Posted on 04/12/2007 2:24:24 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
JERUSALEM -- The Vatican and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial got into a public spat Thursday over the wartime conduct of Pope Pius XII during the Nazi genocide, threatening to upset fragile relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish state.
Separately, church officials announced new developments Thursday in the Vatican's case to make Pius a saint. A massive dossier on Pius' virtues -- some six volumes of 3,000 pages -- was handed over to a panel of bishops and cardinals earlier this month to study, they said.
At issue in the Yad Vashem-Vatican dispute is a photograph of Pius in Yad Vashem's museum in Jerusalem with the caption: "Even when reports about the murder of Jews reached the Vatican, the pope did not protest," refusing to sign a 1942 Allied condemnation of the massacre of Jews during World War II.
Pius "maintained his neutral position" with two exceptions, the caption reads, criticizing "his silence and absence of guidelines." The exceptions were appeals to the rulers of Hungary and Slovakia toward the end of the war, the caption says.
The Vatican's ambassador to Israel, Monsignor Antonio Franco, confirmed Thursday that he would not attend Yad Vashem's annual memorial service for Holocaust victims next week because of the Pius photograph.
"I don't intend to go to Yad Vashem if things remain the way they do," he said.
The memorial service is traditionally attended by all foreign ambassadors to Israel or their representatives. Yad Vashem said this would mark the first case in which a foreign emissary deliberately skipped the ceremony.
Yad Vashem is "shocked and disappointed" by Franco's decision, said spokeswoman Iris Rosenberg.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yariv Ovadia said the Holocaust "was one of the most traumatic events to befall the Jewish people ... and it is their decision whether they want to pay respect to the victims or not."
The disputed photo caption first appeared in 2005, when Yad Vashem opened its new museum. Shortly after, the previous Vatican ambassador asked that the caption be changed.
Yad Vashem has not done so, insisting its research on the pope's role was accurate.
Yad Vashem said it would be ready to re-examine Pius XII's conduct during the Holocaust if the Vatican opened its World War II-era archives to the museum's research staff and new material emerged. Despite frequent requests from Holocaust researchers, the Vatican has denied access to major parts of its archives, including wartime papers.
Rosenberg said the museum "would continue to present the historical truth on Pius XII as it is known to scholars today."
The Vatican has struggled to defend its wartime pope, insisting Pius spearheaded discreet diplomacy that saved thousands of Jews.
Franco said in his letter to Yad Vashem that he found the Pius XII caption offensive to Catholics.
"I respect the memory of the martyrs of the Holocaust but also the memory of the pope," he said. "The right of one does not infringe on the right of the other."
In Rome, the Rev. Peter Gumpel, who is spearheading Pius' sainthood cause, said he was "shocked" by Yad Vashem's portrayal of Pius.
He maintained that historians "say they find it difficult to understand how people can say that Pope Pius XII did nothing for the Jews. To present him now this way, I find it very difficult to understand."
Gumpel said he hoped the panel of bishops and cardinals would decide on Pius' case this year. If the clerics approve the dossier, they will pass their recommendations on to Pope Benedict XVI, who could then sign a decree on Pius' virtues, the first major step toward possible beatification. The Vatican would then have to confirm a miracle attributed to Pius' intercession for him to be beatified, and a second miracle for him to be canonized.
Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations in 1994, after hundreds of years of painful relations between Catholicism and Judaism.
Rabbi David Rosen, who helped negotiate the 1994 agreement, said the relationship remains strong, despite Israel's failure to keep key promises to the Vatican on issues including taxation.
Rosen, in charge of interfaith relations at the American Jewish Committee, said the dispute over the pope should have been resolved quietly, not in public.
"It is certainly very regrettable and will leave a bad taste on both sides," he said, adding that he did not expect lasting damage to the relationship.
Inasmuch as someone can "know" anyone over the internet; let me say this:
I believe that I know Dr Eckleburg very well. And such an accusation is utterly without merit.
In this heated discussion she backed up everything she was saying. Why would this be "kneejerk"?
No
My comment was toward this post only, not DE's entire life's postings. The post had such a generalizing conclusion about that I regarded it as kneejerk. Lumping the five comments as 'variation' on a theme is the problem. Anyways, generalizing a group into unrelated positions irritated me a tad bit, that's all.
