PONTIFF-TO-BE HELPED RESCUE THOUSANDS OF HUNGARY'S JEWS
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070102-121953-9863r.htm

By Jay Bushinsky
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 2, 2007

JERUSALEM -- Newly discovered records document the role of Monsignor
Angelo Roncalli, a Vatican diplomat in Istanbul during World War II
who later became Pope John XXIII, in helping rescue thousands of
Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust.

They also lend weight to arguments that Pope Pius XII, who was
pontiff during the war, failed to do all he could to prevent the
systematic massacre of millions of Jews.

The memoirs, documents and letters stashed away in the private
collection of a Jewish associate of Monsignor Roncalli describe
frequent late-night meetings in the Vatican compound in the heart of
Istanbul.

There, the two men composed urgent messages to the Holy See and
obtained false papers to enable Jews to escape the reach of the Nazis
and their allies.

Examined recently by Tel Aviv University professor Dina Porat, an
internationally respected authority on the Holocaust, the documents
attest to a unique relationship that had consequences of historic
importance.

Monsignor Roncalli was serving as papal nuncio in Istanbul,
essentially the Vatican's ambassador. He went on to become one of the
most beloved popes and, by convening the Second Vatican Council in
1962, opened the Catholic Church to a wave of modernization that
included a revised liturgy and major efforts to unite with other
Christian denominations.

His ally in the effort was Chaim Barlas, who had been sent to
Istanbul as an emissary of the Jewish Agency Rescue Committee,
established by the Jewish community in what was then Palestine to try
to save European Jews from the Nazis.

"Roncalli allowed Barlas to meet him in the middle of the night to
draft urgent letters to Pope Pius XII about the plight of Hungarian
Jewry," Mrs. Porat said in an interview. "He told Barlas that he sent
cables to [Pius], but did not receive replies. It seemed to him that
his ecclesiastical superiors who could act did not, and he wondered
why."

Mrs. Porat said she found several handwritten letters from Monsignor
Roncalli to the pontiff, composed with the help of Mr. Barlas, which
included criticism of the Vatican and others for failing to do enough
to help the Jews.

The men intensified their efforts after the receipt in June 1944 of a
report by two Slovakian Jews who had escaped a month earlier from the
Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

That and a subsequent account describing the grisly massacre under
way there came to be known as the Auschwitz Protocols.

Mr. Barlas "translated it into German, drafted a precise summary
dated June 23, 1944, and was granted an audience with Roncalli a day
later," Mrs. Porat said. "Roncalli wept upon reading its contents and
relayed it immediately to the Vatican."

Pius subsequently wrote a letter to Adm. Miklos Horthy, a Nazi ally
serving as president of Hungary, urging him to halt the deportation
of Hungarian Jews to Poland, which was being expedited by Nazi
officer Adolf Eichmann.

"By July 7, 1944, they were stopped," Mrs. Porat said.

Yitzhak Minerbi, one of Israel's leading specialists on the Vatican's
conduct and policies during World War II, said Monsignor Roncalli's
contribution goes far beyond alerting the Holy See to the genocide.

As confirmed by the Barlas papers, he also issued transit passes and
approved false baptismal certificates that enabled 12,000 Jews to
escape Hungary, Mr. Minerbi said.

Monsignor Roncalli's efforts also have been lauded by Baruch
Tenenbaum, head of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation,
named after the Swedish diplomat who plucked outbound Jews from
deportation trains and hid them in safe houses throughout the
Hungarian capital.

Asked about Pope John XXIII, Mr. Tenenbaum said: "He should be cited
by Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, as the foremost name on
its list of righteous gentiles."

Those honored at the memorial are non-Jews who risked their lives to
rescue Jews from the Nazis.

========================================
"SAN ROMERO" YAHOO! DISCUSSION GROUP
EXPLANATION OF RELEVANCE OF NEWS ARTICLE

ARTICLE: Pontiff-to-be helped rescue thousands of Hungary's Jews

PUBLICATION: Washington Times

DATE: January 2, 2007

SUMMARY: The private papers of a Jewish advocate in Hungary during
WWII reveal the extent of the activism of Msgr. Angello Roncalli, who
was later elected Pope John XXIII, in saving Jews from the Holocaust,
which was much greater than previously believed.

RELEVANCE: The article goes to the heart of a major theme for
reflection in this group: the obligation of conscience. Angelo
Roncalli is widely considered to have been a kind, gentle Christian
and the actions specified in the article suggest a great
correspondence between orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

ROMERO CONNECTION: Pope John XXIII inspired the Second Vatican
Council, and the Medellin Bishops' Conference which declared
the "preferential option for the poor" that motivated Archbishop
Romero.