The New York times prints a letter from the Vatican recently discovered in France dating from 1946 dealing with the fate of Jewish children sheltered by Catholic families during the war. The contents of the letter are as follows:-

Concerning Jewish children who were entrusted to Catholic institutions and families during the German occupation and are now demanded by Jewish institutions to be handed over to them, the Holy Congregation of the Holy Office has made a decision that can be summarized in this way:

1) Avoid, as much as possible, responding in writing to Jewish authorities, but rather do it orally.
2) Each time a response is necessary, it is necessary to say that the Church must conduct investigations in order to study each case individually.
3) Children who have been baptized must not be entrusted to institutions that would not be in a position to guarantee their Christian upbringing.
4) For children who no longer have their parents, given the fact that the Church has responsibility for them, it is not acceptable for them to be abandoned by the Church or entrusted to any persons who have no rights over them, at least until they are in a position to choose themselves. This, evidently, is for children who would not have been baptized.
5) If the children have been turned over by their parents, and if the parents reclaim them now, providing that the children have not received baptism they can be given back.

It is to be noted that this decision of the Holy Congregation of the Holy Office has been approved by the Holy Father.


The letter is extraordinary in many ways. The style is particularly bureaucratic considering the subject matter. The third clause is particularly startling. The prioritisation of religious dogma (ie. anyone who is baptised is part of the Church of Christ) over the welfare of these children and their families accounts for the struggle many Jewish families had in recovering their loved ones after the war.

The letter is drawing particular attention because the "Holy Father" referred to is Pope Pius XII, who is being put forward for Sainthood by the current Pope, but whose failure to condemn Nazism has been criticised by many commentators.