Editing Pope Pius XII (section)

===Outbreak of war===
====Summi Pontificatus====
''[[Summi Pontificatus]]'' was the first papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius XII, in October 1939 and established some of the themes of his pontificate. During the drafting of the letter, the Second World War commenced with the German/Soviet [[invasion of Poland]]—the "dread tempest of war is already raging despite all Our efforts to avert it". The papal letter denounced antisemitism, war, totalitarianism, the attack on Catholic Poland and the Nazi persecution of the church.<ref name="vatican.va">{{cite web|author=Pius XII |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |title="SUMMI PONTIFICATUS" – Section 106 |publisher=Vatican.va |date=11 December 1925 |access-date=23 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015921/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |archive-date=3 July 2013 }}</ref>

Pius XII reiterated church teaching on the "principle of equality"—with specific reference to Jews: "there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision".<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html Pius XII, ''Summi Pontificatus''; 48; October 1939] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015921/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |date=3 July 2013 }}.</ref> The forgetting of solidarity "imposed by our common origin and by the equality of rational nature in all men" was called "pernicious error".<ref name="Pius XII">{{cite web|author=Pius XII |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |title=Pius XII, 0Summi Pontificatus"; 35; October 1939 |publisher=Vatican.va |date=11 December 1925 |access-date=23 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015921/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |archive-date=3 July 2013 }}</ref> Catholics everywhere were called upon to offer "compassion and help" to the victims of the war.<ref name="http">{{cite web|author=Pius XII |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |title=Pius XII, "Summi Pontificatus"; 109; October 1939 |publisher=Vatican.va |date=11 December 1925 |access-date=23 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015921/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |archive-date=3 July 2013 }}</ref> The Pope declared determination to work to hasten the return of peace and trust in prayers for justice, love and mercy, to prevail against the scourge of war.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html Pius XII, ''Summi Pontificatus''; 111; October 1939] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015921/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |date=3 July 2013 }}.</ref> The letter also decried the deaths of noncombatants.<ref name="Pius XII 1939"/>

Following themes addressed in ''[[Non abbiamo bisogno]]'' (1931); ''[[Mit brennender Sorge]]'' (1937) and ''[[Divini redemptoris]]'' (1937), Pius wrote against "anti-Christian movements" and needing to bring back to the church those who were following "a false standard&nbsp;... misled by error, passion, temptation and prejudice, [who] have strayed away from faith in the true God".<ref name="vatican">{{cite web|author=Pius XII |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |title="SUMMI PONTIFICATUS" – Section 6 & 7 |publisher=Vatican.va |date=11 December 1925 |access-date=23 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015921/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |archive-date=3 July 2013 }}</ref> Pius wrote of "Christians unfortunately more in name than in fact" having shown "cowardice" in the face of persecution by these creeds, and endorsed resistance:<ref name="vatican"/>

{{blockquote|Who among "the Soldiers of Christ"&nbsp;– ecclesiastic or layman&nbsp;– does not feel himself incited and spurred on to a greater vigilance, to a more determined resistance, by the sight of the ever-increasing host of Christ's enemies; as he perceives the spokesmen of these tendencies deny or in practice neglect the vivifying truths and the values inherent in belief in God and in Christ; as he perceives them wantonly break the Tables of God's Commandments to substitute other tables and other standards stripped of the ethical content of the Revelation on Sinai, standards in which the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and of the Cross has no place?}}

Pius wrote of a persecuted Church<ref>108: "In the midst of this world which today presents such a sharp contrast to "The Peace of Christ in the Reign of Christ", the Church and her faithful are in times and in years of trial such as have rarely been known in her history of struggle and suffering".</ref> and a time requiring "charity" for victims who had a "right" to compassion. Against the invasion of Poland and killing of civilians he wrote:<ref name="vatican.va"/>

{{blockquote|[This is an] "Hour of Darkness"...&nbsp;in which the spirit of violence and of discord brings indescribable suffering on mankind... The nations swept into the tragic whirlpool of war are perhaps as yet only at the "beginnings of sorrows"...&nbsp;but even now there reigns in thousands of families death and desolation, lamentation and misery. The blood of countless human beings, even noncombatants, raises a piteous dirge over a nation such as Our dear Poland, which, for its fidelity to the Church, for its services in the defense of Christian civilization, written in indelible characters in the annals of history, has a right to the generous and brotherly sympathy of the whole world, while it awaits, relying on the powerful intercession of Mary, Help of Christians, the hour of a resurrection in harmony with the principles of justice and true peace.}}

