Controversial wartime Pope Pius XII deserves the Jewish honour known as Righteous Among Nations bestowed on those who helped Jews escape the Holocaust, a religious reconciliation group told the Vatican Wednesday.Gary Krupp, head of Pave the Way Foundation, told Pope Benedict XVI during a general audience that his group has asked that the title be given to Pius XII, said Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
The beatification process of the World War II-era Italian pope has been a source of tension with Jewish groups due to the view among many historians that Pius XII remained passive while Nazis killed millions of Jews.
He served as pope from 1939-1958.
Some 23,000 people, including 500 Germans, have been given the title of Righteous Among Nations.
The title is granted by Israel's Holocaust remembrance authority, the Yad Vashem Memorial, to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Nazi persecutions.
The beatification process for Pius XII, a first step on the way to becoming a saint, was launched in 1967.
Critics accuse Pius XII, who headed the Roman Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958, of having remained silent during the Holocaust that killed an estimated six million Jews.
Conservative Catholic groups have at regular intervals become embroiled in controversy over their links to Nazis and their views on Nazi actions in World War II.
The Vatican itself came under strong Jewish criticism over the sainthood of the Nazi-era pope.
Uneasy relations between the Vatican and Israel have been strained by plans to declare Pius XII a saint, despite widespread criticism of his inaction during the Holocaust.
John Paul II was the first pope to formally repent for the Catholic Church's failure to adequately recognise and react to the Holocaust.
But 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.
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