Pope's Upcoming Synagogue Visit Will Have To Shake Off Steps Toward Pius XXII Sainthood & Holocaust Denial

Tensions Linger as Pope Readies for Synagogue Visit

Friday January 8, 2010

VATICAN CITY (RNS) When Pope Benedict XVI visits Rome's main synagogue next Sunday (Jan. 17) to mark Italy's 21st annual Day of Jewish-Christian Reflection, the setting alone will reflect a momentous event in Jewish-Catholic relations.

The Great Synagogue of Rome stands inside the city's former Jewish ghetto, where for centuries (from 1555 to 1870) Rome's Jews lived behind locked gates and were treated as pariahs by orders of the Vatican.

In going there now, Benedict follows in the footsteps of his predecessor Pope John Paul II, whose 1986 visit was the first time a pope had entered a Jewish house of worship since the early centuries of Christianity.

Benedict's repeat visit represents the "institutionalization" of John Paul's historic overture, setting a precedent that "will be very hard for any successor to ignore," said Rabbi David Rosen, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee.

Still, Benedict's visit also comes at a moment of heightened tension between Jews and the Catholic Church. Several recent controversies have raised doubts -- which Rosen calls "unjustified" -- about Benedict's commitment to strong relations between the two faiths.

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"Secretly And Silently" Nazi Pope Pushed By German Jesuits and Benedict For Sainthood? Israel Postures"Not On Your Life Buddy"

Sainthood For Pope Pius XII "UNACCEPTABLE!", Israeli Minister Says

An Israeli cabinet minister stepped into a row with the Vatican today, saying it was "unacceptable" to consider canonising Pius XII, who was pope during the second world war and has been criticised by some for not publicly opposing the Holocaust.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, Isaac Herzog, Israel's social affairs minister, who is responsible for relations with Christian communities, said efforts to turn Pius into a saint were "an exploitation of forgetfulness and lack of awareness".

He accused Pius of having kept silent during the war. "Throughout the period of the Holocaust, the Vatican knew very well what was happening in Europe," Herzog told the paper. "Yet there is no evidence of any step being taken by the pope, as the stature of the Holy See should have mandated ... Instead of acting according to the biblical verse 'thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour' the pope kept silent - and perhaps even worse."

Benedict Defends Wartime Pope

Pope Benedict XVI defended Pope Pius XII last week against critics who say the Vatican turned a blind eye to the Holocaust.
(Reuters/Tony Gentile)

Benedict Defends Wartime Pope

September 22, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

Pope Benedict xvi defended his World War ii-era predecessor last Thursday against critics who say the Vatican turned a blind eye to the Holocaust. Moreover, Benedict praised Pope Pius xii for being “courageous” in trying to save Jews.

“Wherever possible he spared no effort in intervening in their favor either directly or through instructions given to other individuals or to institutions of the Catholic Church,” Benedict said.

During the mid-1990s, author John Cornwell also set out to defend Pius’s reputation, believing if the full story were told, his “pontificate would be vindicated.” Accordingly, Cornwell applied for and was granted exclusive access to the Vatican’s archives. He concluded his research in 1997 in a state of what he called “moral shock.” The material he gathered about Pius, from the Vatican’s own library, “amounted not to an exoneration but to a wider indictment,” he wrote in his 1999 book, Hitler’s Pope.