This film gives a great overview of the actions and attitude of Pope Pius XI, and a unique look at American involvement in the Holy See's response to the Holocaust and Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Fortunately, this film doesn't fall into the "Hitler's Pope" trope, all too common when this topic is discussed.
However, I felt that this film provided a fairly historiographically one-sided and untenable view of Pope Pius XII as a man almost indifferent towards the fate of the Jews. While I believe a contention can be made about the effect an official Papal pronouncement may have had on the Nazis rise to power, this film gives little to no attention to actions undertaken directly by Pope Pius XII and at his discretion during the war, such as the organization of visas and fake baptismal certificates for Jews, his role in the publication of the Encyclical "Mit Brennender Sorge", diplomatic pressures placed on governments by Pope Pius XII and the Holy See (notably, his personal comments to Josef Tiso, the leader of Slovakia and a Catholic priest, to whose representative was expressed "the deep sorrow experienced by His Holiness because of the sufferings inflicted on so many people because of their nationality or race" and a reminder that his actions were incompatible with his priesthood), and the sheltering of thousands of Jews in Vatican properties across Rome. An interesting point that the film also neglects is Hitler's detestation of Pius XII (and plans to kidnap and kill him) and the praise heaped upon Pius XII by Jewish groups immediately after the war for his actions during the war, both of which add a slightly different color to the portrait of the Pontiff painted by the film, which seems to me a little too eager to align him with the forces of evil, juxtaposing his portrait over reports of German atrocities.
It also neglects his role as shepherd to millions of Catholics worldwide, who perhaps he could have worked to inspire to action, but who faced persecution themselves (especially in the case of Polish Catholics) and retaliation against themselves and Jews when their leaders spoke out. Notably, France's Bishops protested the deportations of Jews, and in response, the Nazis simply increased them. It seems to a number of scholars that Pius XII's apparent silence is contemporarily misunderstood, and that his attempts to protect the sovereignty of a Church literally encirled by the powers of evil (the Nazis literally painted a circle around the Vatican, and had guns pointed at it) were used to ensure that the Church had the freedom to assist and rescue people covertly, and that a look at these actions, diplomatic attitudes and more privately expressed opinions truly show Pope Pius XII's response to the horrors of that time. The film would have done well to show these nuances and better fill out its image of Pius XII and the situation in order to give the most accurate picture possible of the scholarship now present. Hopefully with the opening of the archives, we'll soon have a much fuller image of the response of the Holy See to these times. Even still, by acknowledging some nuance and the historiographical debate within this topic, this film stands above those that just generate sensationalism based on the "Hitler's Pope" trope.
However, I felt that this film provided a fairly historiographically one-sided and untenable view of Pope Pius XII as a man almost indifferent towards the fate of the Jews. While I believe a contention can be made about the effect an official Papal pronouncement may have had on the Nazis rise to power, this film gives little to no attention to actions undertaken directly by Pope Pius XII and at his discretion during the war, such as the organization of visas and fake baptismal certificates for Jews, his role in the publication of the Encyclical "Mit Brennender Sorge", diplomatic pressures placed on governments by Pope Pius XII and the Holy See (notably, his personal comments to Josef Tiso, the leader of Slovakia and a Catholic priest, to whose representative was expressed "the deep sorrow experienced by His Holiness because of the sufferings inflicted on so many people because of their nationality or race" and a reminder that his actions were incompatible with his priesthood), and the sheltering of thousands of Jews in Vatican properties across Rome. An interesting point that the film also neglects is Hitler's detestation of Pius XII (and plans to kidnap and kill him) and the praise heaped upon Pius XII by Jewish groups immediately after the war for his actions during the war, both of which add a slightly different color to the portrait of the Pontiff painted by the film, which seems to me a little too eager to align him with the forces of evil, juxtaposing his portrait over reports of German atrocities.
It also neglects his role as shepherd to millions of Catholics worldwide, who perhaps he could have worked to inspire to action, but who faced persecution themselves (especially in the case of Polish Catholics) and retaliation against themselves and Jews when their leaders spoke out. Notably, France's Bishops protested the deportations of Jews, and in response, the Nazis simply increased them. It seems to a number of scholars that Pius XII's apparent silence is contemporarily misunderstood, and that his attempts to protect the sovereignty of a Church literally encirled by the powers of evil (the Nazis literally painted a circle around the Vatican, and had guns pointed at it) were used to ensure that the Church had the freedom to assist and rescue people covertly, and that a look at these actions, diplomatic attitudes and more privately expressed opinions truly show Pope Pius XII's response to the horrors of that time. The film would have done well to show these nuances and better fill out its image of Pius XII and the situation in order to give the most accurate picture possible of the scholarship now present. Hopefully with the opening of the archives, we'll soon have a much fuller image of the response of the Holy See to these times. Even still, by acknowledging some nuance and the historiographical debate within this topic, this film stands above those that just generate sensationalism based on the "Hitler's Pope" trope.
