Rome, Italy, Jun 8, 2007 / 09:30 am
The Catholic Anti-Defamation League of Italy published a strong criticism of the comments by the former president of the Italian Hebraic Communities, Amos Luzzatto, who ridiculed Pius XII in an interview with “Corriere della Sera.”
Luzzatto attacked Pius XII saying that he, “never publicly opposed the mass exterminations…never said one word against the ghetto assault that took place” and “even that the German ambassador to the Holy See claimed the Vatican would not protest.”
In a press release the Catholic Anti-Defamation League of Italy pointed out that the telegram from the German ambassador cited by Luzzatto “is dated October 28, 1943, and therefore came after, not before, the assault on the Jewish ghetto in Rome.
After the raid on the Jewish ghetto, the German Ambassador Von Weizsäcker was called to the Vatican immediately by Secretary of State Cardinal Maglione, who asked on behalf of the Pope that the raid be stopped, “in the name of humanity and of Christian charity.”