Israel changes tack over Pius XII

ISRAEL’S ambassador to the Vatican on yesterday backed off on his praise of Pope Pius XII, the WWII-era pope blamed by some Jews and historians for having failed to speak out enough against the Holocaust.

Ambassador Mordechai Lewy said in a statement that his personal judgment about the role of Pius, the Vatican and Catholic Church during the war had been “premature” since the issue is still being researched.

Lewy made headlines last week when he praised Pius and the Catholic Church in general for having given refuge to Roman Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Italian capital. The Vatican newspaper ran his speech on the front page, giving the brief but significant remarks high visibility.

But some Jewish groups balked, saying Lewy’s comments were morally wrong, historically inaccurate and hurtful to Holocaust survivors.

Pope Benedict XVI is keen to see Pius beatified, the first step to sainthood, and a concerted campaign is under way among Pius’s supporters to correct what they say has been an unfair and incorrect judgment passed on Pius.

As a result, Lewy’s remarks in praise of Pius — unusual for a Jew much less an Israeli official — were significant in that they indicated a slight shift in the historic judgment of a man the Vatican considers worthy of one of the church’s greatest honours but who many Jews consider a moral coward.

Pius was pope from 1939-1958. Before his election he served as the Vatican’s No 2 and before that papal nuncio to Germany. Given his deep involvement in the Vatican’s diplomatic affairs with the Nazis, what Pius did or didn’t do during the war has become the single most divisive issue in Vatican-Jewish relations.

The Vatican insists Pius used quiet diplomacy and that speaking out more publicly and critically against the Nazis would have resulted in more Jewish deaths. Critics argue he could have and should have said and done more.

Jewish leaders have asked that the Vatican not beatify Pius until the complete set of Vatican archives is opened to scholars, which is not expected for several more years.