1 00:00:06,582 --> 00:00:09,952 male narrator: One of the most powerful men on Earth 2 00:00:10,053 --> 00:00:11,921 holds a position that has existed 3 00:00:12,021 --> 00:00:15,124 for nearly 2,000 years. 4 00:00:17,427 --> 00:00:20,963 As the world changes and faith evolves, 5 00:00:21,064 --> 00:00:23,933 his authority remains. 6 00:00:24,033 --> 00:00:26,803 What began with one apostle 7 00:00:26,903 --> 00:00:31,874 has become 1.2 billion followers under one man. 8 00:00:31,941 --> 00:00:34,277 He is the head of the Catholic Church, 9 00:00:34,377 --> 00:00:39,916 the pope, and this is his path to power. 10 00:01:19,589 --> 00:01:22,592 In this episode... 11 00:01:22,658 --> 00:01:24,427 choices in the face of war 12 00:01:24,494 --> 00:01:27,997 leave an indelible mark on the papacy. 13 00:01:28,097 --> 00:01:29,665 While the world debates sainthood 14 00:01:29,765 --> 00:01:31,701 for one of the most controversial popes 15 00:01:31,801 --> 00:01:34,170 of the modern era... 16 00:01:34,270 --> 00:01:37,273 history is forced to consider: 17 00:01:37,340 --> 00:01:39,542 did the Catholic Church do enough? 18 00:02:05,568 --> 00:02:07,904 Pope Francis is the third sitting pope 19 00:02:08,004 --> 00:02:11,541 to visit a Nazi death camp. 20 00:02:11,641 --> 00:02:14,310 On July 29th, 2016, 21 00:02:14,377 --> 00:02:18,414 he makes an historic visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. 22 00:02:23,252 --> 00:02:25,555 In this camp alone, the Nazis put 23 00:02:25,655 --> 00:02:28,724 more than one million people to death. 24 00:02:30,693 --> 00:02:33,563 - According to Catholic teaching today, 25 00:02:33,663 --> 00:02:35,932 anti-Semitism is a sin. 26 00:02:36,032 --> 00:02:37,600 Jewish people are to be respected. 27 00:02:37,700 --> 00:02:39,101 They are not to be converted. 28 00:02:39,202 --> 00:02:42,572 They have their own relationship with God. 29 00:02:42,672 --> 00:02:44,674 But this was a Christian society 30 00:02:44,740 --> 00:02:48,077 that somehow was able to view Jews 31 00:02:48,177 --> 00:02:51,280 as enough of an other, an outsider, 32 00:02:51,380 --> 00:02:53,616 that they could live with this. 33 00:02:59,055 --> 00:03:01,090 narrator: Pope Francis' visit to Auschwitz 34 00:03:01,190 --> 00:03:03,526 immerses the pontificate in a harrowing time 35 00:03:03,593 --> 00:03:06,462 in both world and Church history. 36 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,037 Faced with the haunting images of the Holocaust, 37 00:03:15,104 --> 00:03:16,806 Pope Francis is confronted 38 00:03:16,906 --> 00:03:19,308 by the legacies of his predecessors. 39 00:03:21,410 --> 00:03:23,412 - The question is not only what we think the pope did 40 00:03:23,479 --> 00:03:25,481 during the Second World War and during the Holocaust 41 00:03:25,581 --> 00:03:27,583 but what we think the pope should have done. 42 00:03:31,587 --> 00:03:34,991 narrator: Pope Pius XII is a polarizing figure. 43 00:03:35,091 --> 00:03:37,960 Many praise his bravery in the face of fascism, 44 00:03:38,060 --> 00:03:41,297 while others believe he could have done more. 45 00:03:43,165 --> 00:03:46,102 - There's a controversial move to canonize Pius XII, 46 00:03:46,168 --> 00:03:49,171 to have him declared a saint. 47 00:03:49,272 --> 00:03:50,606 I think the real crux of the issue 48 00:03:50,673 --> 00:03:53,242 is whether the actions of this pope, 49 00:03:53,309 --> 00:03:55,077 in the midst of one of the great tragedies 50 00:03:55,144 --> 00:03:56,779 of human history, 51 00:03:56,846 --> 00:03:59,949 whether that's the stuff of the vicar of Christ. 52 00:04:00,016 --> 00:04:01,684 Is that the stuff of a saint? 53 00:04:03,185 --> 00:04:05,354 narrator: The controversy surrounding Pius XII 54 00:04:05,454 --> 00:04:08,658 begins long before he ever becomes pope. 55 00:04:11,661 --> 00:04:17,033 From 1917 to 1929, Eugenio Pacelli, 56 00:04:17,133 --> 00:04:19,201 the future Pope Pius XII, 57 00:04:19,302 --> 00:04:23,873 serves as a papal ambassador stationed in Germany. 58 00:04:23,973 --> 00:04:26,342 - Pacelli was tapped by the Vatican 59 00:04:26,442 --> 00:04:31,047 to try to go to Germany to bring an end to World War I. 60 00:04:31,147 --> 00:04:32,615 He didn't bring an end to the war, 61 00:04:32,682 --> 00:04:34,050 but he stayed in Germany. 62 00:04:34,150 --> 00:04:36,018 He was helping displaced persons, 63 00:04:36,118 --> 00:04:37,053 injured persons. 64 00:04:37,153 --> 00:04:38,554 Then the soldiers come back. 65 00:04:43,159 --> 00:04:48,197 - Because of World War I and Germany losing World War I, 66 00:04:48,297 --> 00:04:50,066 Germany was in a state of chaos, 67 00:04:50,166 --> 00:04:53,235 and as a result, there was political unrest. 68 00:04:53,336 --> 00:04:54,870 There was revolution. 69 00:04:56,706 --> 00:04:58,574 - You've got a bunch of young men who don't have jobs, 70 00:04:58,674 --> 00:05:00,743 and they feel like they were betrayed by their country, 71 00:05:00,843 --> 00:05:02,878 and there's this violence in the streets. 72 00:05:04,647 --> 00:05:06,148 They start forming these organizations 73 00:05:06,215 --> 00:05:10,186 that eventually morph into the Nazis. 74 00:05:14,190 --> 00:05:15,825 narrator: Oppressive government regimes 75 00:05:15,891 --> 00:05:18,594 across Europe gain traction by blaming 76 00:05:18,694 --> 00:05:21,263 outsiders, immigrants, and Jews 77 00:05:21,364 --> 00:05:24,767 for the post-war economic and political crisis. 78 00:05:26,869 --> 00:05:30,005 In 1922, Benito Mussolini leads 79 00:05:30,072 --> 00:05:34,443 the National Fascist Party to a victory in Italy... 80 00:05:34,543 --> 00:05:38,114 while Hitler and the Nazis rise to power in Germany, 81 00:05:38,214 --> 00:05:40,383 where Pacelli is stationed. 82 00:05:43,386 --> 00:05:48,524 New pope Pius XI is faced with unprecedented unrest. 83 00:05:54,397 --> 00:05:58,067 - Pius XI was an interesting pope. 84 00:05:59,635 --> 00:06:00,903 A diplomat, 85 00:06:00,970 --> 00:06:04,039 very experienced in international politics, 86 00:06:04,106 --> 00:06:07,276 and he saw the evil of Nazism. 87 00:06:08,577 --> 00:06:10,446 narrator: The Nazi Party stands firmly 88 00:06:10,546 --> 00:06:11,981 as anti-religion, 89 00:06:12,081 --> 00:06:13,783 putting Jews and Catholics 90 00:06:13,883 --> 00:06:15,751 in their crosshairs. 91 00:06:15,818 --> 00:06:19,255 Alarmed by what he sees happening in Nazi Germany, 92 00:06:19,321 --> 00:06:21,323 Pius XI implores Pacelli 93 00:06:21,424 --> 00:06:24,794 to be his eyes and ears on the ground. 94 00:06:24,894 --> 00:06:27,563 - Hitler's in Munich, and the future pope Pius XII 95 00:06:27,630 --> 00:06:29,799 is in Munich at the same time. 96 00:06:29,899 --> 00:06:32,468 He sees Hitler seizing power, 97 00:06:32,568 --> 00:06:35,838 and he's reporting back to Rome about what's going on. 98 00:06:42,578 --> 00:06:44,346 - Pius XI and Eugenio Pacelli 99 00:06:44,447 --> 00:06:46,816 had a very unique relationship. 