I suspect the that the truth is somewhere in between.
It strikes me that your statement is similar to a plaintiff claiming that despite 500 or more character witnesses,eye witness testimonies,documents,editorials,newspaper articles,records and reports (most gathered at the time of the "accident or crime"),attesting to the defendant's character,actions and intentions,he found at least 14 people that think that if the defendant had taken a different course of action the damages may have been less. This is to say nothing about the extenuating circumstances that may have severely limited alternatives available to the defendant.
This latest attack on the Pope seems based on an incredible fear that credit to him might allow the Catholic Church to stand for longer than the enemy desires. "If wishes were horses beggars would ride",that's what my mom used to say as she laughed when I expressed some outlandish idea where I thought I should prevail over others' who possessed wisdom,worked hard and had the know how. I would get very angry with her and thought she was awfully mean and I would stamp my foot and have a tantrum and spout more nonsense. But then again I was only seven or so.
Taylor Caldwell once said in one of her novels:
Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think.
These threads running on the forum on this subject give plenty reason for one person to do both. Whew.
Out of the names that you pinged (all of whom I've included in this post), which do you believe that your statement applies to?
Please let me clarify. I did not notice your bolding. I thought your posting wanted to know who my posting was directed toward. My posting was directed toward Dr. Eckleburg primarily. However the entire statement would apply to those on the FR site that can't wait to take a swing at any opportunity. I believe you when you say DE is not that type. Note, DE was not targeted by me personally, just the comment. I like to stay away from personal shots. Life is too short and too busy.
The generalization of her conclusion rubbed me wrong. It was either neutral and meant nothing or it generalized most Catholics on this thread into unrelated positions (responsible, irresponsible, ambivalent). Thanks for the catch. I appreciate it...its an internet thing trying to read into conversations.
I agree with you that it appears everyone sat by and let the Jewish people be slaughtered and abused by Hitler. It is a shame that never should have happened! NEVER!
What do you find "kneejerk" about this story from Jerusalem?
That empty supposition hasn't been substantiated anywhere. We've only heard specious arguments given in support of passivity and inaction and delay and a general looking the other way.
And if that was all Pacelli did, he'd deserve the questions Jews are now leveling at his possible sainthood.
But Pacelli did much more than simply look the other way when pure evil was consuming his country and his church. He facilitated Hitler's take-over of the German government. And he did this after reading "Mein Kampf" as noted yesterday.
For that, history has and will continue to judge him harshly.
The Jewish people are right to question this man's elevation to sainthood, as explained in the article that began this thread. Six million Jews died while Pacelli was worrying about closing a few dozen Catholic schools.
"Yad Vashem stood by its text, although it said it was "prepared to continue examining the issue". It also called on the Vatican to open up its archives of documents relating to Pius XII."
Asked and answered. The kneejerk comment was answered 3x already and it was about a “posting” not the entire story.
I don’t find Jerusalem to be the final answer to any issue. Some people bow their statements as if its gospel. The Israeli’s want access to Vatican WW2 archives and then they will give their blessing that everything is kosher. This is arrogant and self-righteous by Israel. Until they get their demands from the Vatican that they release government documents they will smear a Pope that helped their people. No good deed goes unpunished as the saying goes.
That’s mainly what bothers me about this article.
"Arrogant?"
"Self-righteous?"
It doesn't stop, does it?
Israel wants to see the Vatican's purported "evidence" that Rome insists refutes 75 years of history.
Israel and the world already have plenty of evidence that elicits discomfort at the mention of the name "Pacelli."
Israel is going to have to remain unsatisfied. But of course Israel has all the friends it needs in the world. It doesn’t have to have good relations with the Vatican.
Why not?
Because it has so many friends in the world, including its Arab neighbors.
I'm trying to understand if you're being sarcastic or you mean this.
Are you saying Israel should forget about the past in order to protect its future?
Kind of like "put some ice on it."
Well, it managed to “put ice” on the fact that the Allies refused to use air power to stop the exterminations.
So now you're bashing the U.S. and our allies in WWII again, eh?
Why do you think America and her allies "refused to use air power to stop the exterminations?"
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