Madam, - Leo Clear (November 11th) refers to "the strength and effectiveness of the wartime Pope's leadership".
This, presumably, was the same leadership that was shown - after it was repeatedly proven to the Pope that Jews were being deported and murdered en masse in country towns and villages, and not alone in concentration camps, all over Nazi-occupied Europe - when the most Pius XII did to denounce these genocidal deeds was to say in his 1942 Christmas homily to the world: "Humanity owes this vow to those hundreds of thousands who, without any fault of their own, sometimes [sic] only by reason of their nationality or race are marked down for death or gradual extinction."
Pointedly, nowhere in his statement did his "strong effective leadership" give him enough courage to even utter the words Nazi or Nazi Germany, or Jews. Yet, amazingly, years later the Pope was to claim he had been "clear and comprehensive" in his condemnation of the persecution of the Jews.
The question may always be asked whether, if he had spoken out strongly, it would have had any effect. And the answer surely must be: Could it have been any worse? - Yours, etc,
IVOR SHORTS,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.
