Portrait: A Man Whose Name Was John

I just happened to see it on television as a small child, and I can remember whole segments of it. Burr was amazingly powerful as the great voice for sanity and compassion in the Church, Angelo Roncalli, the only Pope that I, raised a Catholic, can truly say I revere and admire as a man.

Roncalli's magnificent efforts to save Jewish children in Turkey and Bulgaria, depicted in this film, do not absolve the entire Church from complicity in the Holocaust, and he himself knew this all too well. Hannah Arendt met with him, and asked what he planned to do against "The Deputy", a play that depicted Piux XII as silent and uncaring in the face of the Nazi exterminations. His reply was "What can you do against the truth?"

So don't use this great and holy man to whitewash the memory of a small and banal one. Pius was not an anti-semite, so much as he was a coward, afraid of what the Nazis would do to him if he spoke out too strongly--in truth, he made it clear early on that he was only concerned with Jewish converts to Christianity. Most of the Jews saved under his watch were not saved by him directly--the Gregory Peck film about Father Flannery shows that he was really only concerned with the survival of the Church as an Institution. He was quite willing to collaborate with the Nazis, if the Nazis won. He was also a racist, and refused to let black American GI's come inside Vatican City, because he thought they'd rape the nuns.

Not a good man. But John XXIII was as great and good a man as the 20th century ever saw. This film is a moving tribute to his humanity and faith. I only wish the Church he tried so valiantly to change better appreciated how right he was.

A decent movie, but as you can see from the review below by clyons, the calumny against Pope Pius XII never ceases. The so-called "silent" Pope was hailed at the time of his death by world Judaism as a hero who saved millions. Golda Meir praised him. The chief rabbi of Rome converted to Catholicism under Pius' wing. Leonard Bernstein halted a concert to mourn the passing of a "great humanitarian" upon learning of Pius' death. The New York Times editorialised in the 1940's that Pius was a lone voice crying out in the wilderness against the horrors of the Nazi regime. Why can't these pathetic Pius XII haters do a little research and get their facts straight? Ever heard of Google? Use it. Know what you're talking about before defaming one of the greatest, holiest men of the mid-20th century.

This compelling true story is one of the most memorable I have seen on TV. Raymond Burr's performance was magnetic. The screenplay brought to life a little known historical event. Roncalli is a true model for all Christians, willing to save the lives of Jewish children by obtaining Catholic Baptismal certificates for them. I wish this program were available somewhere. Does anyone know of a tape that exists of this program? I have visited the Raymond Burr vineyards in Sonoma, California and have talked with Burr's long time companion who says that the distribution rights to this Harbor Production are now with Universal. In the winery shop there is a cover from the TV Guide in 1973 showing Raymond Burr in profile as Pope John XXIII. I implore anyone who reads this to contact Universal and help get this program out to the public again. It should not be in some archive.

I enjoyed seeing that the person telling the story of what John XXIII did to help the Jewish children turned out to be one of those children who had grown up. Many knew of what this man did after becoming Pope. Not many knew of his unsung accomplishments that were done in the fearful times of Nazi threats.

The Roman Catholic Church has come under attack recently for its supposed "silence" with regard to the Holocaust in World War II. This is a rare film that demonstrates the actual record.

Angelo Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII, was serving as the Holy See's Apostolic Nuncio (ambassador) to Turkey in World War II when Germany sought to pressure Turkey to expel Jewish refugees there. The film shows how Roncalli foiled this effort. His was one of many similar efforts across Europe.

I would also recommend, for those interested in films in this general area, "The Scarlet and the Black," a 1983 made-for-TV movie with Gregory Peck as Monsignor Flanigan and Christopher Plummer as the Nazi officer.