On May 13, at the 92 Street Y in New York City, Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, took aim at Pope Pius XII.
Rabbi Hier said that making Pius a saint would “demean the meaning of sainthood” and “desecrate the memory of the Holocaust.” Pius was described as the “pope of the Holocaust” who “sat on the throne of St. Peter in stony silence, without ever lifting a finger, as each day thousands of Jews were sent to the gas chambers with his full knowledge.”
On May 19, William Donohue wrote a two-sentence letter to Rabbi Hier: “I read with interest your attacks on Pope Pius XII at the 92 Street Y. The next time you come to New York, why don’t we schedule a debate on this subject?”
Rabbi Hier, who has responded to other letters Donohue has sent, has not been heard from.
