Catholic and Jewish leaders on Tuesday asked believers not to use inflammatory language after the Vatican's plans to make Nazi-era pope Pius XII a saint provoked an outcry from Jewish groups. "Disagreements between us...must always be expressed in a manner that reflects this spirit and not in language that only exacerbates tension," said the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee (ILC), which was holding a conference in Budapest.
"The ILC has expressed its deep regret over certain polemical and intemperate statements being made over the controversy concerning the role of Pope Pius XII during the Second World War."
Jews accuse Pius, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust, during which 6 million Jews were killed. The Vatican says Pius worked silently behind the scenes and helped save many Jews.
Last year Vatican officials voted in favor of a decree recognizing Pius's "heroic virtues," an important step in a long process toward possible sainthood that began in 1967.
Some Catholics have pressed the Vatican to speed up the sainthood process. But Jewish leaders have called for it to be put on hold until the Holy See opens its archives pertaining to World War Two.
The Vatican said six of seven more years of preparatory work would be needed before scholars could access the archives.
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(Source: Reuters)
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