With [[Fascist Italy|Italy]] not yet an ally of Hitler in the war, Italians were called upon to remain faithful to the Catholic Church. Pius avoided explicit denunciations of [[Hitlerism]] or [[Stalinism]], establishing the "impartial" public tone which would become controversial in later assessment of his pontificate: "A full statement of the doctrinal stand to be taken in face of the errors of today, if necessary, can be put off to another time unless there is disturbance by calamitous external events; for the moment We limit Ourselves to some fundamental observations."<ref>{{cite web|author=Pius XII |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |title="SUMMI PONTIFICATUS" – Section 28 |publisher=Vatican.va |date=11 December 1925 |access-date=23 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703015921/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_20101939_summi-pontificatus_en.html |archive-date=3 July 2013 }}</ref>

====Invasion of Poland====
In ''[[Summi Pontificatus]]'', Pius expressed dismay at the killing of non-combatants in the Nazi/Soviet [[invasion of Poland]] and expressed hope for the "resurrection" of that country. The Nazis and Soviets commenced a [[Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland|persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland]]. In April 1940, the Vatican advised the U.S. government that its efforts to provide humanitarian aid had been blocked by the Germans and that the Holy See had been forced to seek indirect channels through which to direct its aid.<ref>[http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box51/a464o10.html Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum – ''The Vatican Files'']; ''[[Note verbale]]'', 26 April 1940</ref> [[Michael Phayer]], a critic of Pius XII, assesses his policy as having been to "refuse to censure" the "German" invasion and annexation of Poland. This, Phayer wrote, was regarded as a "betrayal" by many Polish Catholics and clergy, who saw his appointment of [[Hilarius Breitinger]] as the apostolic administrator for the [[Reichsgau Wartheland|Wartheland]] in May 1942, an "implicit recognition" of the breakup of Poland; the opinions of the ''[[Volksdeutsche]]'', mostly German Catholic minorities living in occupied Poland, were more mixed.<ref>Phayer, 2008, p. 6</ref> Phayer argues that Pius XII—both before and during his papacy – consistently "deferred to Germany at the expense of Poland", and saw Germany—not Poland—as critical to "rebuilding a large Catholic presence in Central Europe".<ref>Phayer, 2008, p. 18</ref> In May 1942, [[Kazimierz Papée]], Polish ambassador to the Vatican, complained that Pius had failed to condemn the recent wave of atrocities in Poland; when Cardinal Secretary of State Maglione replied that the Vatican could not document individual atrocities, Papée declared, "when something becomes notorious, proof is not required".<ref>Report by the Polish Ambassador to the Holy See on the Situation in German-occupied Poland, Memorandum No. 79, 29 May 1942, Myron Taylor's papers, NARA.</ref> Although Pius XII received frequent reports about atrocities committed by or against Catholics, his knowledge was incomplete; for example, he wept after the war on learning that Cardinal [[August Hlond]] had banned German liturgical services in Poland.<ref>Phayer, 2008, p. 8</ref>

There was a well-known case of Jewish rabbis who, seeking support against the Nazi persecution of Polish Jews in the [[General Government]] (Nazi-occupied Polish zone), complained to the representatives of the Catholic Church. The church's attempted intervention caused the Nazis to retaliate by arresting rabbis and deporting them to the death camp. Subsequently, the [[Catholic Church in Poland]] abandoned direct intervention, instead focusing on organizing underground aid, with huge international support orchestrated by Pope Pius XII and his Holy See. The Pope was informed about [[War crimes in occupied Poland during World War II|Nazi atrocities committed in Poland]] by both officials of the Polish Church and the [[Polish Underground]]. Those intelligence materials were used by Pius XII on 11 March 1940 during a formal audience with [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] (Hitler's foreign affairs adviser) when Pope was "listing the date, place, and precise details of each crime" as described by [[Joseph L. Lichten]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/piusdef2.html |title=The Vatican & the Holocaust: A Question of Judgment – Pius XII & the Jews by Dr. Joseph L. Lichten|publisher=jewishvirtuallibrary.org }}</ref> after others.

