Directed by Paolo Sorrentino, the new 8-episode miniseries will feature Oscar winner Diane Keaton and Jude Law, according to The Guardian.

Diane Keaton will play Sister Mary, an American nun living in the Vatican, while Jude Law will play the lead role, the fictional figure of Pius XIII, the American priest Lenny Belardo, who is elected Pontiff of Rome.

The role in the joint project of HBO, Sky and Canal + television companies will be the first experience of participating in a television series for D. Keaton. Filming is expected to begin this week and the series is slated to hit TV in 2016. The world premiere will take place on cable networks in the US, UK, Italy, Germany and France.

The producers have not yet revealed the details of Keaton's character, but it is already known that Jude Law's character will be a man who stubbornly resists the influence of the "court" servants of the Vatican.

Pius XIII in the series will appear as "a complex and conflicting character, conservative in his choice, sometimes to the point of obscurantism, but full of compassion for the weak and the poor."

Series director Paolo Sorrentino stated that The Young Pope will focus on the beginning of Pius' pontificate and will feature both "clear signs of the existence of God" and "clear signs of the absence of God".

He also added that the film will address the problem of finding faith and losing it. The creators intend to show "the greatness of holiness, which can become an unbearable burden - when you are struggling with temptations and the only thing you can do is to succumb to them, as well as the internal struggle between the huge responsibility of the head of the Catholic Church and the suffering of a simple person whose fate or Saint The spirit was chosen as the pontiff,” said the director.

And, finally, the authors of the series ask themselves how a person should use and manipulate power in a state in which the dogma and moral imperative are the renunciation of power and selfless love for one's neighbor.

Pius XIII: fictional character or historical person?

Despite the fact that Jude Law's character, Pius XIII, is called a fictional character by the producers of The Young Pope, the history of Catholicism knows a real person with that name.

In 1998, the priest Earl Lucian Pulvermacher, who belonged to the schismatic current of sedevacantists, was proclaimed adherents of the True Catholic Church by Pope Pius XIII.

Catholic missionary, member of the monastic order of the Capuchins, Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher in the 1970s gradually moved to the position of extreme traditionalism. The reason was the reaction of part of the Catholic clergy and personally L. Pulvermacher to the changes in the Catholic tradition that occurred as a result of the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965.

L. Pulvermacher breaks with the Capuchin order and becomes in opposition to the official Vatican.

In the mid-1990s, Fr. Lucian comes to the conclusion that the Roman Pontiff John Paul II is a Freemason, which means that his election as pope in 1978 is invalid. Based on this, and also on the fact that the decrees of the Second Vatican Council are contrary to the Catholic faith, he concludes that all subsequent popes are also invalid.

In his opinion, Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II physically occupied the Roman throne, but were not true Roman pontiffs. Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council, through his heresy also ceased to be a Catholic, and therefore a pope, Pulvermacher argued.

Thus, in accordance with his theory, the throne of St. Peter after the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958 remained vacant.

From this came the name of the sedevacantist sect, to which L. Pulvermacher belonged: in the Catholic tradition, the period in which the Holy See is not occupied by a legitimate pontiff is called Sede Vacante (“with a vacant throne”, with a vacant throne).

Gradually, the idea was formulated to restore true Catholicism through the election of a "real" pope.

In 1998, elections were held for a new pontiff. The pseudo-conclave lasted a day, voting took place by telephone. A few adherents of the schismatic organization created with the participation of Pulvermacher, the True Catholic Church, took part in it. As a result, the only candidate was elected - Lucian Pulvermacher.

Antipope Pius XIII died in 2009. Even during his lifetime in the True Catholic Church, as often happens in schismatic communities, there was a further division.

Pius XIII

The hero of the series "The Young Pope" - 47-year-old Lenny Belardo - comes from Brooklyn, USA. The action of the tape takes place today. After being elected pope, Belardo changed his name to Pius, becoming the thirteenth pontiff named after this saint.

In reality, Pope Pius XIII did not exist: the character was invented by the writers of the series.

Lenny was abandoned by his hippie parents as a child and was raised by nuns. His childhood traumas and personal upheavals later affect a billion Catholic believers. Pius XIII wants to become a father to the faithful and, for almost the entire series, tries to get rid of the thoughts of a tragic childhood that constantly overcome him. He has to renounce the "understandable" world and enter a much more complex world - the spiritual one.

Pope Francis in his youth and Pius XIII from the TV series "The Young Pope"

Francis

Pope Francis (before his election - Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was born in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. He spent his childhood in the family of a railway worker and a housewife. He felt from his own experience how simple hard workers live, starting from an early age to earn extra money: first as a cleaner, laboratory chemist, and then a bouncer in a nightclub. At the age of 12, he fell in love with his neighbor. He told her: "If I don't marry you, I'll be a priest" - and, as we can see, he kept his word.

The mother of the future pontiff wanted her son to become a doctor. But her hopes were dashed in 1958, when Bergoglio decided to join the order of Jesuit priests.

He was attracted by their military obedience and discipline. As a clergyman, Bergoglio was formed during the so-called "dirty war" in Argentina, which began with a coup d'état.

Almost immediately after joining the order, Bergoglio was appointed mentor of the novices, and two and a half years later - the head of the province. A few years later, Bergoglio became a priest, and later led the Argentine Jesuits. For some time he lived in exactly the same conditions as the poorest population of Buenos Aires, in a tiny apartment, cooked his own food and used public transport. Therefore, he received the nickname Bishop of the Slums among the people.

In 2005, Bergoglio was one of the most likely candidates for the post of pope after the death of the previous head of the Catholics, John Paul II. But he was bypassed by Joseph Alois Ratzinger, who eventually became the pontiff. However, in 2013, the then 86-year-old Benedict resigned due to health reasons, and the conclave elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the 266th pope.

