The following excerpt is from National Catholic Register:
- Yesterday, former head of the Romanian intelligence service Ion Mihai Pacepa discussed with the Register how the Soviets framed Pope Pius XII as an anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizer.
- Efforts to muddy Pius’s reputation began in Moscow in a bid to discredit the Catholic Church in Ukraine very soon after World War II. During the Cold War, that campaign of disinformation became known as “Operation Seat 12.”
- Pacepa, who defected to the United States in 1978, first made the claims in 2007. He asserts that Rolf’s Hochhuth’s 1963 play The Deputy was used by Soviet intelligence as part of this wider plot to frame Pius. Now, Pacepa is writing a book with on the Soviet plot, called Disinformation. He is collaborating on the work with University of Mississippi professor Ronald J. Rychlak, who doubted Pacepa at first but after spending two years investigating his story became convinced of its veracity.
- The Register’s Rome correspondent, Edward Pentin, interviewed Pacepa about the Soviet campaign against Pius XII. The interview concludes today.
Claims that Pius XII Was Framed Gaining Support, Part 2 | Daily News | NCRegister.com