====Early actions to end conflict====
With Poland overrun, but France and the [[Low Countries]] yet to be attacked, Pius continued to hope for a negotiated peace to prevent the spread of the conflict. The similarly minded US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] re-established [[Holy See–United States relations|American diplomatic relations with the Vatican]] after a 70-year hiatus and dispatched [[Myron C. Taylor]] as his personal representative.<ref name="docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu">{{cite web|url=http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/VATICAN1.HTML |title=Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum – "The Vatican Files" |publisher=Docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> Pius warmly welcomed Roosevelt's envoy and peace initiative, calling it "an exemplary act of fraternal and hearty solidarity... in defence against the chilling breath of aggressive and deadly godless anti-Christian tendencies".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box51/a464g02.html |title=Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum – "Letter from Pius XII to FDR, 7 January 1940" |publisher=Docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu |date=27 May 2004 |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> American correspondence spoke of "parallel endeavours for peace and the alleviation of suffering".<ref>[http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box51/a464k03.html Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum – ''The Vatican Files''] FDR letter to Pius XII; 14 February 1940</ref> Despite the early collapse of peace hopes, the Taylor mission continued at the Vatican.<ref name="docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu"/>

According to the Hitler biographer [[John Toland (author)|John Toland]], following the November 1939 assassination attempt by [[Johann Georg Elser]], Hitler said Pius would have wanted the plot to succeed: "he's no friend of mine".<ref>John Toland; ''Hitler''; Wordsworth Editions; 1997 Edn; p. 594</ref> In the spring of 1940, a group of German generals seeking to overthrow Hitler and make peace with the British approached Pope Pius XII, who acted as an interlocutor between the British and the abortive plot.<ref>Conway, Prof. John S., ''The Vatican, the Nazis and Pursuit of Justice''.<!-- ISBN missing --></ref> According to Toland, a lawyer from Munich named [[Josef Müller (CSU politician)|Joseph Muller]] made a clandestine trip to Rome in October 1939, met with Pius XII and found him willing to act as intermediary. The Vatican agreed to send a letter outlining the bases for peace with England and the participation of the Pope was used to try to persuade the senior German generals [[Franz Halder]] and [[Walther von Brauchitsch]] to act against Hitler.<ref name="John Toland p.760">John Toland; ''Hitler''; Wordsworth Editions; 1997 Edn; p. 760</ref>

Pius warned the Allies of the planned German invasion of the Low Countries in 1940.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/holocaust/article-236596 Encyclopædia Britannica Online] – ''Reflections on the Holocaust''; web April 2013</ref> In Rome in 1942, U.S. envoy Myron C. Taylor, thanked the Holy See for the "forthright and heroic expressions of indignation made by Pope Pius XII when Germany invaded the Low countries".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/PSF/BOX51/A466I02.TXT |title=Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum – "Statement by Myron C. Taylor to Pope Pius XII, 19 September 1942" |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> After Germany invaded the [[Low Countries]] during 1940, Pius XII sent expressions of sympathy to Queen [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands]], King [[Leopold III of Belgium]], and [[Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg]]. When Mussolini learned of the warnings and the telegrams of sympathy, he took them as a personal affront and had his ambassador to the Vatican file an official protest, charging that Pius XII had taken sides against Italy's ally Germany. Mussolini's foreign minister [[Galeazzo Ciano]] claimed that Pius XII was "ready to let himself be deported to a concentration camp, rather than do anything against his conscience".<ref>Dalin, David G. ''The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis''. Regnery Publishing: Washington, D.C. 2005; {{ISBN|0-89526-034-4}}; p. 76</ref>

When, in 1940, the Nazi Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop led the only senior Nazi delegation permitted an audience with Pius XII and he asked why the Pope had sided with the Allies, Pius replied with a list of recent Nazi atrocities and religious persecutions committed against Christians and Jews, in Germany, and in Poland, leading ''[[The New York Times]]'' to headline its report "Jews Rights Defended" and write of "burning words he spoke to Herr Ribbentrop about religious persecution".<ref>{{cite web|last=Hume |first=Brit |url=http://spectator.org/archives/2006/08/18/hitlers-pope/print |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081027155520/http://www.spectator.org/archives/2006/08/18/hitlers-pope/print |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 October 2008 |title=Hitler's Pope? |publisher= The American Spectator|date=18 August 2006 |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> During the meeting, von Ribbentrop suggested an overall settlement between the Vatican and the Reich government in exchange for Pius XII instructing the German bishops to refrain from political criticism of the German government, but no agreement was reached.<ref>Conway, Prof. John S., "The Meeting between Pope Pius XII and Ribbentrop", ''CCHA Study Sessions'', volume 35 (1968), pp. 103–16 [http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA1968/Conway.html archives from papers stored at the University of Manitoba] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235503/http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA1968/Conway.html |date=3 March 2016 }}</ref>

[[File:Bernardinonogara.jpg|thumb|upright|The investments of [[Bernardino Nogara]] were critical to the financing of the papacy during World War II.]]

