"Ariadne" <ariadne@mac.hush.com> wrote

Whatever his motivation, it is hard to escape the
conclusion that the Pope, like so many others in positions of power and
influence, could have done more to save the Jews.

This is the big lie school of propaganda.

Pius XII was anxious to stop the war once it had become obvious that the
Axis powers were going to be defeated, and bloodshed served no purpose other
than prolonging doomed regimes. So his strategy was to try to keep lines of
communication open with both sides and negotiate a ceasefire. It wasn't
successful, partly because the allies insisted on unconditional surrender,
partly because it wasn't easy to guarantee Nazi leaders' personal safety.
You can of course argue that the Pope was wrong and that since Germany's
defeat was so total, this in fact paved the way for stable democracy. Popes
aren't infallible when it comes to diplomacy and he was only doing what he
thought was right at the time. Had the war ended after the Axis expulsion
form North Africa, millions of lives, including most of the Jewish victims,
would have been saved.