Rome's chief rabbi seeks info on missing war children

Fate of Jews in convents during Second World War still unclear

(ANSA) - Rome, April 28 - The fate of Jewish children taken in by Rome convents during the Second World War still remains unknown and their families seek answers, the chief rabbi in the Italian capital said Monday. Riccardo Di Segni raised the issue during a conference on dialogue between Jews and Christians organized by the community of Sant'Egidio, saying former pope Benedict XVI had initiated a probe but no answers have yet been found.

It is believed that some of the children were converted to Catholicism from Judaism and remained with Catholic families after the war. They should be found and given their full history, said the rabbi. "We have to track down these people and restore their identity and then they will decide what to do," said Di Segni. In similar cases in other countries, Jewish refugee children raised during the Second World War as Catholics often decided to remain in the Church, but at least they were aware of their origins, he added.

He also criticized actions taken in 1946 by then pope Pius XII, who he said did nothing to help Jews find their children sheltered in convents during the war and Holocaust in which six million Jews were exterminated by Nazi Germany. The controversy was raised one day after Pope Francis named former popes John XXIII and John Paul II, who were both young men during the Second World War, as saints. A decade ago, the Corriere della Sera newspaper published a document from 1946 that ordered Catholics in France to keep orphaned Jewish children, saying the decision had been approved by the pope. But pope John XXIII, who was at the time nuncio for France, reportedly ignored the directive.

As well, a "charming story" about John Paul II tells of him helping a Jewish mother to find her child sheltered by a convent and if it is true, that pope's actions would set a good example, said the rabbi. "It is a beautiful, charming story that is very appreciated by the Jews, but that still has not been verified," he said.