Vatican releases WWII letter aiming to show aid to Jews

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican released yesterday a 1943 letter from a bishop complaining that the church was spending too much time helping Jews, the latest move against charges it did too little to stop Nazi persecution of Jews in World War II.

The letter, one of a number of newly released documents, was bound to add fodder to the long-running debate about whether wartime pontiff Pius XII and his Vatican had done all they could to help Jews and avert the Holocaust.

The debate has been one of the trickiest problems facing Catholic-Jewish relations over the past 60 years.

A letter expressing complaints about "preferential treatment" for Jews was contained in two volumes and eight DVDs containing thousands of documents relating to Vatican efforts to help families find prisoners of war during the global conflict.

The new documents from the Vatican Secret Archives concerned the work of a department called Inter Arma Caritas, set up by the pope from 1939 to 1947 as a clearinghouse for those seeking information about prisoners of war and missing people.

One of the letters was from Archbishop Andrea Cassulo, the Vatican's nuncio, or ambassador, in Romania. It was sent July 21, 1943, to Cardinal Luigi Maglione, the Vatican secretary of state.

In it, Cassulo writes that the "overwhelming portion" of paperwork going through the Vatican Embassy in Bucharest related to requests for information about the fate of "people of the Hebrew race."

Cassulo writes that "some people" had told him that it was "inopportune for the offices of the Holy See to give this type of preference to Jews."

One of those who had complained to the Vatican Embassy was the Roman Catholic bishop of Timisoara, whose surname was Pacha. His first name was not given in the letter.

Writing in Latin to Cassulo, Pacha complained that the great majority of the faithful in his diocese were ethnic Germans who were "indignant."

He said his faithful were "publicly and openly accusing the church of having a good relationship with the Jews, enemies of the German people."

Cassulo asked the Vatican, which was neutral during the war and used its extensive diplomatic network to help find people, for guidance. But it was not clear from the documentation published yesterday whether the Vatican had responded in writing.

For decades, the Vatican has been trying to counter charges from Jewish groups that Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, did too little to stop the Holocaust or to help Jews escape it.

The current pontiff, John Paul II, who has greatly improved relations with Jews, has directed that the Vatican open up parts of its secret archives for the period.