Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII (Italian: Pio XII; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 2 March 1939 until his death.

Pius reigned as pope during a highly consequential 19 years that included the Second World War, the Holocaust and the beginning of the Cold War. Born, raised, educated, ordained and resident for most of his life in Rome, prior to his papacy he was secretary of the Vatican's Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, nuncio to Germany, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber, and Cardinal Secretary of State for the Holy See, in which capacity he was entrusted with negotiating treaties with other sovereign states.

The Vatican was officially neutral during World War II. The Reichskonkordat - the treaty Pacelli had signed with Nazi Germany - and Pius' actions during the war remain the subject of debate, including accusations of public silence and inaction concerning the fate of the Jews. Pius' defenders state that he employed diplomacy to aid the victims of the Nazis and directed the Church to provide discreet aid to Jews and others, thereby saving thousands of lives; that the Nazis viewed him as an Allied sympathizer who had dishonored his policy of Vatican neutrality; and that Pius maintained links to the German resistance and shared intelligence with the Allies. His detractors state that he didn't issue any widespread orders to hide or shield Jews and that Church rescue efforts depended instead on the initiatives of local clergy (including those in Vatican City and Rome) and nuncios; and that Pius's generalized public statements about genocide didn't specifically mention Jewry and were considered inadequate by the Allies and Polish government-in-exile.