100 00:06:46,916 --> 00:06:50,419 Pacelli was really, really critical in helping to steer 101 00:06:50,486 --> 00:06:53,789 much of the major decisions that Pius XI made. 102 00:06:55,858 --> 00:06:57,960 Pius XI asked Eugenio Pacelli 103 00:06:58,027 --> 00:07:00,830 to become his secretary of state, 104 00:07:00,930 --> 00:07:02,631 and so Pacelli becomes, effectively, 105 00:07:02,698 --> 00:07:04,433 the second most powerful man 106 00:07:04,500 --> 00:07:06,702 in the government of the Church. 107 00:07:06,802 --> 00:07:09,538 narrator: As fascism explodes all over Europe, 108 00:07:09,638 --> 00:07:13,342 Catholics become enemies of the state. 109 00:07:13,442 --> 00:07:15,311 - The thing about Catholics in particular... 110 00:07:18,314 --> 00:07:20,549 Catholics had a relationship, 111 00:07:20,649 --> 00:07:24,887 a devotion to something outside the government. 112 00:07:24,987 --> 00:07:27,056 - There's gonna be conflict over the status 113 00:07:27,156 --> 00:07:28,624 of Catholic youth groups 114 00:07:28,691 --> 00:07:30,726 and whether these youth groups ought to be 115 00:07:30,826 --> 00:07:33,729 brought under the umbrella fascist organization. 116 00:07:33,829 --> 00:07:37,132 - There are some Catholic bishops who were beaten... 117 00:07:39,502 --> 00:07:42,137 Who had their homes and their offices ransacked. 118 00:07:42,204 --> 00:07:43,906 - The Church, of course, to be able to operate, 119 00:07:44,006 --> 00:07:46,876 has to be physically secure. 120 00:07:46,976 --> 00:07:51,814 narrator: The Vatican is faced with an extraordinary dilemma. 121 00:07:51,881 --> 00:07:54,583 Because of his experience as a papal diplomat, 122 00:07:54,683 --> 00:07:58,420 Pope Pius XI enlists Pacelli's help to negotiate 123 00:07:58,521 --> 00:08:01,490 with the fascist Italian government. 124 00:08:01,557 --> 00:08:04,026 The result is the Lateran Treaty. 125 00:08:06,262 --> 00:08:08,898 - Italy and the Vatican reached an agreement 126 00:08:08,998 --> 00:08:10,833 to allow the Church to function, 127 00:08:10,900 --> 00:08:12,535 allow the pope to feel secure 128 00:08:12,601 --> 00:08:15,271 when he left the Vatican itself. 129 00:08:15,371 --> 00:08:17,606 - 1929 was really a milestone. 130 00:08:17,706 --> 00:08:19,608 The Italian government at this point is 131 00:08:19,708 --> 00:08:22,945 a dictatorship in the hands of Benito Mussolini, 132 00:08:23,045 --> 00:08:25,447 and the Lateran Treaty returns to the pope 133 00:08:25,548 --> 00:08:28,784 territorial sovereignty, which meant independence. 134 00:08:30,252 --> 00:08:32,788 - The Lateran Treaty made Vatican City into 135 00:08:32,888 --> 00:08:35,391 an independent nation state. 136 00:08:35,457 --> 00:08:37,793 narrator: In exchange for Vatican autonomy, 137 00:08:37,893 --> 00:08:40,129 the pope agrees to halt all opposition 138 00:08:40,229 --> 00:08:43,465 to Mussolini's regime. 139 00:08:43,566 --> 00:08:46,635 The 1929 agreement sets a precedent. 140 00:08:46,735 --> 00:08:49,939 The Church is willing to negotiate with dictators 141 00:08:50,039 --> 00:08:52,207 in exchange for sovereignty. 142 00:08:59,915 --> 00:09:02,318 narrator: In 1929, 143 00:09:02,418 --> 00:09:06,255 the Vatican signs the Lateran Treaty, 144 00:09:06,322 --> 00:09:08,057 an agreement with Mussolini 145 00:09:08,123 --> 00:09:10,225 establishing autonomy for the Church 146 00:09:10,292 --> 00:09:13,829 in exchange for political neutrality. 147 00:09:13,929 --> 00:09:18,334 - It gave the Church a hold on Italian society. 148 00:09:20,135 --> 00:09:22,905 - From the pope's perspective, it's a major victory, 149 00:09:22,972 --> 00:09:24,673 but there's a price to be paid. 150 00:09:24,773 --> 00:09:27,643 I mean, Mussolini gets something 151 00:09:27,743 --> 00:09:30,145 for having given something. 152 00:09:30,245 --> 00:09:31,981 Part of the deal was that the Church 153 00:09:32,081 --> 00:09:35,451 was to remain outside of politics. 154 00:09:35,517 --> 00:09:37,586 narrator: With Church opposition out of the way, 155 00:09:37,653 --> 00:09:42,424 Mussolini's fascist government flourishes. 156 00:09:42,491 --> 00:09:44,526 - The Lateran Treaty is a major step 157 00:09:44,627 --> 00:09:46,662 in the consolidation of a fascist dictatorship 158 00:09:46,762 --> 00:09:48,697 because one of the things that Mussolini's able to do in fact 159 00:09:48,797 --> 00:09:51,834 is turn to a population that is largely Catholic 160 00:09:51,934 --> 00:09:54,203 and show that in fact he's made peace 161 00:09:54,303 --> 00:09:56,772 with the spiritual leader of the Church. 162 00:09:58,474 --> 00:10:00,042 narrator: While Mussolini and the Church 163 00:10:00,142 --> 00:10:03,178 mutually benefit from their peace in Italy... 164 00:10:06,482 --> 00:10:09,885 Adolf Hitler is elected Chancellor of Germany, 165 00:10:09,985 --> 00:10:13,455 and Nazism becomes the law of the land. 166 00:10:16,825 --> 00:10:19,061 - Jews were a target almost immediately. 167 00:10:20,963 --> 00:10:24,700 - January 30th, Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. 168 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,237 The first anti-Jewish law is April 1st. 169 00:10:30,339 --> 00:10:34,176 And the Nazi movement not only was anti-Semitic, 170 00:10:34,243 --> 00:10:39,581 they were anti-communist, anti-socialist, anti-Catholic. 171 00:10:44,153 --> 00:10:46,889 For Catholics, suddenly, they couldn't join 172 00:10:46,989 --> 00:10:48,323 their youth group organization 173 00:10:48,390 --> 00:10:51,393 without fighting with the local Nazi youth. 174 00:10:52,861 --> 00:10:56,498 Their schools would be confiscated. 175 00:10:56,565 --> 00:10:59,601 Day-to-day violence was an everyday occurrence 176 00:10:59,702 --> 00:11:01,837 from 1933 onward. 177 00:11:04,940 --> 00:11:07,443 narrator: After the success of the Lateran Treaty, 178 00:11:07,543 --> 00:11:11,213 Pope Pius XI looks again to Eugenio Pacelli 179 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,949 to help him defend Catholics in the face of another 180 00:11:14,049 --> 00:11:16,452 increasingly troubling dictator. 181 00:11:19,221 --> 00:11:21,056 In July 1933, 182 00:11:21,123 --> 00:11:23,358 Pacelli negotiates another treaty, 183 00:11:23,425 --> 00:11:25,360 this time with the German government, 184 00:11:25,427 --> 00:11:28,731 called the Reich's Concordant. 185 00:11:28,797 --> 00:11:32,301 - Like the Lateran Treaty, this was a defensive measure. 186 00:11:32,401 --> 00:11:34,103 The State says, "Okay, we will allow 187 00:11:34,203 --> 00:11:36,638 "the Church control over its affairs, 188 00:11:36,739 --> 00:11:38,407 "but the price to be paid is that the Church 189 00:11:38,474 --> 00:11:40,476 is not to be involved in politics." 