn't a Nazi sympatizer, he probably did not fully understand what Nazism really was. Yet, lots of people did not fully comprehend too.

We really don't know what would happen. Pius' silence leaves some bad taste, but I can't judge him without being in his shoes. Certainly, he deserved credit for saving thousands thanks to discreet actions. However, Vatican aiding war criminals escaping justice after the war leaves even more bad taste.

Tragic figure.

I would figure the Vatican was so chaotic after the war that Odessa was out of their crasps. Am I wrong on that, or was the Church organized to some degree during the post war days?

Good point, Sanchez. Interesting topic to research.

[HHH]

Biggest FF since Marx.

[politicus]

Lean HP.

[minionofmidas]

A vicious enemy of Democracy and enthusiastic supporter of Fascism. And a vicious Antisemite, except in the very specific sense in which the word was most relevant in the time we're mostly thinking about (ie, the view that Jews are racially inferior and cannot be assimilated into European culture, and that baptized Jews - even Christian-born of Jewish descent - are still Jews. Not a view any Catholic theologian could have ever endorsed, and Pacelli most certainly did not. Of course, the German Lutheran mainstream had no such scruples, but then their church never had any basis beyond state worship.) Gave up positions vis-a-vis both Mussolini (Lateran Treaties, 1929) and Hitler (Konkordat, 1933 - no, he wasn't Pope yet but he was the man behind the Pope and personally conducted the negotiations) that their nonfascist predecessor states had been demanding for decades, just because he loved Fascism so much.

The "tough spot" he was in during the war arose more out of the fact that the majority of his followers lived outside the Nazis' grasp and were not sympathetic to them.

I would figure the Vatican was so chaotic after the war that Odessa was out of their crasps. Am I wrong on that, or was the Church organized to some degree during the post war days?

Better organized than anybody else in Central Europe, which isn't saying much. The conspiracy theory version of ODESSA is of course complete bollocks, but most of the major(ish) nazis who escaped to Latin America in 45-6 demonstrably got out through the Vatican's channels.

[nolesfan2011]

pro Nazi, fascist coward, serious HP, evil person.