Vatican defends Pope from Israeli criticism

THE Vatican defended the Pope from a growing chorus of Israeli critics who accused the German-born Benedict XVI of failing to express enough remorse for the Holocaust – a controversy that threatened to eclipse a papal pilgrimage aimed at building bridges between faiths.

The Pope delivered messages of peace while visiting the holiest Muslim and Jewish sites in Jerusalem – the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.

But his speech on Monday at Israel’s national Holocaust memorial attracted the most attention in Israel, with the parliament speaker accusing Pope Benedict of glossing over the Nazi genocide. Newspapers lambasted him for failing to apologise for what many in Israel see as Catholic indifference during World War II and the Pope’s own wartime actions – he served in the Hitler Youth corps and Nazi army – have also cast a shadow.

“The Pope spoke like a historian, as somebody observing from the sidelines, about things that shouldn’t happen. But what can you do? He was part of them,” said parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin. “With all due respect to the Holy See, we cannot ignore the baggage he carries with him.”

The Pope delivered an emotional address at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, saying the cry of those killed by the regime under which he grew up “still echoes in our hearts”. But only moments after he spoke, Yad Vashem’s officials criticised him for failing to use the words “Nazis” or “murder” in his speech.

Israeli newspapers were filled with criticism. “One would have expected the Vatican’s cardinals to prepare a more intelligent text for their boss,” columnist Tom Segev said.

Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi defended Pope Benedict, saying the Pope had mentioned his German roots previously, specifically when visiting a synagogue in Cologne, Germany, in 2005 and at the Auschwitz death camp the following year. “He can’t mention everything every time he speaks,” Lombardi told reporters in Jerusalem.

The Vatican’s wartime pope, Pius XII, has been criticised by Jews for doing little to prevent the Holocaust – a charge the Church denies.