A Rome interfaith symposium organised by US Catholics and Jews has backed the record of Pope Pius XII with documents showing the World War II pope intervened publicly and privately to save Jews. European Jewish News reports the symposium, organised by the Pave the Way Foundation to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Pope Pius XII, brought together Catholics and Jews in his defence.
The foundation claims the late Pope was the victim of a sinister "myth" to the effect that he was insensitive to the fate of Jews terrorised by Germany's Nazi regime and its death camps.
The group collected documentation aiming to prove Pius XII intervened publicly as well as in secret to save Jews and to encourage Catholic institutions to shelter them.
These documents include diplomatic telegrams and testimony of people saved thanks to his intervention, according to the symposium.
The foundation is asking that Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, withdraw from its permanent exhibition a text that the group considers defamatory towards Pius XII.
In February, the Vatican said it would not block steps under way for the beatification of Pius XII, despite criticism from many historians and numerous Jewish associations about the former pontiff's attitude towards the Holocaust.
Gary Krupp, an American Jew who is president and founder of Pave the Way, told the Pope the group's investigation "directly contradicts the negative perception of the pope's war time activities," Haaretz adds.
In an address to the Pave the Way Foundation, Pope Benedict said that "when one draws close to this noble Pope, free from ideological prejudices", one must recognise the "courageous dedication" of Pope Pacelli to saving as many Jews as possible from the Nazi devastation during the second world war.
Praising the symposium organisers, Pope Benedict noted that in November 1945, some six months after the end of the war, 80 delegates of German concentration camps came to the Vatican to thank Pius.
The symposium's documents included numerous newspaper clippings of Jewish leaders thanking Pius during and after the conflict and former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir saying: "When fearful martyrdom came to our people in the decade of Nazi terror, the voice of the Pope was raised for the victims."
"Thanks to the vast quantity of documented material which you have gathered, supported by many authoritative testimonies, your symposium offers to the public forum the possibility of knowing more fully what Pius XII achieved for the Jews persecuted by the Nazi and fascist regimes", the Pope said.
"It is my great hope", he concluded, "that this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of my venerated predecessor's death, will provide the opportunity to promote in depth studies of various aspects of his life and his works in order to come to know the historical truth, overcoming every remaining prejudice.
During his visit to Paris last week, Pope Benedict also reminded representatives from France's Jewish community that Pius XII had called Nazism a period of "darkness".
The Pope will celebrate a mass on October 5 in the Vatican's Saint Peter's Basilica to mark the anniversary.
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(Source: CN)