Israel urges delay on pope's sainthood cause

National Catholic Reporter, Nov 13, 1998 by Teresa Malcolm

Israel's ambassador to the Vatican called on the church to wait 50 years before advancing the sainthood cause of Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope whose public reticence about the Nazi regime have prompted criticism by some Jewish organizations.

Ambassador Aharon Lopez said at a news conference Nov. 3 that a "moratorium" on the late pope's possible beatification was needed so that historians can examine all the documentation from the period and so "emotions and sensitivities" can die down.

Given Jews' deep feelings about the Holocaust, the ambassador said, beatification of Pope Pius could end up being "a very disturbing element" in the relationship between Israel and the Holy See.

Jesuit Fr. Peter Gumpel, who has been doing preparatory work on the cause in Rome, said the call for a moratorium was "foolishness" and went completely outside the competence of an ambassador.

"A beatification is strictly an internal affair of the Catholic church. We will not take this into account" when processing the sainthood cause of Pope Pius, he said.

While numerous Jewish leaders hailed Pius during and immediately after the war for his efforts to save scores of Jews, his failure to issue any forthright public denunciation of Nazi anti-Semitism has made him an increasingly controversial figure in Jewish-Christian relations.