Israel urges opening of wartime Pope archives

Israel said yesterday that wartime archives on the controversial Pope Pius XII should be opened, a day after Pope Benedict XVI moved the late pontiff closer to sainthood by declaring him "venerable".

"The beatification process does not concern us. It's a matter that only concerns the Catholic Church," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

"The role of Pius XII is for historians to evaluate, and we therefore urge the opening of the archives of the Vatican during World War II," the spokesman said.

Moves to bestow sainthood on Pius XII have been a source of tension with Jewish groups because of the view among many historians that he remained passive during the Nazi Holocaust.

Pope Benedict - who was himself at the centre of controversy over his past membership in the Hitler Youth - has publicly defended Pius XII.

The Vatican has argued that Pius XII, who was Pope from 1939 to 1958, saved many Jews who were hidden away in religious institutions, and that his silence was born out of a wish to avoid aggravating their situation.

But France's chief rabbi Gilles Bernheim called on the Vatican to abandon its aim of beatifying Pius XII, saying he was "not an example of morality".

"Given Pius XII's silence during and after the Shoah (Holocaust), I don't want to believe that Catholics see in Pius XII an example of morality for humankind. I hope that the Church will renounce this beatification plan and will thus honour its message and its values," chief rabbi Bernheim said in a statement.

The move is "at the antithesis of Judeo-Christian dialogue begun in 1945", he said.

The head of Germany's Central Jewish Council, Stephan Kramer, said in Berlin that Benedict was "rewriting history".

"This is a clear hijacking of historical facts concerning the Nazi era. Pope Benedict XVI rewrites history without having allowed a serious scientific discussion. That's what makes me furious," he said on Saturday.

Italian Jewish leaders issued a statement on Saturday saying they were still awaiting access to the archives so that they could better assess Pius XII.

"We do not forget the deportations of Jews from Italy and in particular the train that deported 1,021 people on October 16, 1943, which left Rome's Tiburtina station for Auschwitz to the silence of Pius XII," they said.

Some six million Jews and others considered undesirable by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime were exterminated during World War II.