Statement on Holocaust criticized for not faulting silence of church officials

National Catholic Reporter, March 27, 1998

One of the document's chief authors, Fr. Remi Hoeckman, said negative reactions were based on misinformation or on a desire to return to "old polemics." He said Pope Pius XII had become the victim of a "black legend" fomented by people who want to make him "a scape-goat."

Swiss Fr. Georges Cottier, personal theologian to Pope John Paul II, said he was "saddened" by critics' focus on Pius XII to the neglect of "the central point of the text ... the strong condemnation of the Holocaust." The public silence of Pope Pius XII was rooted in a belief that a public anti-Nazi stand would have only provoked "greater evils," Cottier said.

Asked at a news conference why the document did no, , acknowledge active support of the Nazi regime by some Catholics, referring only to their "indifference" or "insensitivity," Cassidy said authors had decided against retrospectively assigning guilt. "To sit in judgment on people is much more difficult than to praise those who took a stand" against Hitler's regime, he said.

The document asserts that "many people were altogether unaware of the 'final solution' that was being put into effect against a whole people." Before placing blame, the document says, it would be necessary to understand each particular case.

Expressing hope that the statement will bring about "a new relationship with the Jewish people" and calling on Christians to "renew the awareness of the Hebrew roots of their faith," the authors describe the document as an "act of repentance" and a "binding commitment" rather than a matter of words.