190 00:11:41,877 --> 00:11:43,645 It's a controversial agreement. 191 00:11:43,746 --> 00:11:45,714 Some see it as sort of a pact with the devil. 192 00:11:47,149 --> 00:11:49,284 It effectively takes the Catholic Church 193 00:11:49,384 --> 00:11:51,487 out of the political realm at the moment 194 00:11:51,587 --> 00:11:54,323 when opposition to an evolving dictatorship 195 00:11:54,423 --> 00:11:56,258 was more needed than ever. 196 00:11:56,325 --> 00:12:00,562 - It was a fatal stepping back from confronting pure evil. 197 00:12:02,231 --> 00:12:03,665 narrator: Although the Reich's Concordant 198 00:12:03,766 --> 00:12:05,267 officially prevents the Vatican 199 00:12:05,334 --> 00:12:07,569 from working against Hitler, 200 00:12:07,636 --> 00:12:10,906 many German Catholics refuse to stay silent. 201 00:12:10,973 --> 00:12:13,008 - An anonymous woman in Dusseldorf 202 00:12:13,108 --> 00:12:16,678 writes to Pius XI, and she says, 203 00:12:16,779 --> 00:12:19,281 "I'm walking along in the streets day to day, 204 00:12:19,348 --> 00:12:22,985 "and children are beating up their Jewish neighbors. 205 00:12:23,085 --> 00:12:26,588 "How can we be good, moral-thinking Catholics 206 00:12:26,655 --> 00:12:28,290 with this going on around us?" 207 00:12:31,460 --> 00:12:33,462 narrator: Despite the tenets of the agreement, 208 00:12:33,529 --> 00:12:37,099 Nazis continue to interfere in Catholic life. 209 00:12:37,166 --> 00:12:40,469 Nuns and priests continue to be arrested, 210 00:12:40,536 --> 00:12:43,205 and Hitler passes sterilization laws, 211 00:12:43,305 --> 00:12:45,207 which stand in diametric opposition 212 00:12:45,307 --> 00:12:47,709 to Catholic doctrine. 213 00:12:47,810 --> 00:12:49,945 - Because, of course, Hitler was not a man 214 00:12:50,012 --> 00:12:52,681 you could ever trust... and, of course, 215 00:12:52,781 --> 00:12:55,050 you could never do a deal with Hitler. 216 00:12:56,518 --> 00:12:59,721 - And yet the Vatican just stays on course. 217 00:12:59,822 --> 00:13:01,223 "We have a treaty. We have a treaty. 218 00:13:01,323 --> 00:13:02,224 We have a treaty." 219 00:13:02,324 --> 00:13:03,559 - And so, 220 00:13:03,659 --> 00:13:05,460 the oppression of the Church went on... 221 00:13:07,529 --> 00:13:09,231 And it got worse. 222 00:13:10,566 --> 00:13:13,368 Infinitely, horribly worse. 223 00:13:16,171 --> 00:13:18,974 narrator: As the 1930s wear on, 224 00:13:19,041 --> 00:13:24,179 Hitler's dictatorship becomes more and more violent. 225 00:13:24,246 --> 00:13:27,082 A litany of anti-Jewish laws are passed, 226 00:13:27,182 --> 00:13:30,485 including a boycott of all Jewish businesses. 227 00:13:32,521 --> 00:13:35,891 Enemies of the state, including Catholic priests, 228 00:13:35,991 --> 00:13:38,493 are put on trains to labor camps. 229 00:13:47,369 --> 00:13:49,771 - The concentration camp at Dachau-- 230 00:13:49,872 --> 00:13:51,173 some have described it 231 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:53,775 as the world's biggest seminary. 232 00:13:53,876 --> 00:13:55,377 At one point in time, there were thousands 233 00:13:55,444 --> 00:13:56,845 of Catholic priests there. 234 00:13:58,380 --> 00:14:02,451 - 2,500 Catholic priests died at Dachau. 235 00:14:02,551 --> 00:14:05,387 Not Catholics, Catholic priests. 236 00:14:06,722 --> 00:14:08,790 At this point, there's no way 237 00:14:08,891 --> 00:14:11,193 that the Church and the Third Reich 238 00:14:11,260 --> 00:14:14,096 are gonna get along. 239 00:14:14,196 --> 00:14:16,431 narrator: The Vatican writes more than 50 complaints 240 00:14:16,531 --> 00:14:20,869 to Nazis about violations of the Reich's Concordant, 241 00:14:20,936 --> 00:14:26,475 but Pius XI does not speak out publicly against Hitler. 242 00:14:26,575 --> 00:14:29,044 - Latter part of the 1930s, Pius XI 243 00:14:29,111 --> 00:14:32,114 began to prepare himself and began to prepare the Church 244 00:14:32,214 --> 00:14:34,149 for some kind of direct confrontation 245 00:14:34,249 --> 00:14:36,551 with the fascist regimes. 246 00:14:36,618 --> 00:14:38,153 - He distrusted Hitler. 247 00:14:38,253 --> 00:14:40,389 He was also opposed to racism. 248 00:14:40,455 --> 00:14:43,492 He was personally not very friendly to the Jews. 249 00:14:43,592 --> 00:14:48,263 He shared the very widespread Christian belief that the Jews, 250 00:14:48,330 --> 00:14:50,098 as a people, had been responsible 251 00:14:50,165 --> 00:14:52,567 for Jesus' death, but he thought 252 00:14:52,634 --> 00:14:54,503 that that didn't mean you had a right 253 00:14:54,603 --> 00:14:58,573 to invade their human rights... and, in fact, 254 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,677 wrote an encyclical condemning it. 255 00:15:01,777 --> 00:15:05,013 narrator: In 1937, Pius XI enlists 256 00:15:05,113 --> 00:15:07,082 Pacelli's help yet again. 257 00:15:07,149 --> 00:15:08,483 He drafts an encyclical 258 00:15:08,583 --> 00:15:11,453 regarding the situation in Germany. 259 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,090 - An encyclical is the most formal statement 260 00:15:15,157 --> 00:15:16,591 from the Vatican. 261 00:15:16,658 --> 00:15:19,261 It's the highest statement a pope can make. 262 00:15:19,328 --> 00:15:24,466 narrator: Pope Pius XI calls his 1937 German encyclical 263 00:15:24,533 --> 00:15:26,368 "Mit Brennender Sorge," 264 00:15:26,468 --> 00:15:29,771 which means "With Burning Concern." 265 00:15:29,838 --> 00:15:31,640 In it, he condemns racism 266 00:15:31,707 --> 00:15:33,875 from a theological perspective. 267 00:15:33,976 --> 00:15:38,213 - It was talking about how it's foolish to think 268 00:15:38,313 --> 00:15:41,950 that God would lock all of what is great in humanity 269 00:15:42,017 --> 00:15:43,685 into a single race. 270 00:15:46,455 --> 00:15:47,823 narrator: With the Nazis on high alert 271 00:15:47,889 --> 00:15:50,726 for any subversive activity... 272 00:15:52,694 --> 00:15:55,230 The Vatican uses a secret courier network 273 00:15:55,330 --> 00:15:58,533 to smuggle the encyclical into Germany. 274 00:16:07,909 --> 00:16:10,579 - It was read from the pulpits in Catholic churches 275 00:16:10,679 --> 00:16:13,548 throughout Germany on Palm Sunday. 276 00:16:13,648 --> 00:16:16,985 - It was the only time that the whole of Germany 277 00:16:17,052 --> 00:16:20,822 heard a denunciation of the regime from pulpits, 278 00:16:20,889 --> 00:16:24,659 an extraordinarily brave thing to do. 279 00:16:24,726 --> 00:16:27,362 narrator: But the papal risk is a measured one. 280 00:16:27,429 --> 00:16:30,265 Although the encyclical denounces racism, 281 00:16:30,365 --> 00:16:34,703 it fails to mention Hitler or the Nazi Party by name. 282 00:16:34,770 --> 00:16:38,507 - It's a document that bears Pacelli's hand. 283 00:16:38,573 --> 00:16:41,843 He is ever mindful of the need and of the desire 284 00:16:41,910 --> 00:16:46,448 to try to maintain a diplomatic relationship. 