6.9.22 Pius XII.jpg

Pope Pius XII raises his right hand in a papal blessing at the Vatican in September 1945. The Vatican has long defended Pius XII against criticism that he remained silent as the Holocaust unfolded. A new book by David Kertzer, "The Pope at War," cites recently opened Vatican archives and suggests the lives the Vatican worked hardest to save were Jews who had converted to Catholicism or were children of Catholic-Jewish marriages. (AP)
Pope Pius XII raises his right hand in a papal blessing at the Vatican in September 1945. The Vatican has long defended Pius XII against criticism that he remained silent as the Holocaust unfolded. (AP)