“Helping the Jews is not an easy thing to do.” Vatican Holocaust Policy: Continuity or Change?

The response of Pope Pius XII to the Holocaust has been discussed since the Holocaust itself. A crucial episode was the events of October 16, 1943, when the SS seized more than one thousand Roman Jews and the Pope did little about it. The historiography has highlighted this “Under His Very Windows” drama. This article suggests that a number of issues weighing heavily on Pius at that time inhibited his response.