Francis is the first in many endeavors. He first introduced the Jesuit order to the pontificate. He is the first pope from the New World. In addition, before Francis, no one took the name of this saint.

Daily life and character

Pius XIII

Dad is a heavy smoker with an incredibly inflated ego. He suffers from a vow of celibacy, prefers a modest breakfast to luxurious meals, and cherry cola for drinks. He reluctantly tries on the rules for himself (for example, he calmly smokes even on the territory of the church), but he is extremely demanding of others in this regard. Pius XIII forbids any manifestation of familiarity in relation to himself, and once completely scolded an elderly nun for kissing him on the forehead.

He makes all his plans and reforms on his own, without conferring with the cardinals. His main idea is to reform the holy throne and revive the former splendor of the church. He is a prudent and ruthless manipulator who does not consider it a sin to spread gossip about his close associates.

The willfulness and rigidity of the father's character is confirmed by the fact that he easily gets rid of ideological rivals, sending them to serve in Alaska.

In the understanding of Pius, only faith can move people, everything else only hinders the service of God. The papacy of Pius XIII is based on the denial theorem: his parishioners must stop thinking about themselves and completely immerse themselves in the faith, accept the ultra-conservative doctrine of their pope. Lenny demands absolute loyalty, not the episodic relationships that the church has with most people.

Francis

The coup d'état in Argentina greatly influenced the character of the then Bishop Jorge Bergoglio. Endless attacks on the church by the authorities, torture of priests - all this forced Bergoglio to be more careful, but at the same time he had to protect his entourage, risking his life. From a strict, authoritarian and conservative bishop, Jorge turned into an attentive and gentle person.

In 2001, Bergoglio called on the people of Argentina to fight the activities of drug dealers: “Let's close this dark page of our country. Let's stop the merchants of death." He knew that this statement threatened his safety, but he understood that the inhabitants of the Argentine slums needed support. In addition, he quadrupled the number of priests in such places.

Francis renounced many papal privileges. For example, having learned about his appointment, he flew to Rome in economy class.

And after his election as pontiff, he specially returned to the hotel where he stopped for a while in Rome to pay his bill. His close associates also note that dad always carries his luggage on his own when traveling. It was not possible to find out the relationship of the pontiff to cherry cola, but among his favorite foods he named Mexican empanadas, steak and ice cream.

Attitude of cardinals

Pius XIII

Pius is considered a "photogenic puppet" by the cardinals. His associates hoped that he would thank them for their support during the election, but the Brooklyn orphan does not listen to anyone except his sister Mary, who has been with him since early childhood.

Hopes to manipulate the young pope were dispelled from the very first hours of the pontiff's reign: the cardinals begin to realize with horror that a quiet life is a thing of the past. Lenny is papal for his own pleasure and rules the Vatican, forcing his associates to fall to their knees and plunge into the web of his intrigues.

Shot from the series "The Young Pope"

Pius XIII does not value friendly relations, categorically does not accept the advice and help of those close to him, and also constantly makes comments to them.

Under the table, Belardo has a special button in case some kind of meeting will strain the pontiff or he considers it a useless waste of time.

After pressing, an assistant enters the room, who reminds him of some “important matters” and saves dad from an unpleasant society. Lenny uses this option at every opportunity after just a few minutes of conversation with any interlocutor.

Francis

Unfortunately, Pope Francis does not have a magic button under the table. He does not need it: the pontiff easily finds a common language with his team. For closer and more fruitful cooperation with subordinates, the pope refused to move to the luxurious Apostolic Palace and decided to live in a less formal setting, in the house of St. Martha, located near St. Peter's Cathedral. This building is home to cardinals, bishops and special guests of the Vatican.

The retinue of the Pope of Rome consists of almost a hundred people. His Holiness does not use the services of a stylist or personal trainer, although the headquarters has a papal doctor and several wardrobe workers. One of the duties of the headquarters of the Pope is the coordination of liturgical events. This is done by a special team led by Monsignor Guido Marini. If John Paul II loved colorful holidays, then Francis prefers a calm liturgy.

Behavior in public

Pius XIII

Pius XIII is fundamentally against personal souvenirs, which are one of the main sources of income for the Vatican: “I don't have an image. I am nobody. There is only ".

He fires all papal photographers, and if someone manages to photograph him, he immediately buys all the pictures.

Colleagues call this behavior "media suicide", but this does not bother Pius XIII in the least: he wants to make himself "an unattainable rock star."

The Pope also refuses all public speaking, forcing his subordinates to respond to letters from parishioners of the church. If the cardinals manage to persuade the pontiff to speak to the public, he will deliberately be late for his "appearance to the people." The Pope rejects all public speeches written especially for him by those close to him. And to a crowd of ten thousand, he declares: “You must understand that I will never be close to you, because before God everyone is alone.”

Francis

Francis, unlike Pius XIII, independently answers all letters received by the church. He is also known for making surprise calls to church members who write letters to him. An Italian newspaper even published a special guide that shared tips on how to talk to the pope. There are both tips from Captain Obvious like “write to such and such an address”, as well as unusual life hacks like how to properly address Holiness.

Moreover, the pontiff is an active blogger: he tweets every day for more than ten million people. “The Internet provides limitless opportunities for unexpected meetings and unity, and therefore is something truly good - a gift from God,” Francis said.

A photo posted by Pope Francis (@franciscus) on Jul 30, 2016 at 12:31pm PDT

Francis also planned to register on Facebook, but the cardinals of the church dissuaded him: there the pontiff “may face a lot of negative comments.”

By the way, in September 2015, during the visit of Francis to the United States, hashtags with an emoji specially created in honor of the pope were launched on the social network Twitter.

Proximity to the people for Francis is most important, even personal safety. Therefore, the list of his public deeds is much richer than the list of the hero of the Young Pope series. For example, in 2001, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he washed and kissed the feet of 12 AIDS patients at an Argentine hospice. In November 2013, the pope hugged and blessed a man suffering from neurofibromatosis (a disease in which the entire body is covered with tumors) and washed the feet of juvenile delinquents, including two Muslim girls. And in 2014, by order of Francis, three shower cabins were installed in the center of the Vatican, which homeless people could use. Subsequently, similar booths were installed in parishes throughout Rome.

In the same 2014, Francis unexpectedly visited dining room of the Vatican to have lunch with local workers: he took a plastic tray and stood in line with everyone. He ordered a plate of pasta without sauce and codfish with fried tomatoes, and then, to everyone's surprise, he sat down at a long table with a group of workers and said a prayer before eating.

Accepting luxurious and unusual gifts, dad often sells them, and gives the money to charity. So, in 2013, the pontiff received a Harley-Davidson motorcycle after he gave a blessing to hundreds of motorcyclists in St. Peter's Square. The bike was later sold for $327,000 in a charity auction in Paris.

Attitudes towards the gay community

Pius XIII

The protagonist of the series cannot decide on his views on a number of socially important problems. He alternately speaks out in defense of gays, abortion and emancipation, then plots to ban homosexuals from being in the ranks of the priests.

Pius XIII's orientation remains in question throughout the third season.

In the first episode, he has a dream where he calls out to a crowd of thousands: “We forgot how to arrange gay marriages. They forgot to allow the priests to love each other and even get married.” In the next episode, Pius XIII communicates with the prefect of the congregation for the clergy. From a conversation with him, he learns that the cardinal is a homosexual. The pontiff immediately uses his "saving button" and ends the conversation with the priest, and later even offers to demote him from the cardinals.

Francis

Although Pope Francis has openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Argentina and does not support the adoption of children by gay couples, in 2013, in an interview with reporters on board a plane en route from Brazil, the pope said:

“If a person is gay and has good will and aspires to God, who am I to judge him?”

Francis is against the so-called gay lobby, which he says is a "destructive claim against God's plan".

Homosexuality, in his understanding, is "a machination with the father of lies, who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God." At the same time, he actively supports liberal archbishops who advocate same-sex marriage.

In June 2016, the pontiff said: "The Roman Catholic Church and ordinary Christians should apologize to gays for the previous treatment of them." He believes that people of non-traditional sexual orientation should not be marginalized in the eyes of society and be discriminated against. The Pope forgave gay priests and forgave all their sins. “I consider acts of same-sex love to be sinful, but not homosexuality per se,” Francis said in an interview in 2013.

Cloth

The Gamarelli family has been making clothes for pontiffs, cardinals and priests since 1798. Their task is to provide the new dad with a wardrobe for public events. Finished robes, before they are sent to the Vatican, can be seen in the window of their Roman shop.

It is noteworthy that the papal robe worn by the protagonist of the series performed by was sewn in the same atelier. As for those close to Pius XIII, almost all of them wear dark colors.

Pope Francis and Jude Law in a scene from The Young Pope

Francis, after his appointment as pope, abandoned the expensive things that pontiffs and other archbishops wear.

He chose not to wear the flashy red shoes made especially for him, and opted for his old, worn black shoes from Buenos Aires. He also abandoned the traditional red robe, saying, "The time for carnivals is over."

Hobbies

As for Pius' hobbies, it turns out from the series that he is not indifferent to animals. So, one day, as a present from Australia, he receives a kangaroo. Pius XIII tames the animal and allows it to roam freely in the gardens of the Vatican.

And Pope Francis is not indifferent to football, he has a special sympathy for the Argentinean club San Lorenzo de Almagro. From other sports, dad is attracted to dancing: in his youth, he often attended tango dance evenings with his friends. The head also likes science fiction, in particular, he read many of Tolkien's works. And here

The pontiff has not watched TV since 1994, since he made a corresponding vow to the Virgin Mary.

In his spare time, Francis loves to cook: according to rumors, he is especially good at paella.

The pontiff also has a good sense of humor. When Bergoglio was elected pope, he told the other cardinals, "May God forgive you for what you have done." Photographers also once captured the moment he tried on a red clown nose.

The pontiff treats his age in the same way - with humor. “It is extraordinary for all of us — cardinals, bishops, priests and laity — that we are called to serve the church at any age,” he said in an interview. And three former cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church laughed off the question of a CNS journalist about the upcoming anniversary of the pope: “80 years is the beginning of a new 60!”

Biography

Pius XII (lat. Pius XII, before enthronement - Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, Italian. Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; March 2, 1876, Rome - October 9, 1958, Castel Gandolfo) - Pope from March 2, 1939, proclaimed the dogma of Ascension of the Virgin Mary and symbolically consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1942. On October 18, 1967, Pope Paul VI began the process of beatification of Pius XII. Became the first Pope to be elected from among the Secretaries of State since Clement IX in 1667. During his pontificate, Pius XII canonized 8 people, including Pius X, and beatified 5.

Nuncio, Cardinal, Secretary of State

Pacelli came from a noble family - he was the grandson of the founder of the Vatican newspaper "L'Osservatore Romano" Marcantonio Pacelli, the nephew of Leo XIII's financial adviser Ernesto Pacelli and the son of the head of the Vatican lawyers Filippo Pacelli. In April 1899, Pacelli became a priest, in June 1920 he was appointed apostolic nuncio to the Weimar Republic, and on December 16, 1929 he received the cardinal rank and wide powers. In a letter to Cardinal Pietro Gasparri dated November 14, 1923, Pacelli wrote that the National Socialist movement was anti-Catholic and carried anti-Semitism.

The American diplomat Robert Murphy, who worked in Munich in the first half of the 1920s, wrote in his memoirs:

“The nominal head of the Munich consular corps was the papal nuncio, Monseigneur Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII. The Vatican has always maintained close relations with Bavaria, which remained Catholic throughout the Reformation, while many other regions of Germany adopted Lutheranism. Monseigneur Pacelli was well versed in the intricacies of European politics and was one of the first to recognize that the future of Europe depends in general on what happens in Germany. On June 3, 1933, in a Dilectissima nobis document, Pacelli emphasized cosmopolitanism in foreign policy, but in August, regarding Nazi policy, he wrote to the British Mission to the Holy See about the executions of Jews and the reign of terror to which an entire people was subject.

From 1920 to 1940, Pacelli concluded concordats with Latvia, Bavaria, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Prussia, Baden, Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia and Portugal and paid a number of diplomatic visits, including to the United States in 1936, and in March 1942 established diplomatic relations with Japan.

Election and pontificate

See also: The 1939 Conclave, The Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, and The Social Doctrine of Pius XII The death of Pope Pius XI, 259, on the eve of World War II, forced the cardinals to hold a conclave on February 10 of that year at the Apostolic Palace. The conclave to elect Pius XI's successor began on 1 March and ended a day later. On March 2, after three electoral ballots, Eugenio Pacelli was elected as the new Pope. Eugenio accepted the election and took the papal name of Pius XII.

His pontificate was marked by an extremely difficult foreign policy situation, when the Pope found himself "bound" hand and foot in Nazi-occupied Rome. The Vatican's relations with both the anti-Hitler coalition and the pro-German camp turned out to be very difficult. The Pope was constantly under pressure from outside.

In the East, extremely ambiguous relations developed with the Soviet Union, which carried out both an active policy of eradicating religion in general and persecuting the Catholic Church in particular.

During the Holocaust in World War II, Pius XII, by some accounts, gave all the help he could to the Jews. It was on his instructions that the representatives of the Holy See hid the Jews from the Nazis and gave them false passports.

In 1949, he anathematized the communist leaders of Czechoslovakia.

Pius XII was called "Pope Mary" - for his great commitment to the Mother of God, manifested in the creed he announced regarding Her Assumption. He made a significant contribution to the development of Catholic social teaching.

Bulls and encyclicals

Basic encyclicals:
"Mystici corporis", June 29, 1943 - about the Church as the one mystical body of Christ, ;
"Communium interpretes dolorum", April 15, 1945 - on a call to prayer for peace;
"Fulgens radiatur", March 21, 1947 - about St. Benedict;
"Mediator Dei", November 20, 1947 - on the liturgy;
"Auspicia quaedam", May 1, 1948 - on prayers for peace and a solution to the Palestinian conflict;
"In multiplicibus curis", October 24, 1948 - on prayers for peace in Palestine;
"Redemptoris nostri cruciatus", April 15, 1949 - about places of pilgrimage in Palestine;
"Anni sacri", March 12, 1950 - on a program to counter atheistic propaganda in the world;
"Humani generis", August 12, 1950 - on some aspects of Catholic doctrine, ;
"Ingruentium malorum", September 15, 1951 - about the rosary,;
"Fulgens corona", September 8, 1953 - on the announcement of the centenary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception as the year of Mary;
"Ad Sinarum Gentem" October 7, 1954 - address to the Chinese people;
"Ad caeli Reginam", October 11, 1954 - about the announcement of the heavenly reign of Mary,;
"Datis nuperrime", November 5, 1956 - about the condemnation of the tragic events in Hungary and the use of force;
"Ad Apostolorum Principis" (Toward Apostolic Principles), June 19, 1958 - about the Chinese Catholic community; the last encyclical in the life of the pope.

Awards

Knight of the Supreme Order of the Holy Annunciation
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Mauritius and Lazarus

Beatification

On May 8, 2007, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints accepted Pius XII's Dossier of Heroic Virtues. On December 19, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI approved the dossier and awarded Pius XII the title of "venerable" (lat. venerabilis). This should be followed by an examination of the miracles that occurred through prayers to the late pope and his canonization of the blessed - that is, the proper beatification.

Opinions of Jewish leaders and public organizations

Pius XII surrounded by bishops from Uden (Netherlands) On July 14, 1944, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Anton Zolli, in an interview with the New York edition of The American Hebrew, said: “The Vatican has always helped the Jews, and the Jews are very grateful to the Vatican for its charitable labors undertaken without any discrimination of races.

Also in his memoirs, Zolli described the role of the Pope in more detail:

“... The people of Rome felt disgust for the Nazis, and great pity for the Jews. He willingly helped the evacuation of the Jewish population to remote villages, where they were hidden and protected by Christian families. Accepted Jews and Christian families in the heart of Rome. The treasury had money to support the poor from among the refugees thus sheltered. The Holy Father personally sent a letter to the bishops, in which he ordered to abolish the discipline of seclusion in male and female monasteries so that they could become asylums for Jews. I know one monastery where the sisters moved to sleep in the basement, leaving their beds to Jewish refugees. In the face of such mercy, the fate of many persecuted becomes especially tragic. After the end of the Second World War, Jewish unions expressed deep gratitude to the Pope. World Jewish Congress President Naum Goldman wrote: "With special gratitude we remember all that he did for the persecuted Jews in one of the most difficult periods of their history." As a token of gratitude, in 1945 Congress allocated $20,000 to the charitable causes of the Vatican.

Here is the opinion of the political leader of Israel in the post-war period, and later the Prime Minister of the country, Golda Meir:

“During the ten years of Nazi terror, when our people endured the horrors of martyrdom, the Pope expressed condemnation of the oppressors and expressed solidarity with their victims. Our epoch has been enriched by this voice, affirming great moral truths. The suggestion that Pius XII was fascist sympathizers arose mainly after 1963, when the German playwright Rolf Hochhuth published the play The Deputy (by Rolf Hochhuth), which depicts the Pope cowardly silent in the face of the mass extermination of the Jews. Published as a book, the drama was accompanied by a commentary presented as a historical work.

On October 19, 2008, the Vatican officially confirmed its intention to canonize Pope Pius XII, despite opposition from Israel.

Pius XII is accused by some Israeli organizations of not speaking out against the genocide of Jews during World War II.

The National Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem, has a photograph of Pius XII with the caption:

“The pope, elected in 1939, set aside the message against anti-Semitism and racism prepared by his predecessor. Even when reports of the extermination of the Jews reached the Vatican, he did not protest against it in writing or orally. In 1942, he did not join in condemning the Allies for the murder of Jews. Pius XII did not intervene when the Jews were deported from Rome to Auschwitz."

Earlier, Father Peter Gumpel (Peter Gumpel), who heads the commission for the canonization of Pius XII, said that the text of the photo caption falsifies history. In his opinion, until this photograph is removed from the museum, Pope Benedict XVI will not be able to visit the Holy Land.

However, the official Vatican said that the caption to the photo cannot influence the decision of Benedict XVI to visit Jerusalem. The representative of the Israeli Foreign Minister also confirmed that the invitation of the Pope to the Holy Land remains in force.

The Vatican insists that Pope Pius XII made every effort to save as many Jews as possible during the war, but used diplomatic means to do this, since the more open intervention of the Catholic leader could only worsen the situation. The Vatican also recalled that Pius XII ordered Catholic churches to shelter Jews, and Vatican representatives in other countries helped many Jews avoid concentration camps by issuing false passports to them. At a mass commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of the pontiff, Benedict XVI stressed that Pope Pius XII "secretly and quietly" did everything possible during the war to avoid the worst and save the lives of as many Jews as possible.

In May 2009, Pope Benedict XVI visited Yad Vashem to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. In his speech, he said, in part:

“The Catholic Church, following the teachings of Jesus, imitating Him in love for every person, feels deep compassion for the victims, whose memory is honored here. And in the same way, she stands today on the side of those who are persecuted because of race, color, living conditions or religion; their suffering is her suffering, as is their hope for justice. As Bishop of Rome and Successor of the Apostle Peter, I reaffirm - like my predecessors - the Church's commitment to pray and work tirelessly so that hatred never again dominates the hearts of the people. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of peace (cf. Ps. 9:9).”

Role in Serb genocide

During the war, Pope Pius XII repeatedly received reports of crimes committed in the Independent State of Croatia against the Orthodox population and the participation of Catholic priests and monks in them, but refused to do anything. A similar position was taken by Aloysius Stepinac and the Catholic Archbishop of Belgrade, Josip Uzhice, who were regularly supplied with information about the destruction of the Serbs. Only Cardinal Eugene Tisserand protested against the terror of the Croatian Ustashe in the Vatican.

After 1945, the Vatican was also blamed for encouraging mass conversions of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism. This was done accompanied by armed detachments of the Ustashe. The English historian Richard West, who has studied this issue, in one of his books refers to the text of a Bosnian newspaper, which spoke of the conversion to Catholicism of 70,000 Serbs in the diocese of Banja Luka. He also wrote that the Catholic clergy directed their aspirations primarily to the Serbian peasants. According to him, all those who had a secondary education, as well as teachers, merchants, wealthy artisans and Orthodox priests, were considered carriers of the "Serb consciousness" and were subject to total destruction. A similar point of view was voiced by modern Serbian researchers. In total, more than 240,000 Serbs were converted, for which Pope Pius XII thanked the Catholic structures in Croatia.

After the defeat of the NGH and the liberation of Yugoslavia from the occupation troops and collaborators, the Ustashe leaders fled to Austria. About 500 Catholic priests and monks fled with them, including Archbishop Ivan Sharich of Sarajevo and Bishop Jozo Garic of Banja Luka. Most of them took refuge in the Franciscan monasteries of Austria. Later, Pavelic moved to Rome, where he enjoyed the patronage of the Vatican and with the help of which he emigrated to Argentina some time later.

Antipope Pius XIII, in the world Earl Pulvermacher (Earl Pulvermacher) was born on April 20, 1918 in the family of Hubert Pulvermacher and Cecilia Lerenz. He was baptized on April 28, 1918. After four years of pre-seminary, a year of novitiate, four years of philosophy and four years of study of theology, he makes perpetual vows on August 28, 1942 in the monastic order of the Capuchins. June 5, 1946 he was elevated to the rank of priest. In keeping with the Capuchin tradition of choosing a different name for himself to show his "removal from the world", he chooses the name Lucian, which means "illuminating the path."
From the autumn of 1947 to the end of 1948, Fr. Lucian is the vicar of the parish of St. Francis in Milwaukee, USA. At the end of 1948, as a missionary, he traveled to the Amani Oshima Islands, where he served first as a vicar, and then as parish priest. In 1955, he moved to the island of Okinawa, where he served until the spring of 1970. From the end of 1970 until January 1976 he was a missionary in Australia. In January 1976, Fr. Lucian Pulvermacher leaves Australia and the Capuchin order and begins cooperation with traditionalist Catholic organizations opposed to the decisions of the Second Vatican Council. Worked with FSSPX for some time.
After the break with FSSPX, Fr. Lucian organizes private chapels in parts of the US where he celebrates the Tridentine Mass. In the mid-1990s, Fr. Lucian comes to the conclusion that the Roman Pontiff John Paul II is a Freemason, which means that his election as pope in 1978 is invalid. Based on this, and also on the fact that the decisions of the Second Vatican Council are contrary to the Catholic faith, he also concludes that all post-conciliar popes are invalid. Those. Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II physically occupy the Roman throne, but are not true Roman pontiffs. And so did Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council, through his heresy ceased to be a Catholic, and therefore a pope. Thus, in accordance with the theory of Lucian Pulvermacher, throne of St. Petra remains vacant after the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958.
In 1998, it was decided to convene a conclave of conservative Catholics, both secular and clergy. Voting was to be done by telephone. The conclave began on October 23, 1998 at 13:00 and lasted 24 hours. It should be noted that Fr. Lucian was the only clergyman to claim the papacy at this conclave. Upon its completion, Fr. Lucian, who chose the name Pius XIII. However, the elected Pius XIII was still a priest. Therefore, he first elevates the married Australian Gordon Bateman to the “episcopal” rank, who then puts Pope Pius XIII in the “bishopric”.
This was the beginning of the formation of the true Catholic Church, headed by Pope Pius XIII. "Bishop" Bateman was made a cardinal. The ranks of the clergy of the true Catholic Church were replenished on June 18, 2000 by the married Robert Lyon, who was elevated to the rank of "priest" by Pope Pius XIII. Soon the paths of "cardinal" Bateman and Pope Pius XIII parted ways. Bateman condemned the pope for practicing pendulum divination and promoting it to others. After that, "cardinal" Bateman moved to another antipope -

In one of the biographies of Pope Pius XII (in the world of Eugenio Pacelli), the author places him in the pantheon of great pontiffs, next to Innocent III, Gregory VII, Pius IX and Leo XIII. Summing up his spiritual uniqueness in opposing both Nazi racism and Stalinist materialism, the book opines that Pius was "a guiding star in the wilderness of the earth, a sign of hope, a pledge of future improvements."

After the death of Pius XII in 1958, few would dispute such an assessment. For Catholics, as well as for many non-Catholics, this lean, aesthetic, pious intellectual, impeccably wearing a white cassock, cap and red papal shoes decorated with crosses, was simply the personification of the ideal pope. He canonized Pope Pius X (1903-14) and it seemed clear that, in time, he too would go through the process of canonization. However, in 1999 a new biography of Pius XII came out. In an extremely critical book one could read:

"The gospel parable of the good shepherd tells of a shepherd who loved his sheep so much that he would do anything, dare anything, endure any pain in order to save a single sheep that was lost and in danger. To his eternal shame and to the shame of the entire Catholic Church, Pacelli abhorred to recognize the Jews of Rome as part of his Roman flock.

How can such a monstrous difference in historical estimates be explained?

Historical division

In the first few years after the death of Pius XII, biographers tended to describe his life in the laudatory spirit of the Lives of the Saints. Later in 1963, the German Protestant and leftist anti-church playwright Rolf Hochut staged the play The Deputy (Der Stellvertreter). In it, Eugenio Pacelli was portrayed as an avid anti-Semite, openly collaborating with the Nazi system and turning a blind eye to Hitler's genocide. The play gave impetus to such a heated historical debate that they do not subside to this day. Diaries of ambassadors, newspaper editorials, eyewitness accounts, papal archives, general statistics of the Holocaust and personal testimonies of its participants, telegrams from diplomats, secret Allied government documents, and many visual sources - all this and much more has come flooding in thanks to both apologists and detractors of the pope. Some concluded that Pius, in helping vulnerable people, especially European Jews, did everything that was humanly possible. Others have described Pacelli as a moral coward at best and an active anti-Semite at worst. What, from a historical point of view, is the most accurate version of Pope Pius XII?

Sympathy for Dictatorship: Criticism

It is believed that after the liberal experiments of Pius IX (1846-1848), which apparently led to the revolution of 1848 and the exile of the pope, the Roman pontiffs turned away from liberalism, modernism and democracy. The following pontiffs, relying on the dogma of the infallibility of the pope (since 1870), returned to the medieval idea of ​​paternal authoritarian government as an ideal for all countries. The church denounced atheistic socialism, petty-bourgeois radicalism, the pursuit of women's equality, the struggle for church separation, contraceptive measures and the movement for all-Christian unification - and all this criticism clearly indicated that the Vatican had declared war on the new world.

Moreover, as a result of the loss of papal dominions to the newly formed Italian state in 1870, the pontiff ceased to look like a practical statesman and began to resemble more the ideal of Catholic spirituality. As a result, this image of the pope began to evoke sympathy among civil authorities, who also saw liberal democracy as a threat to an orderly Christian civilization. As a result, the Vatican signed several concordats with monarchist and dictatorial reactionary states - with fascist Italy and Spain, Nazi Germany, authoritarian Hungary and militaristic Poland. Catholic democratic parties (the Italian People's Party in 1924 and the German Center Party in 1933) were sacrificed, a clear indication of the pope's predilection for dictatorship during the interwar period.

The fact that Pacelli was a key figure in the secretariat of state, first as deputy, and from 1930 as head of this organization, suggests that he, like his predecessor Pius XI (1922-1939), had a penchant for dictatorship.

Protection

There is no doubt that the Vatican in the late XIX and early XX centuries. saw himself as an island of Christian truth in the raging sea of ​​modernism. However, in reality, while the theological line of the Vatican, reviving medieval ideas, was reactionary, the policy of the church's relations with secular and non-secular countries was extremely practical. Leo XIII (1878-1903) ruled like a king. However, he put as much effort into trying to end the Kulturkampf (Cultural Struggles) in Imperial Germany and wanting to reach an interim agreement with republican France as he did in official relations with monarchist Spain or the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Benedict XV (1914-1922) and Pius XI (1922-1939) continued to expand the number of their permanent representatives around the world. During the interwar years, papal policy actively adapted to new circumstances. Historians recognize three principles of decision-making in the international politics of the Vatican up until 1939.

• First, while the democracies were in a stable position, relations with them were full of the same enthusiasm as relations with dictatorships: a lot of democracies received permanent papal representatives during that period.


• Secondly, all efforts were focused on restoring the independence of the Vatican. Preliminary negotiations with the Italian government on the solution of the Rome Question took place from 1918 to 1922. And this issue remained unresolved until Mussolini proposed the Lateran Agreement in 1929, which was accepted by the Vatican. By signing this treaty, Pius XI received not only the right to tax and territorial independence, but also the right to interfere in the cultural, social and religious life of the Italian people.


• Finally, in those countries where godless communism would inevitably come to power, the Vatican chose to support authoritarian principles. The pope considered communism the greatest social evil, so any union that provided the church with freedom to preach became theologically justified.

Questionable neutrality: criticism

Many conclusions are drawn from the fact that Pius was a Germanophile. He had a penchant for German cuisine, literature and music, and his servants consisted entirely of German monks, who were managed with Teutonic dedication by Matushka Pascalina. Pacelli was papal representative in Bavaria and later in the Weimar Republic from 1917 to 1930. Critics insist that the pope's attachment to all things German blinded him to the atrocities committed in the name of Germany during the World War.

Protection

It is believed that Benedict XV showed such strict neutrality during the First World War that each side accused him of approving the opposing side. Pius XII inevitably fell into the same trap. His "impartiality" caused displeasure on both sides. Allied propaganda needed the pope's spiritual authority to boost morale; the Axis needed an obliging, nonjudgmental silence on their military and social policies.

In fact, for most of the war, Pius XII did show, albeit covertly, some sympathy for the allies. In 1940, he approved the leak to the Allies that the Dutch coast was mined. He supported Roosevelt's program to help the USSR. Most impressive was his remark to the Prime Minister of Hungary during a visit in April 1943: the pope “considered incomprehensible German actions against the Catholic Church, Jews and peoples in the occupied territories ... he was very worried about the terrible threat of communism, but felt that contrary to the Soviet I’m building… the Russian people remained more Christian… than the German people.”

Anti-Semitism: criticism

The works of modern researchers show that a frighteningly strong, albeit modified, medieval anti-Semitism in a certain respect existed in the Catholic Church of the 20th century. The "God-killing" Jews who rejected the Christian atonement were the perfect scapegoats. In the history of the church, 114 pontiffs and 16 churches have introduced anti-Semitic rules. After a short period of rational enlightenment in the 18th century, Catholicism, which desired the absolute power of the pope, rekindled its fear of the Semitic intellectuality, which was apparently the core of secular modernism, and in some respects of socialism.

It is believed that by the late 1920s, fear of Bolshevism and Jewish secularism had intermingled. Since the Jews received the greatest benefit from the dechurching of the state, the Catholic Church, at best, remained prudent towards them and did not bind itself with any obligations, and at worst, demonstrated rabid anti-Semitism. Pius XII, as a representative of the anti-Semitic papal curia, shared such prejudices and therefore did not help the Jews in their plight during the war.

Protection

In 1904, Pius X met personally with Theodor Herzel (the founder of modern Zionism), it seemed that this should be evidence of the beginning of a more advanced approach in Catholic-Jewish relations. Of course, individual representatives of the Vatican, supporters of church-fascist views, continued to spread the usual anti-Semitic sentiments in the interwar years. However, Pius XI was afraid that the traditional fear of Jewish influence in the dechurching of society would turn into political extremism, social threat and moral evil.

In 1923 and 1928 he condemned racism with particular force. In 1938, the papal encyclical "With great anxiety" became the most serious attack on the racial policy of the Nazis, which was launched by the leader of all Christians in the interwar period; and Pacelli took part in the compilation of this encyclical. And he also dismissed it, since soon a new encyclical “On Godless Communism” was published, stigmatizing the Soviet ideology, not noticing that the derogation of the rights of believers caused spiritual harm to Ukrainian Greek Catholics just as well as to Soviet orthodox Jews. In June 1938, Pius XI began work on the encyclical "On the Unity of the Human Race" - a warning to Europe about the threat of deadly anti-Semitism. Pius XI died of cancer before the outline of the encyclical was completed.

So far, there is no evidence that Pacelli "set fire" this document. On the contrary, all the diplomatic efforts of the pope were aimed at preventing war. And could Pius XI allow a racist to infiltrate the Secretariat of State and remain there for more than a decade? The reactions of Pius XI and Pius XII to the horrors of racism differed only in their loudness.

Failure to condemn the Holocaust: criticism

It is quite obvious that by the winter of 1942-43. Vatican diplomats in eastern Europe made it clear to the pope that the Nazi "settlement of the east" was a verbal cover for extermination. In this regard, many scholars condemn the timidity of Pius's statements during radio broadcasts, in comparison with the much more outspoken statements of the Dutch archbishop in the summer of 1942, who condemned the Nazis for their treatment of Jews. It is alleged that the Pope's direct attack on Nazi policies and the threat of excommunication to every Catholic for participating in these policies alerted the Jews and gave them a chance to escape, and also forced the leaders of Nazism, brought up in a Catholic spirit (Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels), to abandon drastic measures, as happened with the disabled euthanasia program in 1938-39.

Protection

While official Italy remained neutral, the Vatican radio and the Roman Observer newspaper came out with strong criticism. On January 19, 1940, the radio and newspaper reported to the world about the "terrible atrocities and savage tyranny of the Nazis in Poland." In his Easter sermon in 1940, Pius condemned the bombing of the civilian population, and on May 11 of that year he sent a telegram to Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg expressing sympathy for their disaster. In June 1942, the Pope condemned the mass deportation of French Jews. And on December 24, 1942, in a Christmas address, Pius spoke directly about "those hundreds and thousands who, without any fault, sometimes only because of nationality or race, are sentenced to death or exhaustion."

