First Published 2009-12-21
Sinner, Saint or Satan?
World Jewish Congress slams Benedict over Nazi-era pope
Jewish leaders hit out Vatican moves to raise controversial wartime pope Pius XII to sainthood.
BRUSSELS - The World Jewish Congress on Monday hit out at weekend Vatican moves to raise controversial wartime pope Pius XII to sainthood.
"As long as the archives of Pope Pius about the crucial period 1939 to 1945 remain closed, and until a consensus on his actions -- or inaction -- concerning the persecution of millions of Jews in the Holocaust is established, a beatification is inopportune and premature," said WJC President Ronald Lauder in a statement.
He added that "strong concerns about Pope Pius XII's political role during World War II... should not be ignored."
The Vatican sparked anger amongst the Jewish community on Saturday with moves to nudge Pius -- whose beatification process was launched in 1967 -- closer to sainthood.
The head of Germany's Central Jewish Council, Stephan Kramer, said the Vatican's stance on Pius was "a clear hijacking of historical facts concerning the Nazi era."
German Pope Benedict XVI -- who was himself at the centre of controversy over his past membership in the Hitler Youth -- has publicly defended Pius XII.
Moves to bestow sainthood on Pius XII have been a source of tension with Jewish groups because of the view among many historians that he remained passive during the Nazi Holocaust.
France's chief rabbi Gilles Bernheim called on the Vatican to abandon its aim of beatifying Pius, saying he was "not an example of morality."
"Given Pius XII's silence during and after the Shoah (Holocaust), I don't want to believe that Catholics see in Pius XII an example of morality for humankind. I hope that the Church will renounce this beatification plan and will thus honour its message and its values," Bernheim said in a statement.
The move is "at the antithesis of Judeo-Christian dialogue begun in 1945," he said.
The head of Germany's Central Jewish Council, Stephan Kramer, said in Berlin that Benedict was "rewriting history."
"This is a clear hijacking of historical facts concerning the Nazi era. Benedict XVI rewrites history without having allowed a serious scientific discussion. That's what makes me furious," he said Saturday.
Italian Jewish leaders issued a statement Saturday saying they were still awaiting access to the archives so that they could better assess Pius XII.
"We do not forget the deportations of Jews from Italy and in particular the train that deported 1,021 people on October 16, 1943, which left Rome's Tiburtina station for Auschwitz to the silence of Pius XII," they said.
Some six million Jews and others considered undesirable by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime were exterminated during World War II.
Pope Benedict has sometimes stumbled to improve inter-faith relations.
Most recently he allowed the reintroduction of a controversial Good Friday prayer calling for the conversion of Jews.
The history of Christian persecution of Jews, including genocide, exile, pogroms, crusades and discrimination, goes back 2,000 years.
Jews and Christians share a body of holy texts, which the Jews call the Torah and Christians the Old Testament.
Jews do not recognise Jesus as the Messiah and do not consider the New Testaments as divine or holy to them.
Seeing Jesus as a false Messiah, Jews are still awaiting the first coming of the Messiah.
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