285 00:16:46,548 --> 00:16:49,284 So it's an interesting sort of doctrinal statement 286 00:16:49,384 --> 00:16:52,454 that perhaps lacks some of the political punch 287 00:16:52,554 --> 00:16:55,424 that-that hour called for. 288 00:16:57,059 --> 00:16:59,561 narrator: Regardless of its ambiguous language, 289 00:16:59,628 --> 00:17:02,464 Hitler sends Gestapo into every German church 290 00:17:02,564 --> 00:17:05,467 to confiscate the document. 291 00:17:05,567 --> 00:17:07,235 - Anyone who said it, printed it, repeated it, 292 00:17:07,302 --> 00:17:08,870 possessed it, was getting arrested 293 00:17:08,937 --> 00:17:10,372 or getting beat up, or their property 294 00:17:10,439 --> 00:17:12,140 was being seized. 295 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:14,242 That kind of fear of retaliation, 296 00:17:14,309 --> 00:17:16,545 that's what Hitler played upon. 297 00:17:18,213 --> 00:17:21,416 narrator: In 1938, Hitler's regime expands 298 00:17:21,483 --> 00:17:23,819 into Austria. 299 00:17:23,919 --> 00:17:26,254 More anti-Semitic laws are passed. 300 00:17:26,321 --> 00:17:30,425 More Jewish homes and businesses are destroyed, 301 00:17:30,492 --> 00:17:34,629 and still the Vatican remains publicly neutral. 302 00:17:36,565 --> 00:17:39,835 But on the night of November 9th, 1938, 303 00:17:39,935 --> 00:17:42,137 Germany will explode in violence, 304 00:17:42,237 --> 00:17:45,107 marking a sinister shift in the Nazi agenda 305 00:17:45,173 --> 00:17:48,243 that the world will not be able to ignore. 306 00:17:55,951 --> 00:17:58,687 narrator: In the two years after Pope Pius XI 307 00:17:58,787 --> 00:18:01,990 releases his anti-racism encyclical, 308 00:18:02,090 --> 00:18:04,493 the Vatican remains publicly silent 309 00:18:04,593 --> 00:18:08,463 about Hitler's growing fascist regime... 310 00:18:08,530 --> 00:18:11,867 and on the eve of November 9th, 1938, 311 00:18:11,967 --> 00:18:16,938 Nazi violence against the Jews reaches a fever pitch. 312 00:18:17,005 --> 00:18:19,708 - Kristallnacht was the Night of Shattered Glass. 313 00:18:21,810 --> 00:18:25,714 It's the night when the Nazis went to the Jewish businesses, 314 00:18:25,814 --> 00:18:30,552 the synagogues, and smashed everything. 315 00:18:30,652 --> 00:18:34,356 - 30,000 Jewish men were sent to a concentration camp. 316 00:18:36,324 --> 00:18:39,561 It was a very public, violent attack on Jews, 317 00:18:39,661 --> 00:18:41,997 and after that, it was-- it was game over. 318 00:18:46,835 --> 00:18:48,570 narrator: Bishops from all over Europe 319 00:18:48,670 --> 00:18:50,705 write to the Vatican's secretary of state, 320 00:18:50,805 --> 00:18:53,575 Eugenio Pacelli, demanding a response 321 00:18:53,675 --> 00:18:55,810 to the violence in Germany. 322 00:18:58,046 --> 00:19:01,082 - The Primate of the Catholic Church in England 323 00:19:01,183 --> 00:19:03,585 wrote to Pacelli and said, 324 00:19:03,685 --> 00:19:09,391 "We need to be clear that this is Nazi terrorism against Jews. 325 00:19:09,491 --> 00:19:11,159 Can you make a statement?" 326 00:19:11,226 --> 00:19:16,198 And Pacelli writes back saying, "Well, it's a difficult issue, 327 00:19:16,264 --> 00:19:18,333 "and what we need to do is just issue 328 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:20,402 "a statement of general love 329 00:19:20,502 --> 00:19:24,039 and concern and mercy for all in a universal way." 330 00:19:26,741 --> 00:19:28,243 narrator: In January 1939, 331 00:19:28,343 --> 00:19:30,412 Hitler makes a bone-chilling speech, 332 00:19:30,512 --> 00:19:34,416 threatening the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe. 333 00:19:37,018 --> 00:19:39,187 More men, women, and children 334 00:19:39,254 --> 00:19:41,456 are sent to concentration camps. 335 00:19:43,925 --> 00:19:46,928 Despite the Vatican's neutrality treaties, 336 00:19:47,028 --> 00:19:49,464 Pope Pius XI... 337 00:19:49,564 --> 00:19:51,900 can no longer remain silent. 338 00:19:51,967 --> 00:19:55,136 - It's quite clear that when Pius XI was dying, 339 00:19:55,237 --> 00:19:57,806 he was about to denounce fascism 340 00:19:57,906 --> 00:19:59,641 in quite explicit terms. 341 00:20:02,744 --> 00:20:06,648 narrator: Pius XI begins to draft "On the Human Race," 342 00:20:06,748 --> 00:20:10,785 an encyclical in which he condemns anti-Semitism... 343 00:20:12,387 --> 00:20:16,291 But he dies before it is ever released. 344 00:20:16,391 --> 00:20:19,094 Now with Europe on the brink of another war, 345 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,163 the cardinals must elect a new pope. 346 00:20:22,264 --> 00:20:24,499 - The conclave of 1939 comes, of course, 347 00:20:24,599 --> 00:20:26,501 at a critical moment. 348 00:20:26,601 --> 00:20:28,670 It's very clear that Nazi foreign policy 349 00:20:28,770 --> 00:20:30,672 is becoming increasingly aggressive, 350 00:20:30,772 --> 00:20:32,240 and so the election of a new pope 351 00:20:32,307 --> 00:20:33,742 garners a great deal of interest 352 00:20:33,808 --> 00:20:35,944 well beyond the Catholic world. 353 00:20:36,011 --> 00:20:39,281 - Pius XI had clearly groomed Pacelli 354 00:20:39,347 --> 00:20:40,849 to become the next pope. 355 00:20:44,185 --> 00:20:48,990 narrator: After a conclave lasting less than 24 hours... 356 00:20:49,090 --> 00:20:52,527 Vatican Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli 357 00:20:52,627 --> 00:20:55,096 is sworn in as pope. 358 00:20:55,163 --> 00:21:00,502 He chooses to call himself Pius XII to honor his mentor. 359 00:21:03,138 --> 00:21:05,874 - One of the things that made Pacelli the right choice 360 00:21:05,974 --> 00:21:09,044 at this point in time was that all the rival parties 361 00:21:09,144 --> 00:21:11,046 believed that he was in their camp. 362 00:21:11,146 --> 00:21:13,381 He was, as it were, all things to all men. 363 00:21:13,481 --> 00:21:17,018 - He was widely recognized for his diplomatic skill. 364 00:21:17,118 --> 00:21:19,120 It was seen that-- given that the world 365 00:21:19,187 --> 00:21:20,889 was in a state of such tension, 366 00:21:20,989 --> 00:21:22,957 that a diplomat pope, 367 00:21:23,024 --> 00:21:24,693 and one who had considerable experience 368 00:21:24,793 --> 00:21:26,361 in international affairs, 369 00:21:26,461 --> 00:21:27,729 might be in order. 370 00:21:29,331 --> 00:21:32,133 narrator: As tensions in Europe continue to rise, 371 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,738 Pope Pius XII is faced with a daunting task. 372 00:21:36,838 --> 00:21:39,474 He must navigate the role of a religious leader 373 00:21:39,541 --> 00:21:42,010 in an increasingly secular world. 374 00:21:44,012 --> 00:21:46,748 - Compels popes to ask themselves 375 00:21:46,848 --> 00:21:50,652 who they represent, and for whom should they speak? 