Pope Pius XII was probably aware of the Nazi plans to exterminate the Jews – the Holocaust – as early as 1942. According to a letter found in the Vatican archives and reproduced in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serathe leader of the Catholic Church was not only informed between 1939 and 1958, but is also said to have been aware of Belzec’s murder, which is contrary to the official position of the Holy See, which condemned the Nazi regime and its persecution has never explicitly condemned the Jewish people.

The letter, dated December 14, 1942, was written by Father Lother Koenig, a Jesuit who was part of the anti-Nazi resistance in Germany at the time and who informed the Pope’s personal secretary in the Vatican, Father Robert Leiber. brought about the Nazi plans. German. In the document, Koenig confirms that he had information about the deaths of about six thousand Poles and Jews in the ‘SS ovens’ in the Belzec camp, near Rava-Ruska, Polish territory occupied by the Germans.

The letter was discovered by an internal Vatican archivist and made public, with the permission of Holy See officials, given the “tremendous” importance of the document showing that the Vatican had information that the labor camps were in fact factories of death goods. .

“The novelty and importance of this document arise from one fact: we are now certain that the Catholic Church in Germany sent Pius XII exact and detailed news about the crimes committed against the Jews,” said archivist Giovanni Coco against the newspaper. Corrierewho published an article entitled “Pius XII knew”.

Asked whether the letter shows that the Pope knew or whether it was merely assumed that he knew since the correspondence was exchanged with his personal secretary, the Vatican archivist replied: “Yes, and not only from then on.” This is because the message, which refers to two other concentration camps – Auschwitz and Dachau – refers to other letters exchanged between Koenig and Leiber that have disappeared or have not yet been found.

The document was part of the resource housed in the Vatican Secretariat of State and was only recently transferred to the central archives, after Pope Francis said in 2019 that “the Church is not afraid of history” and ordered the opening of the archives. from the time of the Second World War. What happened in March 2020.

Pontifical Gregorian University Conference theme

The letter adds further controversy to Pius XII’s controversial beatification process, which began in 1967. The leader of the Catholic Church’s silence between 1939 and 1958 regarding Nazi crimes has been the subject of heated debate among historians, with some accusing him of failing to denounce the Nazi concentration camps, while others believe that he worked behind the scenes to save the lives of many Jews.

This same topic will be discussed at an international conference organized by the Pontifical Gregorian University, under the theme: “The new documents of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII and their significance for Jewish-Christian relations: a dialogue between historians and theologians.”

The meeting will take place between October 9 and 11 and will address “historical-diplomatic implications,” as well as “social, religious and cultural implications that have led to an irrevocable reformulation of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people in the subsequent decades’. , according to a statement from the institution sent to the ECCLESIA agency.