HOLY SILENCE

US, 2019, 72 minutes, Colour/black and white.
Directed by Steven Pressman.

This significant documentary reminds us how much can be contained in a film of 70 minutes, so many challenging words, so many even more challenging images.

The holy silence of the title is that of, especially, Pope Pius XII concerning the Jews, persecution, concentration camps and the Holocaust, local Roman issues, in the early 1940s. The question is raised: had Pius XII spoken more specifically and with more vigour about the Jews, as well as the challenge to Hitler and Nazi supremacy, would Hitler have taken notice, would matters have been different?

It needs to be said that this is an American documentary, very strongly American in its point of view. The director has made a number of documentaries on Jewish issues. And the range of talking heads, very articulate talkers, mainly historians, men and women, who have written books about the war, the papacy during the war. Although the focus is on Europe, there is also an emphasis on President Roosevelt, his contact with the Vatican, a visit of Cardinal Pacelli, as Secretary of State to Pius XI, to the United States, the President and letters, appointments of special representatives to negotiate with the Vatican, living in Italy, requests for negotiations about war and what the Pope should say.

It also needs to be said that there is an important omission from the film. The focus on Pope Pius XI’s very strong, in praise of him. However, there is no reference to his 1937 encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge/ With Burning Concern, written in German, with consultation of German bishops, a denunciation of Hitler and the Nazis. Rather, the screenplay focuses on an intended encyclical on racialism.

There is a particular American connection with this intended encyclical, a focus on a Jesuit, John Lafarge, working with African-American? communities, his writings on these justice themes, coming to the notice of Pius XI and the request for him to do a draft for the encyclical. The draft was delayed by the superior general of the Jesuits, coming to the notice of the Pope almost too late, Pius XI dying in February 1939, Pius XII not following through on Lafarge’s work.

Attention is given to Pius XI in the 1920s and 1930s, his dealing with Mussolini and the Italian fascists, the concordat of 1929 establishing Vatican city, his critique of the Nazi regime. And, his Secretary of State was Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, former papal Nuncio to Germany.

But, most attention is given to Pope Pius XII and his stances on the war, Nazism, the Jews and the Holocaust. Pius XII, with his diplomatic background, opted for diplomacy in dealing with Hitler and the Nazis. One commentator notes that Pius XII expected Hitler to win the war and saw the Pope’s role as a significant negotiator for peace. Which highlights the Pope’s stance on neutrality. The Pope also wanted to save Rome from bombing, to save the church and its cultural heritage.

The film has some criticism of the Pope’s not intervening to help and save the Jews in Rome and their being rounded up – although the film highlights how convents opened up and took in refugees.

There are many sequences highlighting the dignity and status of the Vatican, of the Catholic Church with its ritual, a great deal of Vatican pomp, a highly clerical presence. It is interesting to note that with the many, many pictures of Pius XII, he is seen smiling only after the Americans enter Rome.

The film notes the promulgation of Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate in 1965 on relations between Catholics and Jews.

The significant framework of the film focuses on Pope Francis, words of seeking the truth at the opening, images of Francis walking at Auschwitz at the end.


1. The title? The church? Pius XII? An assessment? Blame?

2. An American film, interpretation, focus? The director? The range of experts and talking heads? The focus on the Jesuit, John Lafarge?

3. The important omission of Pius XI’s encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge/ With Burning Concern, an encyclical, written in German, with German bishops, promulgated 1937? The critique of the Nazis? Why not referred to in this film?

4. The structure of the film: the opening quotations for Pope Francis about seeking the truth, the narrative of the 1920s, 1930s, during World War II, but Francis walking in Auschwitz?

5. The range of talking heads, men and women, academics, the law? Clergy? The German historian? The range of references, the books on the era, the American authors?

6. The focus on Pius XI, on Pius XII, the Vatican in the 1920s, Mussolini, fascism, the concordat of 1929, the 1930s and the Nazis, the 1940s and the war, the visuals of the Vatican, black-and-white archives, on each of the popes, the Vatican pomp, vestments, rituals, attendant clergy…?

7. Pius XI, the background of Mussolini, the rise of the fascists, not anti-Semitic, Jewish fascists? The concordat of 1929? Vatican state? Eugene Pacelli as his Nuncio in Germany? The 1930s, Pius XI and social concern, the encyclical of 1937, his plan to write another encyclical, on racism and racialism, his interest in the works of John Lafarge, his booklets on social justice, inviting him to the Vatican, commissioning him to write the draft of the encyclical, his not receiving it, his illness, his death? Completely untimely?

8. The focus on Cardinal Pacelli, in the 1930s, in Germany, learning German, familiar with German culture, his moving to be Secetary of State, his emphasis on diplomacy, its being a priority, his quashing of the Lafarge draft?

9. Pius XII and the experience of war, the emphasis on diplomacy, the consequences, the Pope assuming that the Nazis would win, seeing himself having a role at the end of the war as a negotiator for peace? The consequences of his diplomacy? The impact on the Jews, persecution, concentration camps, the hunt in Rome?

10. The United States, result, the contacts, Pacelli’s visit to the United States? The letters, the voice-over of Roosevelt? Roosevelt scenting his diplomats, their presence during the war, the discussions with Pius XII?

11. The information about father Charles Coughlin, Detroit, his radio broadcasts, supporting Roosevelt, feeling betrayed, attacking Roosevelt, becoming more and more anti-Semitic, supported by his Cardinal, yet the closing-down of his broadcasts by 1940?

12. The Jews in Rome, not being warned of the attack, the convents and opening up, the interview with the nun and her reminiscences about the situation, the assumption that the Pope approved? The imprisonment of the Jews and the prison camp near the Vatican? Pius XII and his wanting to save Rome, Catholic culture?

13. The young Italian Jewish woman in the present and her severe criticisms?

14. The question concerning Pius XII, if he had been more explicit in naming the Jews, in defying the Nazis? Would Hitler have taken any notice?

15. Pius XII, joy at the end, only then seeing him smile? His speeches, welcoming the troops?

16. The information about Vatican two, Nostra Aetate and the relationship between Catholics and Jews?

17. A documentary of 70 minutes, the experience of watching it, the issues raised, discussions in words, the impact of the images, the challenge?