Abraham Foxman, Anti-Catholic Bigot
Took on Mel Gibson for the Passion of the Christ
Now He's Demanded of Benedict-Ratzinger to Halt Canonization of Pope Pius XII
Who, according to Jewish Leaders, Did More for Them against Hitler
Than Any Other European Leader at the Time

Abraham Foxman, anti-Catholic bigot par excellence, has now turned his prejudice against Pope Pius XII. You remember Foxman from his attack upon traditional Catholic Mel Gibson for producing the Biblically-based Passion of the Christ. Foxman, the anti-Catholic bigot who heads the B'nai B'rith's so-called Anti-Defamation League, has defamed Pope Piux XII by calling upon Benedict-Ratzinger to suspend canonization of Pope Pius XII, whom because he "turned a blind eye to the death of Jews during World War Two." [Sources: Reuters, Haaretz of Israel]

Really?! Foxman has schismatized himself from Jewish leaders like Golda Meir and Albert Einstein. What are the facts about Pope Pius XII?

• Pope Pius XII saved 860,000 Jews directly or indirectly; in Rome alone during the Nazi occupation 4,447 Jews were hidden in over 155 Catholic houses, ecclesiastical institutions, parishes and schools -- more than all other rescue operations, including those run by Jews
• Pope Pius XII was instrumental in protecting the Jews of Rome, even to the point of gathering 50 kilograms of gold to provide "indemnity" money to save them from imprisonment
• Pope Pius XII ordered that all monasteries and convents be opened to hide Jewish refugees, and the Vatican coordinated a wide effort to obtain passports and other documents to help thousands of Jews to escape
• Pope Pius XII personally gave refuge to at least 3,000 at his own summer residence at Castel Gandolfo
• At the end of World War II, the chief rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, converted to Catholicism and chose for his baptismal name, Eugenio, after the pontiff
• the notorious Nazi official, Adolph Eichmann, in his Diary released on March 1, 2000, complains that the Vatican "vigorously protested the arrest of Jews, requesting the interruption of such action; to the contrary, the Pope would denounce it publicly"
• Through the agency of Pope Pius XII 80% of the Jews in Italy were saved; to the contrary, 80% of the Jews in the northern countries were executed by the Nazis
• When Pope Pius XII was elected Pope, the Berliner Morgenpost, a pro-Nazi newspaper, stated: "The election of Cardinal Pacelli is not of Germany's liking, as he has always been opposed to Nazism."
• Following Pope Pius XII's 1942 Christmas radio message, the Gestapo wrote in a report: "the Pope has rejected the new National Socialist European Order. He has not attacked National Socialism directly, but he has severely criticized everything we believe.... He has spoken clearly in favor of the Jews"
• In his lifetime, Pius XII received more praise and expressions of gratitude from the Jewish people than any other pope in history; in several churches in Rome there are Jewish plaques thanking the Church for saving Jewish lives
• In 2001 New York Rabbi David Dalin has proposed that Pope Pius XII be proclaimed "Righteous Among the Nations," the highest award given by the state of Israel to persons outstanding in assisting persecuted Jews during World War II: "More than any other 20th century leader, Pius XII fulfilled this Talmudic tradition, when the fate of European Jewry was at stake. No other Pope had been so widely praised by Jews, and they were not mistaken. Their gratitutde, as well as that of the entire generation of holocaust survivors, testifies that Pius XII was, genuinely and profoundly, a righteous gentile.... Pius XII was not Hitler's pope, but the closest Jews had come to having a papal supporter, and at the moment when it mattered most."
• Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Time magazine in December 1940 stating: "Only the [Catholic] Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised, I now praise unreservedly."
• Jeno Levai, who testified at the Eichmann Nazi War Crimes Trial, insisted: "The one person [Pope Pius XII] who did more than anyone else to halt the dreadful crime and alleviate its consequences, is today made the scapegoat for the failures of others"
• Golda Meir, Israeli Prime Minister, stated when Pius XII died in 1958: "During the Nazi terror, when fearful martyrdom came to our people, the voice of the Pope was raised for its victims. The life of our times was enriched by a voice speaking out about great moral truths above the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace."
• Moshe Sharrett, former Foreign Affairs Minister and Prime Minister of Israel, after the Second World War went to see Pius XII "to thank the Catholic Church for what it did to save the Jews in all parts of the world."
• A New York Times editorial of December 25, 1942, stated: "The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas.... He is about the only ruler left on the continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all."
• Rabbi Herzog of Jerusalem, as well as the Rabbis of the Italian, United States, Romanian, and Hungarian Jewish communities came to Rome or sent messages thanking Pope Pius XII for the way in which he mobilized the Church in their behalf.

It is another interesting fact that Foxman claims that he was a "holocaust survivor," but he does not mention that he survived the Nazis only because a Catholic family took him in and protected him. He has never made a public statement of gratitude to the Catholic family who saved his life.

What an ingrate!