376 00:21:50,719 --> 00:21:55,523 - Pius XII was trained as a papal diplomat. 377 00:21:55,590 --> 00:21:58,526 He deeply internalized the doctrine 378 00:21:58,593 --> 00:22:03,932 that papacy functioned best as a neutral force. 379 00:22:04,032 --> 00:22:08,103 But can the papacy really be neutral in the face of Nazism? 380 00:22:09,771 --> 00:22:11,840 narrator: Six months after his election, 381 00:22:11,906 --> 00:22:14,909 the Nazis invade Poland... 382 00:22:17,912 --> 00:22:21,583 And World War II is officially declared in Europe. 383 00:22:23,785 --> 00:22:27,188 - The Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939 384 00:22:27,255 --> 00:22:29,357 is catastrophic for Catholics. 385 00:22:29,424 --> 00:22:32,527 Poland is a Catholic country. 386 00:22:32,594 --> 00:22:37,065 Polish Catholics were dealt with very harshly. 387 00:22:37,132 --> 00:22:39,634 Priests were often murdered right on the spot. 388 00:22:39,734 --> 00:22:41,369 Women were raped-- it was brutal, 389 00:22:41,436 --> 00:22:43,304 and the Vatican was receiving 390 00:22:43,405 --> 00:22:46,074 reports of this and cries for help. 391 00:22:47,375 --> 00:22:50,812 - This was a war against religion, 392 00:22:50,912 --> 00:22:53,148 against Jews, against Catholics, 393 00:22:53,248 --> 00:22:56,885 against anything that was non-German. 394 00:22:56,951 --> 00:22:59,921 narrator: Pius XII is forced to reexamine his commitment 395 00:22:59,988 --> 00:23:02,891 to quiet diplomacy. 396 00:23:02,957 --> 00:23:04,459 With the Church under attack, 397 00:23:04,559 --> 00:23:07,595 it is up to the pope to defend the faithful. 398 00:23:14,636 --> 00:23:17,272 narrator: Six months after Eugenio Pacelli 399 00:23:17,338 --> 00:23:18,640 is elected pope... 400 00:23:21,242 --> 00:23:23,244 The Nazis invade Poland, 401 00:23:23,311 --> 00:23:27,148 catapulting Europe into World War II. 402 00:23:27,248 --> 00:23:29,684 Despite pressure from Allied forces, 403 00:23:29,784 --> 00:23:32,854 including U.S. President Roosevelt, 404 00:23:32,954 --> 00:23:38,159 Pius XII's statements remain measured and neutral. 405 00:23:38,259 --> 00:23:40,762 Meanwhile, Hitler's agenda only grows 406 00:23:40,829 --> 00:23:44,199 in scope and horror. 407 00:23:44,299 --> 00:23:47,101 - The Nazis started a program to eliminate 408 00:23:47,168 --> 00:23:51,139 people with mental and physical disabilities. 409 00:23:51,206 --> 00:23:54,609 That eventually morphed into the Final Solution. 410 00:23:54,676 --> 00:23:56,444 - There was a decision to exterminate 411 00:23:56,511 --> 00:24:00,215 every Jewish man, woman, and child anywhere in Europe. 412 00:24:02,650 --> 00:24:05,954 narrator: In the 1930s, Nazis had sent Jews, 413 00:24:06,020 --> 00:24:08,289 outspoken Catholics, communists, 414 00:24:08,356 --> 00:24:11,292 and the handicapped to concentration camps... 415 00:24:13,895 --> 00:24:15,230 But in 1940, 416 00:24:15,330 --> 00:24:17,999 Hitler opens Auschwitz-Birkenau, 417 00:24:18,066 --> 00:24:20,535 the first and most lethal of what will be eight 418 00:24:20,635 --> 00:24:25,240 Nazi death factories... camps engineered 419 00:24:25,340 --> 00:24:28,243 for the systematic mass murder of Jews. 420 00:24:30,411 --> 00:24:32,914 By the end of the war... 421 00:24:33,014 --> 00:24:35,216 more than 1 million Jews will perish 422 00:24:35,316 --> 00:24:37,085 in Auschwitz alone. 423 00:24:39,053 --> 00:24:41,222 - News, letters and cables 424 00:24:41,322 --> 00:24:44,192 of exactly what the Nazi regime was doing 425 00:24:44,259 --> 00:24:47,595 went to and from the Vatican daily by the hundreds. 426 00:24:47,695 --> 00:24:50,398 - Many of his own reliable sources are telling him 427 00:24:50,498 --> 00:24:52,767 that the Nazis are engaged in a particularly cruel 428 00:24:52,867 --> 00:24:56,237 and unique campaign against Jews. 429 00:24:56,337 --> 00:24:58,907 He receives one memo from a military chaplain 430 00:24:59,007 --> 00:25:00,441 that begins simply, 431 00:25:00,542 --> 00:25:03,611 "The Jews. Period. A dreadful situation. Period," 432 00:25:03,711 --> 00:25:04,946 which dates to 1942. 433 00:25:05,046 --> 00:25:05,947 - The Vatican knew 434 00:25:06,047 --> 00:25:07,582 precisely what was going on. 435 00:25:07,682 --> 00:25:10,618 There was no better informed organization in Europe 436 00:25:10,718 --> 00:25:12,787 than the Vatican. 437 00:25:12,887 --> 00:25:14,122 narrator: As the horrific images 438 00:25:14,222 --> 00:25:15,390 from Germany and Poland 439 00:25:15,456 --> 00:25:17,592 spread across the globe... 440 00:25:19,294 --> 00:25:22,797 The devout look to the pope for guidance, 441 00:25:22,897 --> 00:25:24,365 but ever the diplomat, 442 00:25:24,432 --> 00:25:27,068 Pius XII worries that action against Hitler 443 00:25:27,135 --> 00:25:31,072 might provoke more violence against Catholics. 444 00:25:31,139 --> 00:25:32,740 - If Pius XII spoke out, 445 00:25:32,807 --> 00:25:35,977 would it make things worse for Polish Catholics? 446 00:25:36,077 --> 00:25:38,913 Well, you could actually hardly make things worse 447 00:25:38,980 --> 00:25:39,981 for Polish Catholics. 448 00:25:40,081 --> 00:25:41,816 - As he himself says, 449 00:25:41,916 --> 00:25:44,786 "I have to watch what I say... 450 00:25:44,886 --> 00:25:48,089 because I want to avoid a greater evil," 451 00:25:48,156 --> 00:25:51,159 but what he can do, he will do. 452 00:25:51,259 --> 00:25:53,294 And a great example of the way 453 00:25:53,394 --> 00:25:55,330 Pius XII dealt with this question comes 454 00:25:55,430 --> 00:25:57,999 in the Christmas address of 1942. 455 00:26:13,448 --> 00:26:15,016 narrator: In his Christmas address, 456 00:26:15,116 --> 00:26:16,417 broadcast internationally 457 00:26:16,484 --> 00:26:18,419 on Vatican radio, 458 00:26:18,486 --> 00:26:20,688 Pope Pius XII makes one of his only 459 00:26:20,788 --> 00:26:23,524 public statements about the war. 460 00:26:23,625 --> 00:26:28,863 In it, he speaks for human rights and against racism, 461 00:26:28,963 --> 00:26:31,966 but he fails to mention Hitler, the Nazis, 462 00:26:32,033 --> 00:26:35,003 or the Jewish people by name. 463 00:26:35,103 --> 00:26:36,871 - He made a very generalized statement 464 00:26:36,971 --> 00:26:39,941 about the rights of people that he thought 465 00:26:40,008 --> 00:26:44,779 was all he needed to say about the Jewish question. 466 00:26:44,846 --> 00:26:47,148 - The bottom line was, even after violence 467 00:26:47,215 --> 00:26:50,051 against Jews, the decision in Rome was, 468 00:26:50,151 --> 00:26:52,620 "We're not going to name the Nazis, 469 00:26:52,687 --> 00:26:54,288 "and we're not gonna name Jews. 470 00:26:54,355 --> 00:26:57,959 We're just gonna offer universal love and charity." 