|
The start of the pontificate of Pius XII occurred at the time of the Second World War and the Nazi Holocaust, which saw the industrialized mass murder of millions of Jews and others by Adolf Hitler's Germany. Pius employed diplomacy to aid the victims of the Nazis during the war and, through directing his Church to provide discreet aid to Jews and others, saved hundreds of thousands of lives.〔(Encyclopedia Britannica : ''Reflections on the Holocaust'' )〕 Pius maintained links to the German Resistance, and shared intelligence with the Allies. His strongest public condemnation of genocide was, however, considered inadequate by the Allied Powers, while the Nazis viewed him as an Allied sympathizer who had dishonoured his policy of Vatican neutrality.〔Encyclopedia Britannica: ''Roman Catholicism – the period of the world wars.〕 Some post-war critics have accused Pius of either being overly cautious, or of "not doing enough," or even of "silence" in the face of the Holocaust. Supporters have held that he saved thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of Jews by ordering his Church to provide them with sanctuary and aid, and that he provided moral and intellectual leadership in opposition to the violent racism of Nazi ideology. Pius XII had served as a Vatican diplomat in Germany prior to the war and as Vatican Secretary of State under Pius XI. In this capacity he had been a critic of Nazism and helped draft the 1937 ''Mit brennender Sorge'' anti-Nazi encyclical. In his 1939 ''Summi Pontificatus'' first papal encyclical, Pius XII expressed dismay at the invasion of Poland; reiterated Catholic teaching against racism and antisemitism; and endorsed resistance against those opposed to the ethical principles of the "Revelation on Sinai" and the Sermon on the Mount. At Christmas 1942, once evidence of the industrial slaughter of the Jews had emerged, he voiced concern at the murder of "hundreds of thousands" of "faultless" people because of their "nationality or race." Pius intervened to attempt to block Nazi deportations of Jews in various countries from 1942–1944. Upon his death in 1958, Pius was praised emphatically by the Israeli Foreign Minister, and other world leaders. But his insistence on Vatican neutrality and avoidance of naming the Nazis as the evildoers of the conflict became the foundation for contemporary and later criticisms from some quarters. Studies of the Vatican archives and international diplomatic correspondence continue. ==Background== Two Popes served through the Nazi period: Pope Pius XI (1922–1939) and Pope Pius XII (1939–1958). The Holy See strongly criticized Nazism through the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, with Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) being a particularly outspoken critic.〔http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20684.pdf〕 In 1933, Vatican signed a Concordat with Germany, hoping to protect the rights of Catholics under the Nazi government. The terms of the Treaty were not kept by Hitler. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: "From 1933 to 1936 (XI ) wrote several protests against the Third Reich, and his attitude toward fascist Italy changed dramatically after Nazi racial policies were introduced into Italy in 1938."〔Encyclopedia Britannica : ''Pius XI''〕 Pius XI offered three encyclicals against the rising tide of European totalitarianism: ''Non abbiamo bisogno'' (1931; ''We Do Not Need to Acquaint You'' —against Italian Fascism); ''Mit brennender Sorge'' (1937; "With Deep Anxiety" —against Nazism) and ''Divini redemptoris'' (1937; "Divine Redeemer" —against atheist Communism). "Non abbiamo bisogno" directly challenged Italian fascism as a "pagan" movement which "snatches the young from the Church and from Jesus Christ, and which inculcates in its own young people hatred, violence and irreverence."〔Encyclopædia Britannica Online—''Fascism''; Encyclopædia Britannica Inc; 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013〕 Pius XI also challenged the extremist nationalism of the Action Francaise movement and anti-semitism in the United States.〔 With Europe on the brink of war, Pius XI died on 10 Feb 1939 and Pacelli was elected to succeed him as Pope Pius XII. The Nazi Government was the only government not to send a representative to his coronation.〔http://spectator.org/archives/2006/08/18/hitlers-pope/print〕 Pius lobbied world leaders hard to avoid war and then pursued a policy of cautions diplomacy following the outbreak of the war.〔〔Encyclopædia Britannica: ''Pius XII''〕 From around 1942, the Nazis had begun to implement their ''final solution''—the industrial extermination of Europe's Jews. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|