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Article: Vatican historian comes to Pius XII's defense.(rejecting charges that Pope Plus XII ignored the plight of the Jews during World War II )(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- October 22, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Vatican took the offensive Oct. 8, sharply rejecting charges that Pope Plus XII ignored the plight of the Jews during World War II because he was anti-Semitic and supported Nazi Germany as a bulwark against the Soviet Union and communism.
Jesuit Fr. Pierre Blet, the Vatican's leading historian of the period, said the documents on which British journalist John Cornwell based the charges in his controversial new book, Hitler's Pope: the Secret History of Plus XII, "are certainly authentic."
"But," he said, "the conclusions that he drew from them are laughable as history."
Blet spoke at a Vatican news conference called to present Pius XII and ...