471 00:26:58,026 --> 00:27:00,962 So it's another opportunity that was missed, 472 00:27:01,029 --> 00:27:02,864 and a critical one. 473 00:27:02,964 --> 00:27:05,466 - He worried a lot about the consequences of speaking out. 474 00:27:05,533 --> 00:27:06,968 One wonders, did he ever really think 475 00:27:07,035 --> 00:27:09,671 about the consequences of not speaking out? 476 00:27:11,706 --> 00:27:14,409 narrator: Despite Pius XII's public neutrality, 477 00:27:14,509 --> 00:27:16,811 Hitler's march towards world domination 478 00:27:16,878 --> 00:27:19,047 reaches the pope's doorstep. 479 00:27:21,015 --> 00:27:23,384 In September of 1943, 480 00:27:23,484 --> 00:27:27,088 Hitler invades Rome. 481 00:27:27,188 --> 00:27:30,158 - It was a situation where the pope thought 482 00:27:30,224 --> 00:27:32,760 that they had an operating agreement, 483 00:27:32,860 --> 00:27:34,262 did not think this was going to happen, 484 00:27:34,362 --> 00:27:36,764 but about 2,000 Jews were rounded up. 485 00:27:38,366 --> 00:27:39,767 - The day of the roundup, 486 00:27:39,867 --> 00:27:41,736 the pope says he doesn't want to have to 487 00:27:41,836 --> 00:27:45,206 come out and condemn, explicitly, Nazi behavior. 488 00:27:45,273 --> 00:27:48,710 It's obviously a veiled threat to do precisely that, 489 00:27:48,776 --> 00:27:50,445 but he says he doesn't want to do it. 490 00:27:50,545 --> 00:27:52,714 So the threat of a public condemnation is dangled, 491 00:27:52,780 --> 00:27:56,084 which tells us in fact that he and his men understand 492 00:27:56,184 --> 00:27:59,454 the power and the value of the pope's words. 493 00:28:00,788 --> 00:28:02,423 And repeatedly, consistently, 494 00:28:02,523 --> 00:28:03,958 even as people were being rounded up, 495 00:28:04,058 --> 00:28:06,961 he declines to utter that clear word. 496 00:28:12,433 --> 00:28:17,472 narrator: As the war rages outside the Vatican walls... 497 00:28:17,572 --> 00:28:19,941 Pius XII becomes a target. 498 00:28:21,709 --> 00:28:25,980 Rumors fly about a Nazi plan to kidnap the pope. 499 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,817 - Hitler actually got a general and told him to draw up plans 500 00:28:29,917 --> 00:28:31,819 to invade the Vatican. 501 00:28:31,919 --> 00:28:33,421 Pius XII gathered everyone together 502 00:28:33,488 --> 00:28:34,622 and essentially released them 503 00:28:34,722 --> 00:28:36,157 if they wanted to leave, 504 00:28:36,257 --> 00:28:39,827 but he also submitted a letter that was his resignation 505 00:28:39,927 --> 00:28:43,998 that said, "If I'm captured, I resign the papacy. 506 00:28:44,098 --> 00:28:45,666 "So they will not capture the pope. 507 00:28:45,767 --> 00:28:47,902 "They will capture Eugenio Pacelli, 508 00:28:47,969 --> 00:28:49,303 but not the pope." 509 00:28:51,272 --> 00:28:54,842 narrator: As bombs go off and Jews are rounded up 510 00:28:54,942 --> 00:28:57,612 right under the pope's windows, 511 00:28:57,678 --> 00:29:00,414 Pius XII must take stock. 512 00:29:00,481 --> 00:29:02,617 His diplomatic efforts have failed, 513 00:29:02,683 --> 00:29:06,988 and the Vatican is now directly in Nazi crosshairs. 514 00:29:14,495 --> 00:29:20,201 narrator: In September 1943, Nazi troops invade Rome. 515 00:29:20,301 --> 00:29:23,037 An imminent attack on the Vatican looms, 516 00:29:23,137 --> 00:29:25,039 and more than 2,000 Roman Jews 517 00:29:25,139 --> 00:29:28,943 are rounded up for deportation to extermination camps. 518 00:29:30,645 --> 00:29:33,114 They're held at the Military College of Rome, 519 00:29:33,181 --> 00:29:35,783 mere blocks from St. Peter's Basilica. 520 00:29:37,285 --> 00:29:39,220 But despite the atrocities unfolding 521 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:41,722 right at his doorstep, 522 00:29:41,823 --> 00:29:45,059 Pope Pius XII remains publicly silent. 523 00:29:47,028 --> 00:29:49,230 - He takes the path of diplomatic caution 524 00:29:49,330 --> 00:29:50,832 in terms of his public pronouncements, 525 00:29:50,898 --> 00:29:53,134 but it's not that the pope was inactive. 526 00:29:56,137 --> 00:30:00,041 There is a view that the pope worked behind the scenes 527 00:30:00,141 --> 00:30:02,877 to try to put an end to the roundup. 528 00:30:02,977 --> 00:30:06,013 There is some evidence in fact that that actually worked. 529 00:30:07,682 --> 00:30:10,718 - They got several Jews released, 530 00:30:10,818 --> 00:30:13,754 primarily because they were married to a Catholic 531 00:30:13,855 --> 00:30:15,323 or they invoked the Concordant 532 00:30:15,389 --> 00:30:17,825 to help some of them avoid deportation. 533 00:30:17,892 --> 00:30:19,360 - He also then says, "Well, let's do 534 00:30:19,427 --> 00:30:22,430 what we can to alleviate suffering on the ground." 535 00:30:24,665 --> 00:30:26,267 - There were some Vatican trucks 536 00:30:26,367 --> 00:30:27,768 that would go around and take food 537 00:30:27,869 --> 00:30:29,503 and take blankets and try to bring 538 00:30:29,570 --> 00:30:32,607 additional supplies to where it was needed. 539 00:30:32,707 --> 00:30:35,509 narrator: Some believe that Pope Pius XII's silence 540 00:30:35,576 --> 00:30:39,780 is a cover... that throughout the war, 541 00:30:39,881 --> 00:30:42,583 he is secretly involved with covert operations 542 00:30:42,683 --> 00:30:44,118 with the Allies. 543 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,957 - The pope did secretly tape his conversations. 544 00:30:50,057 --> 00:30:52,193 During the week of his election in 1939, 545 00:30:52,260 --> 00:30:54,896 the Vatican's tapes show quite clearly 546 00:30:54,962 --> 00:30:58,866 that he opted for public acquiescence 547 00:30:58,933 --> 00:31:01,202 with the Nazis and at the same time deciding 548 00:31:01,269 --> 00:31:03,771 that they must be resistant behind the scenes. 549 00:31:05,706 --> 00:31:09,644 Pius XII received information from a Vatican spy in Germany, 550 00:31:09,744 --> 00:31:14,215 and he passed this information on to the Western Allies. 551 00:31:14,282 --> 00:31:16,450 narrator: Some historians even speculate about 552 00:31:16,550 --> 00:31:20,755 papal involvement in a plan to assassinate Hitler. 553 00:31:23,624 --> 00:31:26,260 - The key figure in the German resistance to Hitler 554 00:31:26,327 --> 00:31:28,496 was Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, 555 00:31:28,596 --> 00:31:30,798 the head of German military intelligence, 556 00:31:30,898 --> 00:31:34,835 whom, as it happens, Pacelli had met in the 1920s 557 00:31:34,936 --> 00:31:37,672 when he was in Germany. 558 00:31:37,772 --> 00:31:40,007 Canaris reached out to his old friend Pacelli 559 00:31:40,107 --> 00:31:42,610 and said, "Help me and help Germany 560 00:31:42,677 --> 00:31:45,413 get rid of Hitler." 561 00:31:45,479 --> 00:31:49,016 Canaris then had access to explosives. 562 00:31:50,818 --> 00:31:55,189 narrator: Between 1940 and 1944... 