The conversion of Jews to Catholicism during the Holocaust is one of the most controversial aspects of the record of Pope Pius XII during The Holocaust.
According to John Morley, who wrote about Vatican diplomacy during the Holocaust, "one of the principal concerns of the Vatican, especially in the early days of the war, was those Jews who had converted to Catholicism, the so-called Catholic or Christian non-Aryans".Morley, 1980, p. 18. Morley further argues that Pius XII was "primarily, almost exclusively, concerned about baptized Jews". Moreover, Pius XII's purported fear of reprisals against "non-Aryan Catholics" is often cited as a motive for his not speaking out against the Holocaust.Roth and Ritner, 2002, p. 49.Sánchez, 2002, p. 177.
In many Axis and Axis-occupied countries, racial legislation restricted, banned, or did not recognize the conversion of Jews to Christianity. Across Europe—in Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Slovakia—Pius XII's nuncios saved their staunchest protests for the effects of the various anti-Jewish laws on baptized Jews. According to Roth and Ritner, "this is a key point because, in debates about Pius XII, his defenders regularly point to denunciations of racism and defense of Jewish converts as evidence of opposition to antisemitism of all sorts".Roth and Ritner, 2002, p. 44. The Holocaust is one of the most acute examples of the "recurrent and acutely painful issue in the Catholic-Jewish dialogue", namely "Christian efforts to convert Jews".Roth and Ritner, 2002, p. 236.
Brazilian Visa Project (1939-1941)
In March 1939, various members of the German Catholic hierarchy asked the newly elected Pius XII to petition the Brazilian government for 3,000 immigration visas for German Catholic Jews to settle in Brazil. This was followed by two years of diplomatic exchanges, starting with an instruction form Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Maglione to Benedetto Aloisi Masella, the nuncio in Rio de Janeiro to request the visas from President Getúlio Vargas. The visas were formally conceded by Vargas, through Brazil's Conselho de Imigração e Colonização (CIC), on June 20, 1939.
From the very beginning, the visas came with strict conditions, "some necessary, others obstructionist", which grew stricter over time.Morley, 1980, pp. 18-19. The visas were available to baptized Jews in Germany and other countries, but were required to submit a recommendation from the nunciature of their respective country.Morley, 1980, p. 19. The emigrants were further required to prove that their baptism had occurred before 1933. Protestant Jews were denied visas. Later conditions included a substantial monetary transfer to the Banco do Brasil and approval by the Brazilian Propaganda Office in Berlin.
In the face of these many hurdles, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer of Vienna wrote to Pius XII on February 4, 1941, asking for his immediate aid in granting the visas, in light of the beginning of deportation of the 60,000 Jews of Vienna, at least 11,000 of whom had been baptized. A reply from Maglione outlined the various difficulties associated with such a step. Innitzer was not satisfied, and complained again later that month.
The visa program was suspended on September 3, 1940, and officially ended on November 20, 1941.Morley, 1980, p. 20. The Spanish and Portuguese governments had already refused to issue travel visas for those using the immigration visas to Brazil. Innitzer updated the Vatican again on the increased pace of the deportations on May 20, 1942, and the Vatican tried for the last time to appeal to the Brazilians in July 1942. Maglione wrote in December 1941 to the bishop whose request had initiated the project that: "as you have certainly been informed [...] many emigrants have departed and—I regret to say—from what I have been told, a good many of them, both by their improper conduct and alleged demands, have not corresponded to the concern which the Holy See has shown in their behalf". The emphasis of Maglione's letter was not on the failure of a diplomatic effort, but chagrin at the alleged conduct and lack of gratitude of the recipients of the visas. According to the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, by "improper conduct", Maglione could only have meant that the recipients continued to practice Judaism.Gutman, 1990, p. 1136.Lesser, Jeffrey. 1995. Welcoming the Undesirables: Brazil and the Jewish Question. University of California Press. p. 151–168.
It is difficult to verify the exact number of visas issued. Only 1,000 visas were actually allocated to the Brazilian embassy in the Vatican, and most—although not all—were probably used. The remaining 2,000 in control of the Brazilian officials in Germany were never used, not even in the early months of the project. Maglione was "remarkably acquiescent" to the cancellation of the program and his response to the Brazilian ambassador about the possibility of reinstating the program in the future was "agonizingly impersonal and diplomatic".Morley, 1980, p. 21.
Morley views the importance of the Brazilian visa project as fourfold: first, in demonstrating the concern of Pius XII "primarily, almost exclusively" with baptized rather than unconverted Jews, and viewing their persecution primarily as an infringement on the rights of the church; second, in exemplifying the reliance on diplomacy, even as "an end in itself"; and third, in showing the reluctance of the pope to disturb the status quo, "even when a staunchly Catholic country reneged on its promise to the Pope"; and finally, the use of prior failure as an "apologia" against later proposals to aid Jews.
