VATICAN TO POST SOME WORLD WAR II ARCHIVES

AZG DAILY
18-02-2010

History

According to the Associated Press, the Vatican plans to make some of
its World War II archives available on the Internet soon to calm down
the controversy over Pope Pius XII’s actions during the Holocaust.

The Vatican’s newspaper announced the plan, saying it will "render
service to the historic truth," and officials said Tuesday the material
will be accessible soon.

However a panel of Jewish and Catholic scholars who examined the 11
volumes of material a decade ago concluded that more information was
required to decide whether Pius did everything he could to head off
the Nazis’ efforts to exterminate European Jews.

Some Jews and others contend Pius should have done more, and are
angered by Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to move Pius closer
to sainthood.

The Vatican’s daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said Gary Krup,
an American who heads the Pave the Way Foundation, which seeks
to strengthen Catholic-Jewish relations, was behind the online
initiative. It quoted him as saying that the Pius XII papacy "has
become a source of friction."

Benedict sparked renewed outrage among Jewish groups in December
when he signed a decree on Pius’ heroic virtues, paving the way for
him to be beatified once a miracle attributed to his intercession
is confirmed.

During a visit to Rome’s main synagogue last month, Benedict didn’t
mention Pius by name but said the Vatican "itself provided assistance,
often in a hidden and discreet way" to Jews during the war. Benedict
said Catholics acted courageously to save Jews during World War II.

The panel of Catholic and Jewish scholars that examined the material
said it suspended its work because the Vatican had not released all
of its archives from the World War II years.

The Vatican has said those archives won’t be catalogued and ready
until 2014 at the earliest.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress