POPE WANTED TO KEEP JEWISH CHILDREN AFTER WWII

Report: Pope Pius XII wanted to keep baptized Jewish children after war
Pope Pius XII ordered the papal nuncio in France to impede the return of Jewish child survivors of the Holocaust to their families or Jewish communities following World War II, according to a document published Tuesday in Corriere della Sera. According to the report, in 1946 the pope instructed Nuncio Angelo Roncalli to refuse to hand back children who had been baptized by their Catholic caretakers, but Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, disobeyed.

The document, transmitted by the Holy Office to Roncalli on October 20, 1946, includes instructions on how to deal with requests by Jewish institutions to return Jewish children who had been entrusted to Catholic institutions and families during the war. The document reads: "Those children who have been baptized cannot be entrusted to institutions that are unable to ensure a Christian education.

"Regarding those children who no longer have parents and for whom the Church has been responsible, it is not advisable that they be abandoned by the Church itself or entrusted to persons who have no rights whatsoever over them – unless they are able to take responsibility over themselves. This obviously applies to children who have not been baptized.

"If the children have been entrusted [to the Church] by their parents, and if the parents now claim them back, they can be returned, provided the children themselves have not been baptized. It should be noted that this decision of the Congregation of the Holy Office has been approved by the Holy Father."