English Wall

Today, H2onews, H2onews.org, will publish an exclusive interview with don Giancarlo Centioni, the last surviving witness who was part of the clandestine network created by Pius XII during the Second World War to help the Jews escape the Nazi persecution. “This network gave passports and money to the Jewish families so they could escape”, explains don Centioni, who worked as a military chaplain in Rome from 1940 to 1945, pointing out that “the money and passports were given by father Anton Weber, one of the network leaders, and delivered to those people”. The documents and money came “directly from the Secretariat of State of His Holiness, in the name and on behalf of Pius XII”. According to don Centioni, hundreds of such Jews knew they were being helped by “Pius XII, through us priests, through the 'Raphael's Verein', through the German Verbites in Rome”. The case of don Centioni was discovered and examined by comparison with other memories of the Pave the Way Foundation (Ptwf.org), created by the New York-born Jew Gary Krupp. Such story is substantiated by the honour granted by the exiled Polish Government to don Centioni (a gold cross with two swords, “for our and your freedom”). H2onews is a Catholic multimedia news service in 9 languages about the activity of the Holy See and the Church across the world.

© SIR - jenuary 14 th, 2010