The papacy, the Jews, and the Holocaust

7. John XXIII, Paul VI, and Vatican II: Aggiornamento and the New Relationship between Catholics and Jews

7 JOHN XXIII, PAUL VI, AND VATICAN II Aggiornamento and the New Relationship between Catholics and Jews Also among man’s rights is that of being able to worship God in accordance with the right dictates of his own conscience , and to profess his religion both in private and in public.* PIUS XII’S DEATH IN EARLY OCTOBER 1958 led to the conclave of  October. Although the full complement of cardinals then numbered seventy, only fifty-three were present, and when two died prior to the conclave their number was reduced to fifty-one. The Italians, who constituted eighteen out of the fifty-one, represented the largest and most important bloc, followed by the French cardinals, who formed the second-largest group after the Italians.1 This solidified the candidacy of the seventy-six-year-old Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who was well known and admired by both groups. His advanced age likewise proved advantageous, for many of the cardinals favored a short, transitional papacy that would not substantially * Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII’s encyclical of  April , on establishing universal peace in truth, justice, and charity. PE :. . Some, citing unnamed FBI sources, have claimed that the conservative Cardinal Giuseppe Siri had been elected pope but that the French cardinals “annulled” his election. See Williams, Vatican Exposed, . 219 transform the institution. On  October Roncalli was elected pope as a compromise candidate, assuming the name John XXIII. The name he chose, as well as his ambitious goals for the faith, led some to suspect that he viewed himself as another John the Baptist. In many ways this assessment proved prophetic. Although a product of the Tridentine Church and in many respects a traditionalist, the new pope’s genial personality was radically different from that of his aloof, introverted, aristocratic predecessor. Almost immediately the gregarious John made it clear that, unlike Pius XII, he did not intend to take his meals alone. One Saturday morning he stopped to bless the Jews of Rome as they were coming out of their temple after prayers— the first pope ever to do so. It was an early indication that John would seek the Catholic-Jewish reconciliation that Pius XII had not pursued. These and other actions served to highlight the differences between the two men.2 Unlike Pius, who stemmed from the black nobility of Rome, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was the third of thirteen children of a poor sharecropper family of Sotto il Monte, outside Bergamo. Acclaimed by some as a breath of fresh air, he was derided by others as a peasant. Roncalli’s background and education were branded “inferior” to those of Pacelli, his aristocratic predecessor. In  he enrolled in the Roman Seminary of the Apolinare, where he studied theology and history. Called for compulsory Italian military service in , he returned to his studies at the end of . At the Apolinare he won the prize for Hebrew, a language he studied with great interest. He became a deacon in  and the following year was ordained a priest. Early in , when the socially minded Giacomo RadiniTedeschi was made Bishop of Bergamo, Angelo, who shared his social concerns , was appointed his secretary. When Italy entered World War I in , Angelo was recalled to the military and remained in the army until the end of , rising to the rank of lieutenant in the chaplains’ corps. In  he was called to Rome to serve as the director of the Italian section of Propaganda Fide and was named a monsignor in . Unlike the well-connected Pacelli, Roncalli had few significant connections or powerful patrons to advance his ecclesiastical career, but even his detractors acknowledged his talent for interpersonal relations. His first 220 John XXIII, Paul VI, and Vatican II . See Paul Hofmann, O Vatican! A Slightly Wicked View of the Holy See (New York: Congdon and Weed, ), . diplomatic assignment came in , when he was selected as apostolic visitor to Bulgaria, with a residence in Sofia, far from a choice assignment .3 Roncalli felt isolated and lonely during his decade in this Eastern Orthodox country, but he fulfilled his assignment with tact and talent. His stay there instilled in him respect for the religious convictions of others. Most of the difficulties he confronted in Eastern Europe, he confessed, were caused not so much by the Bulgarians but by the cumbersome central organs of ecclesiastical administration, an experience that led him to favor reform. In  he was named...