563 00:31:55,289 --> 00:31:56,924 there would be three failed attempts 564 00:31:56,991 --> 00:31:59,493 to assassinate Adolf Hitler. 565 00:31:59,593 --> 00:32:01,095 Information about these plots 566 00:32:01,162 --> 00:32:03,631 is still shrouded in conspiracy theory, 567 00:32:03,698 --> 00:32:06,667 and documented proof of Pius XII's role 568 00:32:06,767 --> 00:32:09,036 is almost nonexistent. 569 00:32:09,136 --> 00:32:10,871 - For a long time, it wasn't known about, 570 00:32:10,972 --> 00:32:14,442 because the pope knew if he kept written records, 571 00:32:14,508 --> 00:32:15,876 it'd get people killed. 572 00:32:15,977 --> 00:32:17,678 - To be really clear, the pope was not involved 573 00:32:17,778 --> 00:32:18,779 in any of the details. 574 00:32:18,846 --> 00:32:20,715 He does help to facilitate 575 00:32:20,815 --> 00:32:23,951 these contacts plotting to remove Adolf Hitler, 576 00:32:24,018 --> 00:32:25,886 and that's important. 577 00:32:25,987 --> 00:32:27,288 It was risky. 578 00:32:27,355 --> 00:32:28,556 It was something that he kept 579 00:32:28,656 --> 00:32:30,624 from his closest advisers, 580 00:32:30,691 --> 00:32:33,160 and it shows us that for all of our understanding of him 581 00:32:33,227 --> 00:32:35,529 as very cautious and maybe too cautious, 582 00:32:35,629 --> 00:32:38,332 he could, at times, take some very bold 583 00:32:38,399 --> 00:32:39,800 and even risky actions. 584 00:32:42,803 --> 00:32:44,538 narrator: Despite the uncertainty surrounding 585 00:32:44,638 --> 00:32:48,843 any papal involvement in a plan to kill Hitler, 586 00:32:48,909 --> 00:32:51,979 the Church's role in hiding Jews during the war 587 00:32:52,046 --> 00:32:54,815 is undeniable. 588 00:32:54,882 --> 00:32:56,217 - There's good, reliable evidence 589 00:32:56,317 --> 00:32:59,587 that Church institutions, religious houses 590 00:32:59,687 --> 00:33:03,657 were used to rescue and house Jews. 591 00:33:03,724 --> 00:33:05,026 narrator: There is even evidence 592 00:33:05,092 --> 00:33:06,193 that Jews were hidden 593 00:33:06,260 --> 00:33:09,096 on Vatican-owned properties. 594 00:33:09,196 --> 00:33:10,731 - There's some fascinating photographs 595 00:33:10,831 --> 00:33:12,400 where you see people not only sleeping 596 00:33:12,500 --> 00:33:14,435 on the floors in churches, 597 00:33:14,535 --> 00:33:16,837 not only in the hallways, but even on the staircases, 598 00:33:16,904 --> 00:33:19,006 up and down the staircases, three across. 599 00:33:20,908 --> 00:33:23,277 narrator: Close to 6 million European Jews 600 00:33:23,377 --> 00:33:26,514 perish during World War II... 601 00:33:26,580 --> 00:33:30,885 but nearly 80% of the 12,000 Roman Jews survive. 602 00:33:32,553 --> 00:33:34,955 - A large percentage of Jews in Rome survive, 603 00:33:35,056 --> 00:33:36,624 in large part because of the actions 604 00:33:36,724 --> 00:33:39,693 of many of these religious houses. 605 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:41,262 - The debate around that is, 606 00:33:41,362 --> 00:33:44,031 was there a central order to do this? 607 00:33:44,098 --> 00:33:48,969 Did Pius XII remain silent during the actual roundup 608 00:33:49,070 --> 00:33:51,138 but secretly issue an order 609 00:33:51,238 --> 00:33:54,708 that as many Jews should be hidden as possible? 610 00:33:54,775 --> 00:33:59,146 And we've never found an order from Pius XII 611 00:33:59,246 --> 00:34:02,116 to shelter and hide Italian Jews, 612 00:34:02,216 --> 00:34:05,753 and there were even some cases where he was displeased 613 00:34:05,820 --> 00:34:08,722 because it put that particular religious order 614 00:34:08,789 --> 00:34:11,292 or religious house at risk. 615 00:34:11,392 --> 00:34:15,329 narrator: Despite more than 70 years of retrospect, 616 00:34:15,429 --> 00:34:20,434 the pontificate of Pius XII is still veiled in mystery. 617 00:34:20,501 --> 00:34:21,635 Who was he, 618 00:34:21,735 --> 00:34:22,670 and does he deserve 619 00:34:22,770 --> 00:34:24,505 to be called a saint? 620 00:34:34,482 --> 00:34:37,351 narrator: To be canonized a saint is to be recognized 621 00:34:37,451 --> 00:34:41,322 as one who shares an eternal life with God in heaven. 622 00:34:43,290 --> 00:34:45,126 In the last 1,000 years, 623 00:34:45,192 --> 00:34:48,429 only seven popes have been made saints. 624 00:34:50,197 --> 00:34:52,199 Reigning for nearly two decades, 625 00:34:52,299 --> 00:34:56,537 many Catholics see Pius XII as a prolific religious leader, 626 00:34:56,637 --> 00:35:00,174 responsible for shaping the modern Church... 627 00:35:00,274 --> 00:35:02,343 but as the world debates canonization 628 00:35:02,443 --> 00:35:05,513 for the wartime pope... 629 00:35:05,613 --> 00:35:08,115 we are forced to consider the holiness of his actions 630 00:35:08,182 --> 00:35:10,217 during one of the most turbulent times 631 00:35:10,317 --> 00:35:11,685 in world history. 632 00:35:14,121 --> 00:35:16,390 - The heart of the controversy really is whether 633 00:35:16,490 --> 00:35:19,226 his diplomatic caution saved lives. 634 00:35:19,326 --> 00:35:20,995 Those who advance his cause 635 00:35:21,061 --> 00:35:22,897 see that as an argument to make him a saint. 636 00:35:26,867 --> 00:35:30,504 - Pius XII is often excused for not having condemned 637 00:35:30,571 --> 00:35:32,907 the extermination of the Jews because, 638 00:35:33,007 --> 00:35:37,912 as he himself said... had he done so, 639 00:35:38,012 --> 00:35:39,513 it wouldn't have done any good, 640 00:35:39,580 --> 00:35:42,750 and it might have made things worse. 641 00:35:42,850 --> 00:35:44,885 But I think it's hard to avoid the feeling 642 00:35:44,985 --> 00:35:47,588 that there was some kind of moral failure. 643 00:35:50,157 --> 00:35:51,692 narrator: The crux of the debate 644 00:35:51,759 --> 00:35:54,528 lies in the character of Pope Pius XII. 645 00:35:56,530 --> 00:35:57,765 Who was he, 646 00:35:57,865 --> 00:35:58,766 and why did he make 647 00:35:58,866 --> 00:36:02,369 the decisions he did? 648 00:36:02,436 --> 00:36:05,206 - There are those who see in his reluctance 649 00:36:05,272 --> 00:36:07,942 to identify the suffering of Jews in particular, 650 00:36:08,042 --> 00:36:11,912 some see in that the strains of anti-Semitism. 651 00:36:14,048 --> 00:36:18,686 - Eugenio Pacelli's time in Germany as a papal diplomat 652 00:36:18,752 --> 00:36:20,955 is really critical to his formation, 653 00:36:21,055 --> 00:36:23,891 his thinking about Germans and Germany, 654 00:36:23,958 --> 00:36:27,795 and, one could argue, his thinking about Jews. 655 00:36:27,895 --> 00:36:31,232 He describes meeting with Jewish officials, 656 00:36:31,298 --> 00:36:35,302 who he describes as dirty communists 657 00:36:35,402 --> 00:36:37,638 with slanted eyes. 658 00:36:37,738 --> 00:36:40,040 We can see his negative stereotypes 659 00:36:40,107 --> 00:36:41,942 about Jews in his writings, 660 00:36:42,042 --> 00:36:45,813 and I'm not convinced they ever really exited his thinking. 