What Did Pope Pius XII Know About Pavelić?

(Patria) - Already when Pope Benedict XVI opened the archives of Pope Pius XI to the public in 2006, something could be seen about the advocacy of the former papal nuncio responsible for Germany in the 1930s, Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, in condemning Nazism. That secretary, together with the pope, "corrected" the text actually written by Cardinal Faulhaber of Munich, which would be published in 1937 as a papal encyclical known by the phrase "With Burning Concern." In it, Pope Pius XI sharply condemns the heretical cult of the leader and the nation being created in Nazi Germany, which must be alien to every believer. The Munich cardinal had written only that it was a "great concern"; the pope and his secretary increased it to "burning concern." This is reported by "Deutsche Welle" in a text titled "What Did Pope Pius XII Know About Pavelić?", as carried by Patria.

About this "wartime pope," there is still much controversy in Germany: could he have done more? Could he have condemned Nazism and especially the persecution of Jews more clearly? The Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, Bishop Sergio Pagano, claims that some 151,000 documents will show that Pope Pius XII explicitly ordered help for those persecuted by the Nazis, and that Jews even found refuge in the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

"... On the other hand, the fate of the priest sent by Pavelić to the Society of St. Jerome near the end of the war, who quite obviously helped many criminals escape, is more than interesting: Krunoslav Draganović returned to Yugoslavia in 1967, and although it is claimed that the UDBA kidnapped him in Trieste, according to his written testimony, he returned voluntarily. The competent state prosecutor's office of Bosnia and Herzegovina even filed an indictment against him—he was born in Brčko, but the man who also helped Pavelić escape was never convicted. After theological scholarly work, he died in Sarajevo only in 1983. Although it is said that the Catholic Church has 'the oldest and most widespread intelligence agency in the world,' one should not believe that the pope always knows about every 'deal' made somewhere," writes DW.

The full text is available at Deutsche Welle.