At a special mass at St Peters for the victims of the war, held in November 1940, soon after the commencement of the [[London Blitz]] bombing by the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'', Pius preached in his homily: "may the whirlwinds, that in the light of day or the dark of night, scatter terror, fire, destruction, and slaughter on helpless folk cease. May justice and charity on one side and on the other be in perfect balance, so that all injustice be repaired, the reign of right restored".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/PSF/BOX52/a467t01.html |title=Harold Taylor 9/30/42 |publisher=Docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu |date=27 May 2004 |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> Later he appealed to the Allies to spare Rome from aerial bombing, and visited wounded victims of the [[Bombing of Rome in World War II|Allied bombing of 19 July 1943]].<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/holocaust/article-236597 |title=Encyclopædia Britannica's Reflections on the Holocaust |encyclopedia=Britannica.com |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref>

====Widening conflict====
Pius attempted, unsuccessfully, to dissuade the Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] from joining Hitler in the war.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/holocaust/article-236596 Encyclopædia Britannica Online – ''Reflections on the Holocaust'']; web April 2013</ref> In April 1941, Pius XII granted a private audience to [[Ante Pavelić]], the leader of the [[Independent State of Croatia|newly proclaimed Croatian state]] (rather than the diplomatic audience Pavelić had wanted).<ref>Minutes of 7 August 1941. British Public Records Office FO 371/30175 57760</ref> Pius was criticised for his reception of Pavelić: an unattributed British [[Foreign Office]] memo on the subject described Pius as "the greatest moral coward of our age".<ref>Mark Aarons and John Loftus. ''Unholy Trinity'' pp. 71–72<!-- ISBN missing --></ref> The Vatican did not officially recognise Pavelić's regime. While Pius XII did not publicly condemn the expulsions and forced conversions to Catholicism perpetrated on Serbs by Pavelić,<ref>Israel Gutman (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of the Holocaust'' vol 2, p. 739</ref> the Holy See did expressly repudiate the forced conversions in a memorandum dated 25 January 1942, from the Vatican Secretariat of State to the Yugoslavian Legation.<ref>Rychlak, Ronald. ''Hitler, the War, and the Pope'' pp. 414–15, note 61.</ref> The Pope was well informed of [[Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše]] regime, even possessing a list of clergy members who had "joined in the slaughter", but decided against condemning the regime or taking action against the clergy involved, fearing that it would lead to schism in the Croatian church or undermine the formation of a future Croatian state.<ref>Phayer, 2008, pp. 9–16</ref> Pius XII would elevate [[Aloysius Stepinac]]—a Croatian archbishop convicted of collaborating with the [[Ustaše]] by the newly established [[Yugoslav Communist regime]]—to the cardinalate in 1953.<ref>Phayer, 2008, pp. 10–15, 147, 150</ref> Phayer agrees that Stepinac's was a "show trial", but states "the charge that he [Pius XII] supported the Ustaša regime was, of course, true, as everyone knew",<ref name="phayerpav">Phayer, 2008, p. 151</ref> and that "if Stepinac had responded to the charges against him, his defense would have inevitably unraveled, exposing the Vatican's support of the [[genocide|genocidal]] Pavelić".<ref>Phayer, 2008, p. 152</ref> Throughout 1942, the [[Yugoslav government in exile]] sent letters of protest to Pius XII asking him to use all possible means to stop the massacres against the [[Persecution of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|Serbs]] in the Croat state, however Pius XII did nothing.<ref>{{cite book|last=Paris|first=Edmond|year=1961|pages=220|title=Genocide in Satellite Croatia 1941–1945|publisher=King's|isbn=978-1258163464}}</ref>

In 1941, Pius XII interpreted ''[[Divini Redemptoris]]'', an [[encyclical]] of Pope Pius XI, which forbade Catholics to help Communists, as not applying to military assistance to the [[Soviet Union]]. This interpretation assuaged American Catholics who had previously opposed [[Lend-Lease]] arrangements with the Soviet Union.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

In March 1942, Pius XII established diplomatic relations with the [[Empire of Japan]] and received ambassador [[Ken Harada (diplomat)|Ken Harada]], who remained in that position until the end of the war.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,777719,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802113247/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,777719,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 August 2008|title=Religion: Rising Sun at the Vatican|magazine=Time|date=6 April 1942|access-date=17 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E15FE3D5E167B93C5AB1788D85F468485F9|title=Envoy to Vatican named; Tokyo Reports Choice of Harada Under De Facto Relations|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=17 December 2011|date=27 March 1942}}</ref>

