Haaretz: Pope Pius XII saved thousands of Jews

Haaretz reports:

New research has found that Pope Pius XII may have arranged the exodus of about 200,000 Jews from Germany just three weeks after Kristallnacht, the Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday.

The research is being carried out by Dr. Michael Hesemann, a German historian who is combing through the Vatican archives for the Pave the Way Foundation, a U.S.-based interfaith group.

Pope Pius XII has been widely criticized for his silence during the Holocaust and his failure to explicitly denounce the Holocaust, the Nazi regime or to excommunicate Hitler.

The new research, however, shows that the perception of Pius XII as "Hitler's Pope" may be historically incorrect. . . .

The relatively recently manufactured charge that Pius XII was "Hitler's Pope" is a calumny.  (Read Ronald Rychlak's "Hitler, the War, and the Pope.")  Still, that this research is being so prominently reported is welcome.