The ANNOTICO Report

It is amazing to me, as to why there are such vicious critics of Pius XII, that while admitting that he did a lot, that he didn't do enough!!

Any Religious Leader is sworn First to  protect their  those of THEIR own faith . Secondly ,they should be advocates for Humanitarianism. But should they attempt to aid "others" to SUCH a degree that it puts their own followers at risk???

It is to me the equivalent of accusing the Jews of focusing on "their" PAST Holocaust, and ignoring all the CURRENT Genocides.

For instance. Darfur, Sudan, Tutsis and Hutus in Africa, Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, C?te d'Ivoire,Cyprus, East Timor, India, Kashmir, Indonesia, Nigeria, Chechnya,among others. http://www.religioustolerance.org/curr_war.htm

 "Never again," echoes in our minds, what can we do to deal with current conflicts, and prevent such conflicts.
As we "remember"  the past, the slaughter continues in the present.

"Never again" sound very hollow in the face of continued mass genocide.

As a Jew , it embarrasses me, that Instead of building more monuments to the Holocaust, which is one of MANY Mass Murderings in current history, the Jewish Community could serve it's cause , and mankind better by taking an active role in stopping these Current Genocides, lest we be considered self centric.

And of course, in our Museums of Tolerance we should include the Entire History of Mans Inhumanity to Man. European Colonialism, The Armenian Massacre, Stalin admission of the Massacre of 10 million Russian peasants, (by his henchman, Lazar Kaganovitch)though the figure rose to 40 million, Japan's Rape of China, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and SO much more.

During World War II a powerful system for prisoners of war to
communicate with their loved ones to learn about
their imprisonment was through the Vatican Information Office, which
was set up by Pacelli immediately after the war began in 1939. Young and
old appealed to Pius XII for help in locating missing sons, husbands,
relatives and friends. In turn, the office he set up to deal with such
requests sought night and day to provide info! rmation and to comfort
them. This untold story is told in the words of loved ones in letters to
Pius XII in this new volume by Margherita Marchione.

She tells the story of the grieved and the heroic people in letters,
telegrams and reports of the apostolic delegates who visited prisoners
in camps spread around the world, as well as in the words of family and
friends. Under the supervision of His Holiness, families separated by
the conflict were contacted. Refugees and the missing, both military men
and civilians, as well as other victims of war, were ensured spiritual
and material assistance. Not only are there hundreds of thousands of
documents in the Vatican Secret Archives, but researchers can
examine over 20 million letters. The more amazing fact is that
researchers can find additional information on the file cards for each
of these individuals.

The Vatican Information Office served as an information
cleari! nghouse for the victims of the war and their families. To help in
this mission, Vatican Radio broadcast 1.2 million short-wave
messages asking for news about missing individuals. The documentation
will show convincingly that during the period leading up to, during, and
after the Second World War, the Vatican used its moral prestige, limited
funds, and extraordinary network of contacts to work consistently for
the protection of human life and human dignity. The evidence concerning
Pius XII’s work on behalf of prisoners of war, as well as Jewish
victims—the particular objects of Nazi hatred—adds a new level of
information concerning the charitable work carried out by this dedicated
servant of God. It opens up a previous unknown area of compassionate
effort by the wartime Pontiff and helps us better understand why Pacellis
contemporaries were convinc! ed that Pope Pius XII was a man of
extraordinary charity.