In June 1942, diplomatic relations were established with the [[Nationalist government]] of China. This step was envisaged earlier, but delayed due to Japanese pressure to establish relations with the pro-Japanese [[Wang Jingwei regime]]. The first [[Embassy of the Republic of China to the Holy See|Chinese Minister to the Vatican]], Hsieh Shou-kang, was only able to arrive at the Vatican in January 1943, due to difficulties of travel resulting from the war. He remained in that position until late 1946.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hsstudyc.org.hk/en/tripod_en/en_tripod_153_06.html|author1=Chen Fang-Chung|author2=Lou Tseng-Tsiang|title=A Lover of His Church and of His Country|publisher=Hsstudyc.org.hk|access-date=17 December 2011|archive-date=23 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323144055/http://www.hsstudyc.org.hk/en/tripod_en/en_tripod_153_06.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The pope employed the new technology of radio and a series of Christmas messages to preach against selfish nationalism and the evils of modern warfare and offer sympathy to the victims of the war.<ref name="britannica"/> [[Pope Pius XII's 1942 Christmas address|Pius XII's 1942 Christmas address]] via [[Vatican Radio]] voiced concern at [[human rights abuses]] and the murder of innocents based on race. The majority of the speech spoke generally about human rights and civil society; at the very end of the speech, Pius XII mentioned "the hundreds of thousands of persons who, without any fault on their part, sometimes only because of their nationality or race, have been consigned to death or to a slow decline".<ref>Phayer, 2008, p. 53</ref> According to Rittner, the speech remains a "lightning rod" in debates about Pius XII.<ref>Rittner and Roth, 2002, p. 4</ref> The Nazis themselves responded to the speech by stating that it was "one long attack on everything we stand for.&nbsp;... He is clearly speaking on behalf of the Jews.&nbsp;... He is virtually accusing the German people of injustice toward the Jews, and makes himself the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals." ''The New York Times'' wrote that "The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas.&nbsp;... In calling for a 'real new order' based on 'liberty, justice and love',&nbsp;... the Pope put himself squarely against Hitlerism."<ref>Dalin, David G. "[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/504iizii.asp?page=3 Pius XII and the Jews: A defense] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105063545/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/504iizii.asp?page=3 |date=5 January 2014 }}", Weekly Standard, Vol. 6, No. 23, 16 February 2001</ref> Historian Michael Phayer claims, however, that "it is still not clear ''whose'' genocide or ''which'' genocide he was referring to".<ref>Phayer, 2008, p. xii</ref> Speaking on the 50th anniversary of Pius's death in 2008, the German Pope [[Benedict XVI]] recalled that the Pope's voice had been "broken by emotion" as he "deplored the situation" with a "clear reference to the deportation and extermination of the Jews".<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20081009_50-pio-xii_en.html Vatican Archive – Homily by Pope Benedict XVI]; 9 October 2008</ref>

Several authors have [[Alleged plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII|alleged a plot to kidnap Pius XII]] by the Nazis during their [[Operation Achse|occupation of Rome]] in 1943 (Vatican City itself was not occupied); the British historian [[Owen Chadwick]] and the Jesuit [[Actes et documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale|ADSS]] editor [[Robert A. Graham]] each concluded such claims were an intentional creation of the British [[Political Warfare Executive]].<ref>Chadwick, 1988, pp. 256–257.</ref><ref>Alvarez and Graham, 1997, pp. 86–88.</ref> However, in 2007, subsequently to those accounts, [[Dan Kurzman]] published a work in which he establishes that the plot was a fact.<ref name="kix">Kurzman, 2007, p. 12</ref>

In 1944, Pius XII issued a Christmas message in which he warned against rule by the masses and against secular conceptions of liberty and equality.<ref name=Pius1944>[https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/1944-christmas-message-8963 Pius XII. Christmas message. 1944].</ref>

====Final stages====
As the war was approaching its end in 1945, Pius advocated a lenient policy by the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] leaders in an effort to prevent what he perceived to be the mistakes made at the end of World War I.<ref>Kent, 2002, pp. 87–100.</ref> On 23 August 1944, he met the [[British prime minister]], [[Winston Churchill]], who was visiting Rome. At their meeting, the Pope acknowledged the justice of punishing war criminals, but expressed a hope that the people of Italy would not be punished, preferring that they should be made "full allies" in the remaining war effort.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/documents/index.php?documentdate=29%20August%201944&documentid=C107-10-54&studycollectionid=&pagenumber=1|title=News Release, 28 August 1944|publisher=Trumanlibrary.org|date=29 August 1944|access-date=12 September 2010|archive-date=21 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121035249/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/nuremberg/documents/index.php?documentdate=29%20August%201944&documentid=C107-10-54&studycollectionid=&pagenumber=1|url-status=dead}}</ref>