Editing Pope Pius XII (section)

====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.