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Pope's remarks on Jєωs raise eyebrows in US

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

NEW YORK — The American Jєωιѕн Committee on Sunday criticized Pope Benedict XVI for saying his World War II-era successor, Pope Pius XII, "did all he could to save people," in the current pontiff's new book.

"There is certainly enough evidence to refute those who charge that Pius XII stood idly by while the lives of Jєωs and others were imperiled," said rabbi David Rosen,the AJC's international director of interreligious affairs.

"On the other hand, not only did Pius XII never directly challenge the nαzι regime regarding the extermination of the Jєωs; perhaps even more dramatically, he never publicly expressed any condemnation, let alone express of regret, subsequent to World War II." Rosen said that "the Shoah (h0Ɩ0cαųst) represents the darkest abyss of our history and perhaps of human history. For us (and perhaps for all), one can never say that any persons did all they could have done in the face of such evil unless they laid down their life to oppose it ?!"

The current pontiff said Pius "did all he could to save people," in a book of interviews due out Tuesday in Pope Benedict's native Germany, obtained by AFP. Pope Benedict noted that Pius XII in 1938 prior to his reign as pope had written to all Catholic bishops urging them to intervene to support visa requests for Jєωs trying to leave Germany.

"Naturally, one can always ask: 'Why did he not protest more strongly?' I believe he saw that the consequences could have been a public outcry," said the pope. "He personally suffered enormously, we know this. He knew that he needed to speak and yet the situation prevented him," he said.

While Pius XII was pope, the nαzιs rounded up more than 1,000 Roman Jєωs for deportation on October 16, 1943. Only a handful returned from the death camps. An estimated six million Jєωs died in the h0Ɩ0cαųst. In December last year, Jєωs were up in arms when Pope Benedict moved Pius XII a step closer to sainthood with a decree bestowing the title "venerable." The Roman Catholic Church has long argued that Pius XII, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, saved many Jєωs who were hidden away in religious institutions, and that his silence was born out of a wish to avoid aggravating their situation. In 2008, the pope infuriated the Jєωιѕн community with a decision to lift the excommunication of a known h0Ɩ0cαųst denier, English bishop Richard Williamson.

Asked about the potential beatification of Pius, Rosen said that in his view "nothing should be done for as long as direct victims of this terrible period are still with us in this world."