4 juni för 70 år sedan rullade amerikanska stridsvagnar uppför Via della Conciliazione mot Petersplatsen och befriade Rom från den nazistiska ockupationen. Påven Pius XII betydde mycket i krigets slutskede för att undvika blodbad, och hans insatser, precis som Raoul Wallenbergs i Budapest, räddade många judar från att deporteras till de tyska koncentrationslägren. Den svarta legenden om honom är djupt orättvis. Detta blogginlägg från CNS blickar bakåt till 1949:
VATICAN CITY — Today, taxis, tourists and food carts line the wide piazza in front of St. Peter’s.
Pius XII Square in front of St. Peter’s Square. (CNS photo/Carol Glatz)
But exactly 70 years ago this week, it was teeming with American tanks, trucks and jeeps, forcing the occupying German troops north and liberating Rome.
June 4, 1944, was the day U.S. troops and Allies reached the Eternal City, freeing it from the insecurities of wartime — hunger, persecution and fear.
A bright floral wreath of yellow and white was quietly hung today under a commemorative plaque on the side of the building that houses the Vatican press office.
A stone plaque commemorating the role Pope Pius XII played in saving Rome from bloodshed and havoc as the Germans abandoned the city and retreated north on June 4, 1944. (CNS photo/Carol Glatz)
The plaque commemorates the role Pope Pius XII…
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Bengts Blogg 