Puis XII

Tomorrow, October 9, is the fiftieth anniversary of pope Puis XII's death. He was the pope of my younger years, the last pope of the old liturgy and - I almost write - old faith, for which, in my weaker moments, I have been known to yearn.

The man was venerated as a saint during his lifetime and he was completely torn down after his death : that turnaround started with the publication of "Der Stellvertreter" in 1963.

In my lifetime, this is one of two major radical changes in public opinion. The second, quite ironically, concerns Israel. Up to 1976 at least the whole Western public opinion solidly backed Israel. That too has changed drastically.

Now, as long as the Vatican archives for the second world war are not opened, we shall not know the full truth - maybe we shall not know it even then.

But one thing is clear : Puis XII may not have been a saint ; he may have lacked courage ; he may have been too timid and diplomatic ; he most certainly was a conservative ; but he most certainly was not a henchman of the nazis and other fascist killers.