Weekly Poll: Vatican Behavior During World War II

During World War II, millions of Catholics participated in Germany's war against Europe, and many were also involved with the attempt to exterminate the Jews. Neither Hitler nor any other Catholics in Germany's Nazi government were ever excommunicated and Vatican criticism of Germany's actions were weak at best; often, no criticism was issued at all. Are critics right in their own condemnation of the Vatican's failure to speak out more against the Nazis and the Holocaust?

Both critics and defenders of Pope Pius XII and the Vatican agree that they could have done more on behalf of Jews, at least in theory. Where they diverge is why more wasn't done: critics contend that the reasons were bad and this justifies moral condemnation; defenders contend that the reasons were good and this is morally exculpatory. It wasn't just the Vatican's lack of action with regards to the Jews that's the problem, however. Pope Pius XII and the Vatican were just as passive when it came to the slaughter of Catholic Poles in 1939 and of Orthodox Serbs in Croatia in 1941.

In both of these cases, Pius could have done more without challenging traditional anti-Semitism and with relatively little fear of repercussion. The fact that he didn't reveals that his failure to do more for the Jews was part of larger trends in his personality and attitudes. If he wasn't willing to speak out on behalf of Catholic and Orthodox Christians, how could he do more on behalf of Jews whom most didn't care much about anyway? So even if Pius XII was a bit anti-Semitic, that can't be the only or even primary explanation for his inaction. There had to be something else going on, but whatever it is I have trouble believing that it could be morally exculpatory.