P1-Brian

**Pope Pius XII** Pope Pius XII was born March 2, 1876 in Rome, Italy- he died October 9, 1958 in Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Pope Pius (as you can tell by the name) was Christian. Pope Pius XII worked his up the Christian line to become Pope. In 1933 he became Vatican Secretary of State and in 1933 he signed an agreement called a concordat with Hitler’s government. This agreement though was proposed by Hitler. Pope Pius XII was elected Pope on March, 12 1939 after the death of Pope Pius XI in 1939. A few months after becoming Pope, Hitler invaded Poland and Pope Pius just stood by and watched. Even though all of these killings were going on because of Hitler Pope Pius remained strictly neutral. Then he also said no to Franklin Delano Roosevelt to denounce the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Europe. But in Italy he helped save a large section of the Jewish community. He helped protect them from being killed. Pope Pius also helped 1.5 million refugees, including Jews, from being killed by Hitler. I think that Pope Pius XII is a rescuer because I think that he did a lot in his power to save the Jews. Even though there was some saying he wanted to stay neutral, he just didn’t want Hitler attacking the Christians. Everything that I put Pope Pius did secretly and I think that he did a lot more and people just never knew. He didn’t want Hitler to know that it was him so he did it all in secret. He probably did not do all he could do but, I think that if he saved people that he is a good person.
 * (Rescuer)**

**Works Cited** “Pope Pius XII.” __The Holocaust Volume 3__. 1997. Grolier Education. 28 April. 2009. Schmittroth, Linda and Rosteck, Mary. “Pope Pius XII.” __People of the Holocaust Volume 2__. 1998. An Imprint Of Gale. 1 May. 2009. Schoenberg, Shira. "Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust." __Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage__. 06 May 2009 [].

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