More Evidence of How Pope Pius the XII Saved Jews

A few weeks back I posted a incredible story about Pope Pius the XII and the Jews. That was Pope Pius XII: Be proud to be a Jew!” If you notice there was blogger in the comments that disagreed with my defense. He said in part:

These private words you quote are nothing compared to the failure to condemn any of the leaders of the AXIS nations, almost every one of whom was a Roman Catholic!!! See http://JesusWouldBeFurious.Org/RCscandal .

and later.

If you read my site, as recommended, you'll see how empty those common excuses are. Briefly, the fate of the Jews in Holland had nothing to do with the pope's timid complaints, as demonstrated by the fact the the Protestant Jews suffered the same fate at the same time, despite the fact that their clergy had kept their mouthes shut and had NOT spoken out against Hitler.And Rabbi Zolli "converted" to Catholicism after he and his family had been given refuge in the Vatican but left most of his congregation to do so. He became a Catholic because his own people "excommunicated" him. By the way, the Vatican has about eleven THOUSAND rooms (that's not a typo), enough to house ALL of the Jews of Rome. I devote a whole page to the Vatican Palace.

Now his blog is a rather fun anti Catholic site. I might later spend some time in a entry attempting to responds to many of his allegations against the Catholic Church. TO respond to all of it would take a hundred entries but I might give it a try in the future. Sadly many of a Catholic will wander there and believe all that nonsense. It is the same ole allegations that have been refuted time and time again. Still we can't pretend that blogs like that don't exist.

Father Z has a must read today. That is Another testimony about how Pius XII and the Vatican saved Jews .

Here is a part:
Silvio Ascoli, Roman, class of 1945, was emotional as recounted the story of his father Bruno, "of the Jewish race" according to the norms of the infamous racial laws, whom the Vatican saved from deportation by enrolling him in its Guard. Last June the Cardinal Secretary of State spoke about this: "In October 1943, aside from the police and the Swiss Guard, there was also the Palatine Guard. To protect the Vatican and the extraterritorial holdings there were some 575 Palatine Guards.. Thus, the Secretary of State asked the powers occupying Italy to be able to take on another 1425 people for inclusion in the roles of the Palatine Guard. The Jewish Ghetto would just a little distance away…". ........

In October 1943, after the arrival of the Germans in the capital, Bruno Ascoli became a wanted by the police. "One day the fascists and nazis showed up at the house and asked for my father. Luckily, he was out. My family managed to let him know not to come back." Bruno escaped and briefly found a place in the loft of the repair shop of a tire dealer. "He stayed there for two week, and my mother went secretly to take him something to eat. But at the end of October, the tire dealer made him leave because it had become too dangerous to keep him there. That is when, thanks to the concern of an uncle who worked in the Vatican Museum as an usher, my father came to be enlisted in the Palatine Guard." Bruno Ascoli became an auxiliary of the Pope’s honor guard, and could live at the Vatican."He saved his skin! He stayed there for a few months.

There are photos which show him in the Palatine Guard uniform within the walls of the Vatican. In December 1943 he got precious safe-conduct papers from the Holy See attesting to his membership in the Pope’s honor guard." Silvio, the son, explained that he was in a kind of rotation, in the attempt to save as many persecuted people as possible."In the first months of 1944, the Holy See told my father about another hideout, in the Via Mocenigo, near the Vatican walls, close to a wood warehouse. This proves there was an organized network of aid and assistance. I also told this to my children: if the Vatican had not helped my father, I would not be here. I believe that Pope Pacelli chose well: no public denunciations which would have provoked acts of repression – I don’t dare imagine what would have happened had the SS entered the Vatican – but rather give concrete help to the persecuted."

Now the Nazis were not idiots. They knew the Vatican was hiding Jews. Yet many, like the above blogger, think and in fact promote that the Pope should have declared open war on Hitler. Even though such a declaration would have caused to SS and other Nazi arms to crash down upon the Vatican itself and its many Churches. Now of course if that would have happened all those JEWS would be killed. It should be remembered that the Pope was and is the Bishop of Rome. Those Jews he was protecting were very much his responsibility. I am often amazed that for anti Catholics are so quick to demand that the Pope sentence tens of thousands of Jews to death by making a statement that would have not been worth a hill of beans.