Dear Jeff:

Well, your father-in-law is dead wrong. Pope Pius XII saved thousands of Jews during the war. Hitler told him to shut-up or he would specifically kill more Jews. Thus, to save any more bloodshed, Pope Pius worked behind scenes.

More than 4000 Jews in Rome were brought into the Vatican for protection. Hitler was set to invade the Vatican, but called his troops away at the last minute to the Western Front, I believe it was.

The book, Hitler's Pope, was written by a first class anti-Catholic bigot whose so-called "scholarship" was non-existent. The whole idea of Pope Pius being in league with Hitler is nothing but anti-Catholic tripe with no evidence to support it.

The survivors of the Holocaust called Pope Pius the "righteous gentile" in recognition of the tireless efforts of the Pope to save Jews during the war.

Various testimonies of Jews on Pope Pius XII:

Golda Meir, President of Israel: "We share in the grief of humanity [at the death of Pius XII]. When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the pope was raised for the victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out on the great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace".

Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, chancellor, Jewish Theological Seminary of America: "No keener rebuke has come to Nazism than from Pope Pius XI and his successor, Pope Pius XII."

Rabbi Alexander Safran, chief rabbi of Romania: "In the most difficult hours of which we Jews of Romania have passed through, the generous assistance of the Holy See was decisive and salutary. It is not easy for us to find the right words to express the warmth and consolation we experienced because of the concern of the supreme pontiff, who offered a large sum to relieve the sufferings of deported Jews. The Jews of Romania will never forget these facts of historic importance."

Rabbi Isaac Herzog, chief rabbi of Israel: "The people of Israel will never forget what His Holiness and his illustrious delegates, inspired by the eternal principles of religion, which form the very foundation of true civilization, are doing for our unfortunate brothers and sisters in the most tragic hour of our history, which is living proof of Divine Providence in this world."

Moshe Sharett (who later became Israel's first foreign minister and second prime minister): "I told [Pope Pius XII] that my first duty was to thank him, and through him the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public for all they had done in the various countries to rescue Jews ... We are deeply grateful to the Catholic Church."

I would recommend the book, The Myth of Hitler's Pope: Pope Pius XII and His Secret War Against Nazi Germany, by Rabbi David G. Dalin.

In Rabbi David G. Dalin's controversial new book, he explodes the newly resurrected, widely accepted, yet utterly bankrupt smearing of Pope Pius XII, whom Jewish survivors of the Holocaust considered a righteous gentile.

from the book dustcover...

David G. Dalin, an ordained rabbi, is a professor of history and political science at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. Rabbi Dalin is the author or co-author of several books, including The Presidents of the United States and the Jews and (with Jonathan D. Sarna) Religion and State in the American Jewish Experience. His articles and reviews have appeared in American Jewish History, Commentary, Conservative Judaism, First Things, the Weekly Standard, and the American Jewish Year Book. He received his B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley, his M.A. and Ph.D. from Brandeis University, and his Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Was Pope Pius XII secretly in league with Adolf Hitler? No, says Rabbi David G. Dalin—but there was a cleric in league with Hitler: the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini. As Pope Pius XII worked to save Jews from the Nazis, the grand mufti became Hitler’s staunch ally and a promoter of the Holocaust, with a legacy that feeds radical Islam today. In this shocking and thoroughly documented book, Rabbi Dalin explodes the myth of Hitler’s pope and condemns the myth-makers for not only rewriting history, but for denying the testimony of Holocaust survivors, hijacking the Holocaust for unseemly political ends, and ignoring the real threat to the Jewish people. In The Myth of Hitler’s Pope, you’ll learn: · The true history of Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust—how the Catholic Church did more than any other religious body to save Jewish lives · The real history of the Church and the Nazis—including the Nazi plan to kidnap the pope · The real agenda of the myth-makers: hijacking the Holocaust to attack the very idea of the papacy—especially the papacy of the late Pope John Paul II—as well as Christianity and traditional religion as a whole · Hitler’s cleric—Hajj Amin al-Husseini, who advised and assisted the Nazis in carrying out Hitler’s Final Solution · How Pope Pius XII rescued Jews—and deserves to be called a "righteous gentile"—while the grand mufti of Jerusalem called for their extermination Full of shocking and irrefutable detail, The Myth of Hitler’s Pope is sure to generate controversy, and more important, to set the record straight. If you want the truth about Pope Pius XII, about the Catholic Church, the Jews, and the Holocaust, and about how the myth of Hitler’s pope plays into the culture wars of our own time—and how the fact of Hitler’s mufti is a vital source of radical Islam today—you must begin here.

I also recommend the following articles:

The Truth about Pope Pius XII

Evidence Surfaces on Hitler Plot to Kill Pius XII

More Evidence Pius XII was Not Hitler's Pope

How Pius XII Protected Jews

If after reading all this your father-in-law still believes that Pope Pius XII was complicit with Hitler, then, I am sorry to say, he is a bigot for not accepting the facts.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary