Editing Pope Pius XII (section)

==Recent developments==
In ''The Real Odessa: How Peron Brought the Nazi War Criminals to Argentina'' (2002), the Argentine journalist [[Uki Goñi]] described how the Argentinian government dealt with war criminals who entered Argentina. However, during his research Goñi accidentally stumbled on British [[Foreign Office]] documents relating to the involvement of Vatican personnel in the smuggling of war criminals, the so-called [[Ratlines (history)|post-war "ratlines"]]. Goñi found out that the British Envoy [[D'Arcy Osborne, 12th Duke of Leeds|D'Arcy Osborne]] had intervened with Pope Pius XII to put an end to these illegal activities. Furthermore, he discovered "that the Pope secretly pleaded with Washington and London on behalf of notorious criminals and Nazi collaborators".<ref>Goñi, afterword to the revised 2003 edition, pp. 327–348.</ref> Suzanne Brown-Fleming's ''The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany'' (2006) underlines Goñi's findings. Brown-Fleming stated how Pius XII allegedly intervened on behalf of German war criminals (e.g. [[Otto Ohlendorf]]). Brown-Fleming's main source was the archive of Pope Pius XII's representative in post-war Germany, Cardinal [[Aloisius Joseph Muench]].<ref>Brown-Fleming, 2006, Chapter 4: "Granting Absolution: Muench and the Catholic Clemency Campaign".</ref> Then, Phayer's ''[[Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the Cold War]]'' (2008) utilized documents that were released via [[Bill Clinton]]'s 1997 executive order declassifying wartime and postwar documents, many of which are currently at the [[US National Archives]] and [[Holocaust Memorial Museum]]. These documents include diplomatic correspondence, American espionage, and decryptions of German communications. Relevant documents have also been released by the [[Argentine government]] and the British Foreign Office. Other information sources have become available, including the diary of Bishop [[Joseph Patrick Hurley]]. These documents reveal new information about Pius XII's actions regarding the [[Ustaše]] regime, the genocides in Poland, the finances of the wartime church, the deportation of the Roman Jews, and the ratlines for Nazis and fascists fleeing Europe.<ref>Phayer, 2008, pp. xi–xvi</ref> According to Phayer, "the face of Pope Pius that we see in these documents is not the same face we see in the eleven volumes the Vatican published of World War II documents, a collection which, though valuable, is nonetheless critically flawed because of its many omissions".<ref>Phayer, 2008, p. xi</ref>

On 19 September 2008, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] held a reception for conference participants during which he praised Pius XII as a pope who made every effort to save Jews during the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080918_pave-the-way_en.html|title=Address at the conclusion of the symposium organized by the "Pave the Way Foundation"|publisher=Vatican.va|date=19 September 2008|access-date=6 May 2009}}</ref> A second conference was held from 6–8 November 2008 by the [[Pontifical Academy of Life]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/12968/vatican-recalls-life-and-teachings-of-pius-xii-50-years-after-his-death|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722095341/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12968|url-status=live|archive-date=22 July 2012|title=Vatican recalls life and teachings of Pius XII 50 years after his death|publisher=Catholicnewsagency.com|access-date=6 May 2009}}</ref>

On 9 October 2008, the 50th anniversary of Pius XII's death, Benedict XVI celebrated pontifical Mass in his memory. Shortly before and after the Mass, dialectics continued between the Jewish hierarchy and the Vatican as Rabbi [[She'ar Yashuv Cohen]] of [[Haifa]] addressed the [[Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church|Synod of Bishops]] and expressed his disappointment towards Pius XII's "silence" during the war.<ref>{{cite news|last=Donadio|first=Rachel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/world/europe/10briefs-POPEDEFENDSP_BRF.html?ref=world|title=Synod Controversy|location=Italy|work=The New York Times|date=9 October 2008|access-date=17 December 2011}}</ref>

On 16 June 2009, the ''[[Pave the Way Foundation]]'' announced that it would release 2,300 pages of documents in [[Avellino]], Italy, dating from 1940 to 1945, which the organisation claims show that Pius XII "worked diligently to save Jews from Nazi tyranny"; the organisation's founder, Krupp, has accused historians of harbouring "private agendas" and having "let down" the public.<ref>''Jerusalem Post''. 2009, 17 June
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110624130904/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184852508&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull "Foundation says documents will show Pius helped Jews"].</ref> The foundation's research led to the publication of the book ''Pope Pius XII and World War II: the documented truth'', authored by Krupp; the book reproduces 225 pages of the new documents produced by the foundation's research.

