Pope told churches not to return Jewish children after war
By Phil Stewart, Reuters | January 1, 2005

ROME -- Pope Pius XII ordered the church in France not to return Jewish children to their parents if they had been baptized into the Catholic faith to save them from the Nazis, according to a 1946 letter obtained by a historian.

The previously undisclosed Vatican directive was meant to serve as a guidepost for dealing with requests to reclaim children entrusted to Roman Catholics during World War II.

Many children were baptized and raised as Catholics during the war, a fact that often helped conceal their identities from the Nazis. But after the fighting, the Vatican apparently did not want baptized Catholics returning to Jewish communities.Jewish groups have accused Pius XII, pontiff from 1939 to 1958, of doing too little to stop the Holocaust or help Jews escape it.

The Vatican has denied the charges, but the letter, unearthed by historian Alberto Melloni, is expected to fuel the debate about Pius's attitude toward Jews.

"Children who have been baptized cannot be entrusted to institutions that do not know how to ensure a Christian education," read the letter, written by the Vatican's doctrinal department.

"If the children were entrusted [to the church] by their parents, and if their parents now claim them, they can be returned so long as these children have not received baptism."

The directive also offered instructions about how to respond to requests for information.

"Avoid, as far as possible, responding in writing to the Jewish authorities, but do so orally," it said.

The letter said the orders came from Pius himself: "Note that this decision . . . was approved by the Holy Father." It was sent to the Holy See's envoy in France, Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, who became Pope John XXIII.

Pius's pontificate has been one of the trickiest problems in postwar Catholic-Jewish relations.

In 1998, there was widespread Jewish discontent with a Vatican document called "We Remember, a Reflection on the Shoah," which effectively absolved Pius of accusations that he facilitated the Holocaust by remaining silent.

The current pontiff, Pope John Paul, has strongly defended Pius and once called him "a great pope." The Vatican maintains that Pius did not speak out more forcefully because he was afraid of the worsening fate of Catholics, as well as Jews, in Germany and Nazi-occupied countries.