Action on behalf of converts by country According to Holocaust historian Michael Marrus, "while the Church often came to the defense of persecuted converted Jews, or 'non-Aryan Catholics' as they were sometimes called, seeing state action against them as a violation of agreements that assigned to the Church the right to determine who was and who was not a Catholic, the Church was much less solicitous of Jews who remained Jewish".Michael Marrus. "Pius XII and the Holocaust: Ten Essential Themes". In Rittner and Roth, 2002, p. 45.
In Croatia Similarly, in 1943 Cardinal Maglione instructed Aloysius Stepinac, the primate of Croatia, to save "as many Jews—mostly converts—as possible during an upcoming Nazi roundup".Phayer, 2000, p. 86. According to Morley, "there is an underriding current in all of Marcone's efforts that appears to limit his interests and activities to those Jews who had been baptized Catholic or were married to Catholics would not be harmed".Morley, 1980, p. 164.
In France One of the main protests of nuncio Valerio Valeri against the Vichy racial legislation was that there was no provision for conversion to Christianity written into the law.Morley, 1980, p. 68. Morley notes that the effect on converts was the sole basis for Vatican protests: "any governmental attitude that did not recognize the rights of the Church was a source of complaint by the Vatican. There is no basis for suggesting that any of the other provisions gave occasion for complaint".
According to Morley,
Valeri had no particular competence to comment on the laws or treatment accorded to Jews, unless they were baptized Catholics. Moreover, there was no concordat between France and the Vatican spelling out the duties and rights of each. Unlike Romania, for example, there were no large-scale conversions of Jews. Thus, there was no potential source of conflict with the government over the rights of baptized Jews, or legal justification for such Vatican intervention.Morley, 1980, p. 70.
In Germany The Vatican's objections to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were limited to their effects on converts from Judaism, particularly with respect to their right to marry "Aryan" Catholics.Phayer, 2000, p. 14. According to Morley, "as would be expected and was paralleled elsewhere, Orsenigo's early communications with Maglione concerning Jews dealt with those who had been baptized Catholic".Morley, 1980, p. 108. Orsenigo indicated interest in (unrealized) plans to send emigrate baptized Jews, particularly to a colony in Ethiopia. Other documents testify to Orsenigo's efforts to emigrate baptized Jews, but there is no evidence as to the outcome of these efforts.Morley, 1980, pp. 112-113.
In Hungary Angelo Rotta, Pius XII's nuncio to Hungary, regarded as Righteous among the Nations, telegraphed Cardinal Secretary of State Maglione to inform him of his actions to save Jews, particularly those who had converted to Catholicism.Roth and Ritner, 2002, p. 169. Nuncio Rotta handed out letters of protection to many Jews during the Holocaust, although the majority of them went to converts to Catholicism.Phayer, 2000, p. 108. The Hungarian Catholic Church throughout the 1930s and 1940s supported efforts to purge Jewish influence, "with the exception of some weak protests against the inclusion of Jewish converts in the increasingly severe anti-Jewish measures".Roth and Ritner, 2002, p. 185. According to Roth and Ritner, "apart from converts to Christianity, Cardinal and Primate of Hungary Justinian Seredi had no interest in the fate of the Jews".Roth and Ritner, 2002, p. 186.
In Italy
The Vatican's protest against the Italian racial legislation was that "there was no recognition of the rights of baptized Jews, whom the Vatican considered Catholics".Morley, 1980, p. 167. The protests of the racial laws were the "primary focus" of the Vatican's activity related to Jews.Morley, 1980, p. 190. According to Morley, "there is no evidence that the officials of the Secretariat of State were concerned about the restrictions placed upon the Jews. Their ongoing complaint was that the laws did not recognize the changed status of Jews who converted to Catholicism".Morley, 1980, pp. 190-191.
Of the refugees housed in the Vatican itself during the Roman razzia, often cited by defenders of Pius XII, most were non-Jews or converts.Zuccotti, Susan. 2004. "Pope Pius XII and the Rescue of Jews in Italy: Evidence of a Papal Directive?". Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 18(2): 255-273. Among the non-Christian refugees saved by the Vatican was Israel Zolli, the chief rabbi in Rome at the time. In 1945, Zolli converted to Catholicism and chose to be christened "Eugenio Maria" in homage to Pope Pius XII, who was born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli.
In Romania Nuncio to Bucharest Andrea Cassulo's "early efforts on behalf of Jews concerned almost exclusively those who had been baptized Catholic".Morley, 1980, p. 25. He passed on to the Vatican in 1939, but did not pursue, a project to emigrate the 150,000 converted Jews of Romania to Spain. From 1940 to 1941, his primary diplomatic responsibility was to protest various pieces of legislation insofar as they infringed on the rights of baptized Jews, particularly with respect to intermarriage and attendance of baptized Jews to Catholic schools, which were protected by the Romanian concordat.
Cassulo made three protests to Ion Antonescu: on November 20, 1940, December 2, 1940, and February 14, 1941.Morley, 1980, p. 26. Five days after the last protest, Antonescu informed the nuncio of his signing a decree allowing students of any ethnic origin to attend their own religious schools.