Pius XII tried "to save the greatest number of Jews." This is the most important and vexed point made by Pope Benedict XVI this morning in his historical reconstruction of the figure of Pius XII, whose 50th death anniversary is celebrated today. During the homily delivered today in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI recalled "the Christmas radio message of 1942." "With a voice chocked with emotion, he blamed the situation of ‘hundreds of thousands of persons who (these are Pius XII’s words), without any fault on their part, sometimes only because of their nationality or race, have been consigned to death or to a slow decline’." According to Benedict XVI, one cannot read these words without seeing "a clear reference to the Jews deportation and extermination." And he added: Pius II "often intervened secretly and silently expressly because, in that difficult historical moment, only in this way was it possible to avert the worst and save the greatest number of Jews."
