The Vatican announcement that Pope Benedict XVI is recognizing the “heroic virtues” of Pope Pius XII—a major step forward on the path to formal sainthood—is disappointing.
In the view of many Holocaust survivors and others, Pius XII, pontiff during World War II, did not do enough to resist and speak publicly against the Nazi genocide.
“We respect beatification as an internal process of the Catholic Church,” B’nai B’rith International President Dennis W. Glick said. “But it should not come at the expense of the Catholic-Jewish friendship. There are still many questions we would like addressed about Pope Pius’ record during the Holocaust.”
Pope Benedict XVI has been considering advancing Pius toward sainthood since 2007, when a Vatican committee first identified Pius with “heroic virtues.”
“The Vatican should be very sensitive to the Jewish community’s concerns about Pope Pius’ response to the Holocaust,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “This move seems especially premature as the still-secret Vatican archives from Pius’ 1939-1958 papacy have not yet been opened for full study by independent scholars.”
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