661 00:36:47,548 --> 00:36:50,251 - The whole of Pius XII's papacy 662 00:36:50,317 --> 00:36:54,655 is dominated in our memory by questions. 663 00:36:54,755 --> 00:36:57,591 Seems a bit simple to say 664 00:36:57,658 --> 00:37:00,327 that there are evil people and good people, 665 00:37:00,427 --> 00:37:02,930 because most of us aren't actually one or the other. 666 00:37:02,997 --> 00:37:05,499 We're a mixture. It's much more complex. 667 00:37:07,101 --> 00:37:09,837 narrator: But the complexities of Pope Pius XII 668 00:37:09,937 --> 00:37:12,139 are yet to be unraveled. 669 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:14,908 Questions about what he did and did not do 670 00:37:14,975 --> 00:37:18,412 during the Holocaust remain unanswered. 671 00:37:18,479 --> 00:37:21,682 - We don't yet have access to all of the wartime archive, 672 00:37:21,782 --> 00:37:27,421 so we don't really have a full historical record for Pius XII. 673 00:37:27,488 --> 00:37:29,590 - Once they are available, and scholars 674 00:37:29,657 --> 00:37:31,025 can make a determination 675 00:37:31,125 --> 00:37:34,295 of exactly what he did or didn't do, 676 00:37:34,361 --> 00:37:36,797 then we can say definitively 677 00:37:36,864 --> 00:37:39,800 what the record of Pius XII was, 678 00:37:39,867 --> 00:37:41,702 and before we can do that, 679 00:37:41,802 --> 00:37:45,439 it would be premature to move forward with sainthood. 680 00:37:53,647 --> 00:37:56,383 narrator: Until the records are released, 681 00:37:56,483 --> 00:37:58,686 the world can only speculate. 682 00:38:00,287 --> 00:38:03,657 Polarized opinions color the emotional debate 683 00:38:03,724 --> 00:38:06,460 over the canonization of a deeply controversial 684 00:38:06,527 --> 00:38:08,228 historical figure. 685 00:38:09,863 --> 00:38:14,234 - If in fact he wanted to protect his own church 686 00:38:14,335 --> 00:38:17,805 and his own coreligionists 687 00:38:17,871 --> 00:38:20,874 in the face of the Holocaust, 688 00:38:20,974 --> 00:38:23,711 that decision had consequences. 689 00:38:23,811 --> 00:38:27,581 I think Pius XII was a human being who made mistakes, 690 00:38:27,681 --> 00:38:28,982 and maybe he didn't make 691 00:38:29,049 --> 00:38:31,552 the right decision in this case, 692 00:38:31,652 --> 00:38:34,988 and maybe that's a lesson for this church, 693 00:38:35,055 --> 00:38:37,324 that sometimes we don't make the right decision, 694 00:38:37,391 --> 00:38:38,659 and we need to atone, 695 00:38:38,726 --> 00:38:40,561 and we need to correct ourselves, 696 00:38:40,661 --> 00:38:42,696 and we need to do better in the future. 697 00:38:49,536 --> 00:38:52,539 narrator: In 2016, as Pope Francis 698 00:38:52,606 --> 00:38:55,175 walked through the shadows of Auschwitz... 699 00:38:58,011 --> 00:39:01,281 He must face the legacy of his predecessors. 700 00:39:03,550 --> 00:39:06,420 He prays for the mistakes he has inherited 701 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:11,625 and for the lessons that will carry the Church forward. 702 00:39:14,895 --> 00:39:18,198 - Pope Francis is a radically different kind of pope 703 00:39:18,265 --> 00:39:22,469 than the Catholic Church has seen for a long time. 704 00:39:22,569 --> 00:39:24,304 He has the rule of love. That's it. 705 00:39:24,405 --> 00:39:26,640 Love your neighbor, and if you're doing that, 706 00:39:26,740 --> 00:39:28,375 then you're a good Catholic. 707 00:39:30,244 --> 00:39:32,479 narrator: Modern popes engage in politics 708 00:39:32,579 --> 00:39:35,149 at the highest level... 709 00:39:35,249 --> 00:39:37,551 regularly meeting with world leaders 710 00:39:37,618 --> 00:39:38,986 and taking meaningful stands 711 00:39:39,086 --> 00:39:42,222 against atrocity and injustice. 712 00:39:42,289 --> 00:39:45,993 John Paul II worked tirelessly to end communism 713 00:39:46,093 --> 00:39:47,995 and help the African continent heal 714 00:39:48,095 --> 00:39:52,232 in the wake of colonialism and apartheid. 715 00:39:52,299 --> 00:39:55,402 Pope Francis continues in that brave legacy, 716 00:39:55,469 --> 00:39:57,171 a champion for human rights, 717 00:39:57,271 --> 00:40:01,442 unafraid to fight for the freedoms of the oppressed. 718 00:40:01,508 --> 00:40:04,945 - Francis and John Paul II have moved us on 719 00:40:05,012 --> 00:40:07,114 very significantly. 720 00:40:07,181 --> 00:40:09,249 They opened the door. 721 00:40:09,316 --> 00:40:12,619 Now the Vatican is actually a player in world politics, 722 00:40:12,686 --> 00:40:15,122 particularly in humanitarian aspects, 723 00:40:15,189 --> 00:40:17,157 and that's been an enormously important aspect 724 00:40:17,257 --> 00:40:18,792 of its ministry. 725 00:40:21,128 --> 00:40:24,131 During the Second World War, there was this sense 726 00:40:24,198 --> 00:40:27,167 that the Church was very different from the world. 727 00:40:27,267 --> 00:40:29,603 The pope was isolated. 728 00:40:31,538 --> 00:40:33,707 - I'm a lifelong practicing Catholic 729 00:40:33,807 --> 00:40:39,279 who has worked for 17 years at the Holocaust Museum, 730 00:40:39,346 --> 00:40:40,681 and I'm a historian. 731 00:40:43,150 --> 00:40:46,487 And so it's difficult to just look clinically 732 00:40:46,553 --> 00:40:50,390 at a document where a Ukrainian Catholic shooter 733 00:40:50,491 --> 00:40:53,126 is taking a Jewish child by the neck 734 00:40:53,193 --> 00:40:57,397 and shooting them while their mother watches 735 00:40:57,498 --> 00:41:00,367 and then going to church the following Sunday. 736 00:41:02,236 --> 00:41:04,671 To see that Catholics have the capacity 737 00:41:04,738 --> 00:41:07,641 to set their faith to one side 738 00:41:07,708 --> 00:41:09,476 and be part of the Holocaust 739 00:41:09,543 --> 00:41:11,912 that destroyed 6 million families, 740 00:41:12,012 --> 00:41:14,715 and to this day these families come to the museum, 741 00:41:14,815 --> 00:41:19,253 and you can see that it goes generations deep, 742 00:41:19,353 --> 00:41:21,555 it makes one question-- 743 00:41:21,655 --> 00:41:26,059 what is the point of my faith at all? 744 00:41:26,159 --> 00:41:30,764 What is the point of a pope leading a church 745 00:41:30,864 --> 00:41:33,667 where love and mercy is not paramount? 746 00:41:33,734 --> 00:41:35,669 And it makes you wonder. 747 00:41:40,207 --> 00:41:42,042 narrator: In times of tragedy... 748 00:41:44,177 --> 00:41:47,247 Humanity continues to wrestle with faith. 749 00:41:49,283 --> 00:41:54,354 The world looks to the pope for guidance and comfort... 750 00:41:54,421 --> 00:41:57,057 and in the darkest of times, 751 00:41:57,124 --> 00:42:01,562 lessons of the past must light his way.