[[Mark Riebling]] argued in his 2015 book ''Church of Spies'' that Pius XII was involved in plots to overthrow Hitler from mid-October 1939 and was prepared to mediate a peace between the Allies and the Axis in the event of a regime change in Germany. The courier between the resistance group under Admiral [[Wilhelm Canaris]] and the pope was the Bavarian lawyer and Catholic politician [[Josef Müller (CSU politician)|Joseph Müller]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UpxVDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT47 |pages=47–49; 62–64 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |title=Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler |isbn=9780465061556 |date=29 September 2015 }}</ref>

=== Opening of the Vatican Secret Archives ===
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the [[Appointment of Catholic bishops|appointment]] of Pius XII as [[Diocese of Rome|Bishop of Rome]], [[Pope Francis]] announced during an audience for staff of the [[Vatican Secret Archives]] on 4 March 2019 that Vatican archival materials pertaining to Pius XII's pontificate would be accessible to scholars beginning on 2 March 2020.<ref>[https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-03/pope-francis-vatican-secret-archives-pius-xii.html ''Pope Francis: Pius XII archives to open next year''], Vatican News, 4 March 2019.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/04/vatican-to-open-archives-on-controversial-wwii-pope-pius-xii| title = Vatican to unseal archives on controversial WWII pope| website = The Guardian| date = 4 March 2019}}</ref> While this announcement was welcome by researchers, much of it was clouded by the role of Pope Pius XII with regard to the Holocaust. However, archival research of this period was expected to inform a much broader shift within global Christianity, from Europe to the global South.<ref>[https://www.historiadomus.net/2019/03/10/the-shift-in-the-vatican-secret-archives''The Shift in the Vatican Secret Archives''], Historia Domus, 10 March 2019.</ref>

The Vatican archives have provided many millions of pages and it was expected to take many years to process the findings. As of May 2021, the study of the archive had been inconclusive.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Julia |date=20 May 2021 |title=No 'smoking gun' yet in Pius XII archives, researchers say |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/no-smoking-gun-yet-pius-xii-archives-researchers-say}}</ref> In January 2022, historian [[Michael F. Feldkamp]] announced that he had discovered in the Vatican archives evidence that Pius XII had personally saved at least 15,000 Jews from extermination, and that he had sent a report on the Holocaust to the American government shortly after the [[Wannsee Conference]] of January 20, 1942, although they did not believe the pope.<ref>[https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2022-02/feldkamp-pope-pius-xii-holocaust-history-archives.html "Feldkamp: Pope Pius XII knew early about Holocaust and saved many Jews – Vatican News"]. February 2022.</ref>

In June 2022, [[David Kertzer]], one of the first historians to have analyzed the archives, published his book ''The Pope at War''.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler |last=Kertzer |first=David I. |publisher=[[Random House Publishing Group]] |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-8129-8995-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJTEAAAQBAJ}}</ref> Kertzer, with the support of thousands of unpublished documents, uncovered the existence of secret negotiations between Hitler and Pius XII already a few weeks after the end of the [[conclave]], promoted by Hitler himself with the intention of improving his relations with the Vatican. For his part, Pius XII concentrated his efforts on protecting and improving the situation of the Church in Germany in the face of the [[anti-Catholic]] policies of the Nazis, although no agreement was reached.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kertzer |first=David I. |date=31 May 2022 |title=The Pope's Secret Back Channel to Hitler |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/pope-pius-xii-negotiation-hitler-catholic-church/639435/ |access-date=16 September 2023 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>

In September 2023, ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'' published a newly discovered documentation from the Vatican Secret Archive showing that a German Jesuit had informed the Pope of the Holocaust.<ref>{{cite news |last=Carioti |first=Antonio |date=16 September 2023 |title=Papa Pio XII sapeva della Shoah: la prova in una lettera scritta nel 1942 da un gesuita tedesco |url=https://www.corriere.it/cultura/23_settembre_16/pio-xii-sapeva-shoah-prova-una-lettera-scritta-1942-un-gesuita-tedesco-380489dc-53fb-11ee-8884-717525326594.shtml |access-date=16 September 2023 |work=Corriere della Sera |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Winfield |first=Nicole |date=16 September 2023 |title=Letter showing Pope Pius XII had detailed information from German Jesuit about Nazi crimes revealed |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/ap-vatican-jews-poland-nazi-b2412693.html |access-date=16 September 2023 |work=The Independent}}</ref>

The archives have also demonstrated that Pope Pius XII had knowledge of [[Marcial Maciel]]'s accusations of crimes, including sexual abuse of seminarians and drug abuse, before action was taken.<ref name="apnews.com">{{cite web | url=https://apnews.com/article/vatican-legion-pius-xii-abuse-91744e8054aa839647633e1d56372165 | title=Vatican's Pius XII archives shed light on another contentious chapter: The Legion of Christ scandal | work=[[Associated Press News]] | date=21 July 2024 }}</ref> The Vatican apparently knew of Maciel's crimes for 50 years.<ref name="apnews.com"/>