JERUSALEM, APRIL 16, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Despite protests over a photo caption that implicates Pope Pius XII in the Holocaust, the apostolic nuncio to Israel attended the day of remembrance at the Yad Vashem museum.
Archbishop Antonio Franco told the Italian news service ANSA that he reversed his decision to attend the official Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony Sunday in Jerusalem after he received a letter earlier that afternoon from the president of Yad Vashem, Ayner Shaley, promising to "reconsider the way Pius XII is presented."
"My action was not to distance myself from the celebrations, but to call attention to the way the Pope was presented," the nuncio told Vatican Radio on Sunday. "My goal was achieved."
Archbishop Franco added: "I have no reasons to keep this tension going, and therefore I will participate in the ceremony."
The caption in question first appeared when the Holocaust Museum was inaugurated at Yad Vashem in 2005. It says that Pius XII had "recognized" the Nazi regime, and that "even when reports about the murder of Jews reached the Vatican, the Pope did not protest."
Pius "maintained his neutral position" with two exceptions, the caption says, 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 Italian bishops' SIR news agency announced Thursday Archbishop Franco's "painful renunciation" of the invitation to the annual celebration at the Holocaust museum.
The previous nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, had also requested, in 2005, that the caption be changed.
Not true
Jesuit Father Peter Gumpel, the relator of the cause for Pius XII's beatification, told ZENIT that the Pontiff "is esteemed and honored by millions of persons, even among the Jews."
He added: "What is stated in that caption does not correspond to the truth."
In response to the criticism that those who defend Pius XII are apologists, and not historians, Father Gumpel said: "There are many noted and famous historians, many of those Jews, who have shown the good that Pius XII did. Among these include Sir Martin Gilbert, Michael Burleigh and Rabbi David Dalin."
These people "do not seem apologetic at all to me," he said.
The priest added: "And what about Golda Meir, Albert Einstein, Israel Zolli and all the heads of the main international Jewish associations who thanked Pius XII at the end of World War II. Are they also apologists?
"Not to mention the directors of the Jewish papers published during the Second World War in most areas of the world. They too show Pope Pius XII as the light opposing Nazism. Are they too apologists?"
The accusations against Pius XII, Father Gumpel pointed out, "are always the same arguments, which are repeated without adding any historical facts in support."
He added: "Those criticizing Pius XII quote each other, and systematically avoid the entire historical Jewish source supporting Pope Pacelli."
Code: ZE07041601
Date: 2007-04-16