In those years, the Jews, as well as the Nazis, were quite sure that the pope's statements were evidence of his categorical condemnation of the Holocaust policy. Ribbentrop and Mussolini decided that the pope had violated his neutrality. That the pope's statements were not followed by more frank and lengthy condemnations was due to the well-known fact that after the Dutch cardinal's frank confessions of sympathy for the Jews, more than 100,000 Dutch Jews were sent to the death camps. By comparison, the Danish episcopate kept a low profile in public statements, and at the end of the war most of the 8,000 Danish Jews were smuggled to Sweden, and of the 500 Danish prisoners in the Terezin ghetto, 90% survived the war.

The chief rabbi of Copenhagen, Markus Melchior, believed that "if the pope had allowed himself to speak, Hitler would most likely have committed the massacre of more than six million Jews."

Failure to protect Italian Jews: criticism

Italy's unilateral withdrawal from World War II forced Germany to occupy two-thirds of the peninsula by September 1943. There is evidence that the Vatican was aware of Hitler's plans to kidnap Pius XII if his resistance became too strong. SS General Wolff was supposed to take the pope to Liechtenstein, confiscate the treasures of the Vatican for the needs of the war and prepare Rome for defense against the onslaught of the allies. As a consequence, Pius' failure to help the 8,000 Roman Jews is clear evidence of his moral cowardice. He prioritized personal security and the preservation of the Vatican over the human catastrophe that unfolded in Rome "literally under the windows of his house," as one critic wrote.

Protection

Violent hostility towards the Jews was not a characteristic feature of everyday life in Italy. Jews, first of all, were Italians, and then already Semites. Pacelli denounced Mussolini for imitating the Nazis, such as passing the racial laws in 1938. However, the 400,000 Italian Jews remained undisturbed. The new Nazi ambassador informed the Vatican that the Roman Jews were safe. When the political course became more radical and the Jews began to be driven to Rome, Pius protested to the German ambassador and ordered that all the monasteries and convents of the papacy should support the Jews.

The Nazis hoped to herd 8,000 Jews to Rome. To the fury of the SS, only 1,259 were captured. About 5,000 were hidden in 155 religious institutions. The Vatican itself received 500 people into its cloisters, including the family of the chief Roman rabbi, Israel Zolli. The pope's summer palace hosted about 2,000, and 60 received refuge in the cellars of the Jesuit Gregorian University and the Biblical Institute of the Pontiff. In the rest of Italy, partisans, socialists and communists took part in the defense of the Jews. However, in central and southern Italy, it was the church that led the way in helping.

In Italy, as much as 80 percent of the Jewish population was saved, in stark contrast to the 80 percent of Jews exterminated in the rest of Europe. It seems incredible that this could happen if there was an ideological anti-Semite on the throne of St. Peter.

To understand disputes

One of the researchers wrote:

“It may well be that criticism of the church is due to its high claims. If over the centuries less was said about her wisdom, perhaps the expectations from her in such a difficult situation would be smaller. The Roman Catholic Church claimed the highest standards, and it was precisely for By this measure, she was condemned."

This statement briefly explains the loud and irritated historical disputes. And here the well-known saying that the historian should not be a judge, much less an executioner, turns out to be completely inapplicable. Many try to hide their interest in obscuring the truth revealed by the facts. Deliberate attempts are constantly being made to distort, deceive with a false translation, edit, or simply remain silent about the historical context of papal activity.

Be that as it may, everyone agrees that the study is far from over. However, the following conclusions seem to be quite obvious.

• The Catholic Church directly participated in the spread of the anti-Semitic idea of ​​the Jews as "the people who killed Christ." However, in the XX century. all popes since Pius XI were concerned about the danger of a new round of anti-Semitic sentiments on the part of the Nazis. And the Catholic Church became the first international organization to warn of this danger.


• In the interwar years, Vatican politics were often pragmatic. If the fascist regime, which promised independence to the Catholics, was the only alternative to godless communism, one should not be surprised at the choice of the Vatican. After all, the policy of appeasement of Germany, which was carried out by Great Britain and France, was also based on the fact that Germany is a bulwark against communism.


• Pius sought to convert all representatives of traditional Judaism to Christianity. Such was the purpose of the pope and his universal church. Today, such intentions seem too arrogant, but in those days it seemed natural.


• The reaction of the Catholic Church to the Holocaust varied depending on the states and peoples. However, according to separate studies, anti-Semitic legislation did not enjoy support in Catholic Western Europe.


• The pope's response to anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe varied greatly. In Slovakia and Croatia, the criminal regimes of Tiso and Pavelić received only a "diplomatic protest" from the Vatican Secretary of State for their racist policies. However, when mass extermination became a reality in authoritarian Hungary in 1943-44, the papal representative, at the behest of Pius XII, took a number of proactive measures to protect the Jews, using mass conversions, papal immunity and asylum to transfer them to neutral countries. The World Jewish Congress later recognized it as "the greatest concentrated effort to save the Jewish population in the entire war."


• In Italy, Pius defended the vulnerable Jews directly and boldly. After the war, the chief rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, converted to Catholicism and took a Christian name - Eugenio, for Pacelli's services to the Jewish people.


• Pius' actions as a diplomat may give the impression that he was a man obsessed with the legal niceties of papal neutrality, and not at all with human suffering. However, Pius and the Catholic Church saved more Jewish lives than Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg, Frank Foley and the International Red Cross put together.

Outcome

Pius XII was convinced that his tactics of unprovoking practical help would ultimately save more Jewish lives than pompous curses against the ranks, whose punishment would be directed at the very people Pius wanted to help. Most Jews immediately after the World War subconsciously admitted that the pope was right.

If the louder Pius XI had been in his place, the death penalty would have befallen not 20, but 80 percent of Italian Jewry. Would Pius XII's detractors then accuse him of being more concerned with his historical reputation than with the fate of the Jews, who could have been saved using a less narcissistic and more pragmatic approach? This is a real historical dilemma!

F.G.Stapleton) Translation: Igor Oleinik

Original: History Review December 2006 F.G.Stapleton " Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust"pp 16-20